The search for someone to replace outgoing SSU President Durward Long should have made some ground by now, but the committee assigned to find candidates hasn’t been formed yet.

Board of Regents Chairman Brewster Parker asked for a list of between three and five finalists by Nov. 1. But he doesn’t even have a list of people to fill the committee, much less people to replace Long.

The committee is near completion by the selection of a representative from the Springfield community, said SSU student Regent and committee member James Smylie.

“We’ve just completed the selection of the search committee by choosing Richard Walsh as the representative of the (Springfield) community,” he said.

Parker, who was supposed to choose the Springfield community representative, left the task to the Faculty Senate because “they (the SSU Faculty Senate) are provided to chose the representative because it’s in their constitution,” he said.

“We’re going by the Sangamon State University constitution to pick the remainder of the committee,” he said.

There is “no way of knowing at this point” when the first meeting to find the new president will be, said Cheryl Peck, assistant to Chancellor Roderick Groves.

“We’re still awaiting the names of the people who have been selected from the (SSU) campus,” she said.

The committee consists of one faculty member, one staff member, one alumnus member and one member from the Springfield community, Peck said.

Regents Milton McClure, Sylvia Nichols and David Murphy, who chairs the search committee, also are members.

The Regents will make the final decision.