JACKSON - Former Southern Mississippi President Aubrey Lucas is the College Board's choice as interim president of the university, sources close to the Hattiesburg school said.
The state College Board has called a 1:30 p.m. news conference today to name the interim president.
The announcement will be made at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, where the board is holding its annual two-day retreat.
Lucas, USM vice president for research Donald Cotten and James Williams, USM-Gulf Coast vice president, have been mentioned as possible candidates to replace Horace Fleming, but sources told the Associated Press on Wednesday that Lucas will get the job.
While Lucas wouldn't say specifically Wednesday that he had accepted the position, he said he felt the board wanted an interim from within the university. He said he was ready to serve if asked.
Lucas is president emeritus at USM and is on the faculty as a professor of higher education.
"I have a sense the board does not want to appoint someone in the interim position who may be a candidate for permanent president," Lucas said. "With all of these things at work, I certainly would serve if the board would determine it is in the best interest of the university."
Sources said the primary reason Lucas was the board's choice is his track record at USM and the belief he can bring unity to a campus divided over Fleming's departure.
Fleming turned down a one-year contract extension last month when the board offered the limited agreement instead of a standard four-year contract.
Williams said Wednesday afternoon he had had no discussions with the board, but "it's pretty strongly rumored that it'll be Dr. Aubrey Lucas."
"He would certainly be a qualified candidate for the job," Williams said.
Lucas, who served as Southern Mississippi's sixth president for more than 21 years before retiring on Dec. 31, 1996, was the university's longest-serving president. Fleming succeeded him in January 1997.
In 1999, USM named the campus administration building in his honor. The 70-year-old domed building was around when Lucas enrolled as a freshman at Southern Mississippi in 1952.
Lucas said the key right now is to maintain continuity on campus.
"We have so many wonderful things going on here," he said. "We've had fine leadership under my dear friend Horace Fleming. We want to keep that momentum going."
If his name is called as expected Thursday, Lucas said he could "just pick up my brief case, grab a pen and stroll across the campus" to his new, temporary office.
Gulfport businessman Gene Warr, former chairman of Coast 21, a group of business and civic leaders who help plan public policy, said he thinks any of the three mentioned for the interim job would support an effort to expand USM in Long Beach.
Warr heads the education committee for Coast 21, which supports opening the Long Beach campus to underclassmen. The Gulf Coast campus now caters to juniors, seniors and graduate students.
During Wednesday's session at Old Waverly, the College Board also named search committees to find permanent presidents for USM and Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, said board spokeswoman Pam Smith.
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Lenore Prather was named MUW's interim president last month following the resignation of Clyda Rent, who had served as president of 12 years.
The MUW search is expected to last several months.
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