Presidential Search FRANKFORT, KY (WEKU) - The panel searching for a new president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education continues to make good progress.

Applications are still being taken, but the cutoff date for preferential consideration has come and gone. Presidential search committee chair John Hall tells Kentucky Public Radio forty-four candidates, from Kentucky and across the nation, met the deadline.

"We're pleased with the number of candidates that we have and believe we've had a good response to our request for people to reply."

In coming weeks, the search committee will begin paring down the list of applicants, and then set up interviews with those left standing. The full board hopes to hire a new CPE president by the end of the year and Hall says, at this point, the search remains on schedule. Earlier this year, former CPE president Brad Cowgill resigned under pressure after Governor Beshear complained he was hired without the legally required national search. Interim president, Dr. Richard Crofts, is not a candidate for the permanent post. © Copyright 2009, WEKU