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BISMARCK (AP) — North Dakota’s Board of Higher Education hopes to hire a new university system chancellor within six months, which will give the person a chance to shape budget recommendations for the next Legislature, the board’s president said Tuesday.

A search committee that is in charge of reviewing applications to succeed incumbent Chancellor William Goetz held its first meeting Tuesday at Bismarck State College.

Grant Shaft, who is the search committee’s chairman and president of the Board of Higher Education, said the board would approve a job description, hiring timeline and salary range at its next meeting on Nov. 17.

Jamie Ferrare and James McCormick, who are part of a consulting firm the board hired to help recruit a new chancellor, said they would begin advertising the job the following day. They will put ads in higher education periodicals, accept outside nominations and call some potential candidates who do not apply to gauge their interest, Ferrare said.

Goetz, 67, is retiring in August, when he finishes his fifth year as the North Dakota university system’s top administrator. The system includes six four-year universities and five two-year colleges, an enrollment of almost 49,000 students and a two-year general fund budget of $757 million.

The 16-member search committee intends to meet in early January, February and late February or early March, according to a schedule its members approved Tuesday. The Board of Higher Education hopes to decide on Goetz’s successor in March after interviewing finalists.

Shaft called the timetable “aggressive” and said it was necessary to acquaint Goetz’s successor with the university system’s budget recommendations for the 2013 Legislature, which are already being developed.

“Our view is that the earlier that we’ve engaged a new chancellor ... the better, just for that process alone,” Shaft said.

Tags: north dakota board of higher education, north dakota university, news