The CWU Board of Trustees (BOT) unanimously agreed on Friday to begin negotiations with the “top choice” to succeed President James L. Gaudino, though the identity of the candidate is not yet known.

A Nov. 13 press release refers to Gaudino’s potential successor as “Candidate A” since the board has conducted a confidential search. 

According to the press release, Trustee Erin Black said this was done to “attract a large number of ‘high quality’ candidates.” Eighty candidates applied to be CWU’s next president by the Sept. 30 deadline.

In the press release, Board Chair Ron Erickson said the BOT “wanted to honor the promise of confidentiality made to the candidates.”

After reviewing the 80 applications, the Trustees Search Advisory Committee (TSAC) whittled the list down to 10 candidates and interviewed them throughout October. From there, the TSAC recommended five finalists for the position to the BOT, who approved the list unanimously on Nov. 2.

The BOT interviewed the five finalists earlier this week on Nov. 9 and 10. Two of the candidates were brought to campus for their interviews, while the three others were interviewed remotely due to weather-related travel restrictions.

“The board conducted extensive, 75-minute interviews with each of the candidates,” Black said in the release. “And that was followed by smaller group interviews with each so that we could get to know them better.”

Gaudino previously announced this year that he plans to step down as CWU’s president on July 31, 2021, though it is unclear when his successor would take office. The BOT has said in a previous press release that they hope to name CWU’s next president by the end of 2020.