UPDATE: The University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents named four finalists for the school’s interim president position Thursday out of a group of 21 candidates.

Those finalists include the following:

• Jeffrey M. Ettinger, chair of the Hormel Foundation Board of Directors and former chief executive officer of Hormel Foods Corporation,
• Myron Frans, senior vice president for Finance and Operations at the University of Minnesota,
• Mary Holz-Clause, chancellor of the University of Minnesota Crookston,
• E. Thomas Sullivan, president emeritus and professor of Law and Political Science at The University of Vermont and former provost and senior vice president at the University of Minnesota.

Board Chair Janie Mayeron said during Thursday’s meeting that the Board intends to have a special meeting as early as Monday to publicly interview finalists and decide who it will appoint as interim president.

Feedback can be sent to the Board of Regents through the online comment form or via email at uregents@umn.edu.

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A seven-day application process was opened for the interim president position in late April.

At that time, the Board of Regents said the ideal candidate for interim president would not intend to apply for the permanent position so they could focus on the interim role.

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The state legislature selected three new regents Monday night.

Those regents are West St. Paul City Council Member Robyn Gulley, Minnesota Nurses Association President Mary Turner and former Allina Health CEO Penny Wheeler.

RELATED: New Board of Regents members selected at pivotal point for University of Minnesota

The chair of the house higher education finance and policy committee said those new members will have to focus on the interim position — while also thinking about the school and its need for a new permanent leader.

“It was really exciting to have the opportunity to think about the future of the University of Minnesota,” said Robyn Gulley, one of the three new regents said about starting her new role.

“I’m most interested in what we’re going to do with it with the interim president,” Gulley said, adding: “But I think that ultimately, this will set [the] tone for what we look for in a permanent president as well.”

Gulley says she plans to be a voice for university employees and says as they look for a permanent leader for the U she hopes they find someone who is focused on the future.

“I want someone who’s really going to think seriously about the problems that we have with rising student tuition, with students taking on huge amounts of debt to go through the University of Minnesota,” Gulley said. “To think about how we deal with public safety in creative ways that make everyone feel safe.”

Mary Turner is another new addition to the board who says she’ll be advocating for U of M — something she says she has confidence doing as the current president of the Minnesota Nurses Association.

During her interview process, Turner said she is not going to be a rubber stamp — she said that means when making decisions she’ll be gathering input from several stakeholders.  

“I am not one that’s going to sit there and go okay, ‘administration, what do you got to tell me,’ and I’ll make a decision,” Turner said, adding: “I’ve been meeting with students, and workers, and teachers, and politicians – [I’m] getting my sphere of information gathered and that’s how I do it.”

Current president Joan Gabel announced last month she was leaving to become the next chancellor for the University of Pittsburgh. Gabel’s last day at the U of M is June 30.

More information on Thursday’s meeting and future Board of Regents meetings can be found here.