Lisa Rossbacher, president of Marietta’s Southern Polytechnic State University, was named one of four finalists to lead Southern Utah University.
The Utah State Board of Regents made the announcement Monday. The finalists are scheduled to interview Friday for the position as the school’s 16th president.
Rossbacher, a geologist, has led Southern Poly since 1998. On Tuesday, she forwarded all questions about the Utah job to that state’s board of regents.
The Utah announcement comes as Georgia’s board of regents move forward with plans to merge Southern Poly with Kennesaw State University. The merger will be the fifth and largest consolidation for the state’s university system, and is part of a larger administrative plan to address declining state funding.
Rossbacher’s future with the school and the university system after the merger is unknown. KSU President Dan Papp will lead the merged institution.
The SPSU president has previously sought work outside the Marietta school. Last year Rossbacher named one of five finalists to lead Wichita State University in Kansas. In 2011, she was also a finalist for chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and for president of New Mexico State University in 2009.
For the Utah university position, Rossbacher and the other finalists will meet individually on Thursday with school groups representing faculty, staff, students and administration. A decision is expected from that state’s board of regents on Friday afternoon.
Since Rossbacher became president of SPSU, the university has doubled its enrollment, tripled its on-campus housing and maintained its ranking of having the third or fourth highest SAT scores for entering freshmen among the 31 institutions in the University System of Georgia, according to information provided by the school.
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