Eastern students, faculty and staff will have the chance to meet and talk with the final candidates in the search for Dr. Rodolfo Arévalo’s successor as university president.

The search began shortly after Arévalo announced his retirement in late January, and has been narrowed down to three finalists.

“The presidential search advisory committee did an incredible job of narrowing down some 45 candidates to our current three finalists,” said Paul Tanaka, chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees. “The Board of Trustees has a tough choice before us, as any of the finalists would serve EWU well as its 26th president.”

ASEWU President D.J. Jigre, who served on the search committee, said he and other ASEWU representatives are eager to meet with the finalists as they each make visits to EWU at the end of May and into early June.

“I am truly excited that we are coming to a close with the presidential search,” Jigre said. “Not only was it a great opportunity to learn about the process, but also it was hard deciding on the perfect candidate for EWU from a large pool of strong, intelligent and remarkable candidates from a wide spectrum.”

The names of the three finalists were announced May 16. Each candidate will spend two days on campus attending open forums with students, faculty, staff and community members between May 29 and June 6.

The three finalists, and the dates they will be on campus, are as follows:

Timothy Mescon, Ph.D., president of Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia, will be visiting May 29-30, with a campus open forum on May 29 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Showalter Auditorium.

Rex Fuller, Ph.D., Eastern’s provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, will interact with the Eastern community, June 2-3. He will hold a campus open forum on June 3 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Showalter Auditorium.

Mary Cullinan, Ph.D., president of Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, will be visiting June 4-5, with a campus open forum on June 4 from 11 a.m  to 12:30 p.m. in the Showalter Auditorium.