NIU President John Peters declared his candidacy late last week in the University of Tennessee presidential search.

Because of the openness of the UT search, every nominee who has interest in competing for the position had to announce his or her intentions early in the process, Peters said in a statement released this weekend.

“In keeping with my practice of fully informing the NIU campus of my actions, today I am publicly affirming my interest in further discussions about the UT presidency,” Peters said.

The deadline for applicants and nominees to declare their candidacy for the search was Friday. There currently are 47 names on the list of confirmed candidates.

There will be an open meeting today in Knoxville at which the list of candidates will be narrowed to about 10 or 12, Margaret Perry, the executive director for the presidential search for the University of Tennessee, told the Northern Star last week.

Those candidates will be brought to Knoxville from April 13 to 15 for interviews with UT’s 18-member Search Advisory Council, which consists of faculty, staff, students, alumni and UT Board of Trustees members, Perry said. The council will narrow the list to between four and six and will recommend those people to the BOT’s Search Committee.

The new UT president is expected to be chosen by the BOT on April 21, Perry said.

Peters served as the provost at UT-Knoxville before taking the presidency at NIU. He said he was honored to serve UT then, and he now is even more honored to be considered for the school’s presidency.

“My nomination to head such a large and complex institution is testament to the growing reputation of Northern Illinois University and the equally complex role that NIU fills so successfully in this nation’s third-largest metropolitan region,” Peters said.

Because the entire process is open, Peters said he will continue to inform the NIU community of his intentions concerning the UT search.

“In the spirit of the openness that has so characterized this search, I pledge to make my intentions known, quickly and publicly, at each stage of the process. I remain fully committed to Northern Illinois University, its continued growth and development and the course we have set for the future,” he said.