A faculty source on the Presidential Search Committee said that the committee was set to decide yesterday on which candidate it would recommend to the University Board of Trustees.

However, committee member and outgoing Student Government Association President Bea Forlano, management senior, said that she would not know until after the meeting when that recommendation would be made public.

Members of the search committee have said they hope to have a new president appointed by the end of the academic year.

The two Jesuit priests vying for the job, Kevin Wildes of Georgetown University and Robert Niehoff of the University of San Francisco, visited over the last two weeks for interviews and open houses with question-and-answer sessions.

“It’s important that they select someone who fits our progressive university,” incoming SGA President Martina Mills said. “While we are a Jesuit and Catholic institution, we are dedicated to critical thinking, and our goal is to thrive in the twenty-first century.”

Mills, a communications junior, noted that she’d only been able to attend the Open House with Wildes, but said she has faith in the committee’s selection of Niehoff as a candidate.

“Looking over his vitae, you see that he has worked with budgeting,” Mills said. “And also Father Niehoff has held positions where he could develop relationships with students and get to know the student aspect of a university.”

Wildes is an associate dean and associate professor of philosophy at Georgetown University.

His research is primarily rooted in bioethics, and he has been a board member at Loyola for six years.

Niehoff is an associate provost and vice president for planning and budget at the University of San Francisco. His research is in leadership roles, organizational development, finance and private education.

Interim University President the Rev. William Byron, S.J., has said that he plans to leave New Orleans by the end of the summer to return to a funded research project at Loyola College in Baltimore.

Joe Rosemeyer can be reached at jrroseme@loyno.edu.