Lincoln University's Presidential Search Committee met Thursday to decide which candidate they think the Board of Curators should hire as LU's next president.
Their choice will be forwarded to the curators without being made public.
The committee already has considered applications from 58 people, interviewed five and recommended two finalists - William Hudson Jr. and Jerald Jones Woolfolk.
The finalists visited the Lincoln campus last week, were interviewed by the curators and answered questions from faculty, staff, students, alumni and Jefferson City area residents during several different meetings.
But, Curator Winston Rutledge, a search committee co-chair, told the News Tribune one of the committee's jobs was "to present their preference of a candidate to the Board of Curators."
Thursday's meeting, which was closed to the public and media, was called "to discuss the two candidates we've interviewed, look at the information we have and try to make a decision as to who the search committee would be the best candidate," Rutledge explained.
The 22-member search committee included three curators; three state senators; Mayor Carrie Tergin; Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce President Randy Allen; and representatives of faculty, staff, students, retired faculty and alumni.
Curators President Marvin Teer, who also served on the committee, said he hoped the committee would provide "guidance as to what the majority of our stakeholders feel and think about where we go next.
"I think the search committee is absolutely essential (to the curators' decision), because it is the collective voice of all of our interested family groups - it absolutely plays an essential role in the decision we make," Teer said.
Hudson and Woolfolk both are vice presidents of student affairs in their current jobs - Hudson at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee and Woolfolk at the State University of New York-Oswego.
Those student affairs backgrounds and experiences prompted LU's Faculty Senate last week - on a 29-17 vote, with 10 abstentions - to ask the board to extend its search, to get someone with more of an academic background.
The curators have had no official reaction to that request, although Teer told the News Tribune last week: "(The resolution) will be part of all of the discussions that we have for the future of Lincoln."
The board, which held a closed-session conference call Wednesday on other issues, hasn't scheduled a meeting, yet, to decide on the school's 20th permanent president.
Teer and Rutledge hope Lincoln's next president can be introduced April 7 during the annual President's Gala.