PEMBROKE — The board of trustees for The University of North Carolina at Pembroke met with a representative from UNC President Erskine Bowles’ office on Wednesday and was provided information on how the search for the next chancellor would be conducted and how much it would cost.

The 13-member board also welcomed six trustees, selected new officers and formally introduced Charles Jenkins as the interim chancellor. Former Chancellor Allen Meadors left the university Tuesday to accept the presidency at the University of Central Arkansas.

Ann Lemmon, associate vice president of human resources for the UNC System, told the board that during her four years with UNC, she has helped 10 universities select leaders.

“One board called me their tour guide,” she said.

She said the first step is to appoint a search committee, which will eventually recommend several candidates to Bowles and the system’s Board of Governors for selection.

“The board of trustees for the campus has the responsibility of naming a search committee,” she said. “You are not picking the next chancellor. You are picking the finalists for the next chancellor.”

The committee will submit the names of two to four candidates without identifying its preference.

“We pretty much get the person the search committee wants though,” Lemmon said.

Search committees usually include trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members.

Trustee Breeden Blackwell asked if UNCP was limited to the Pembroke and Robeson County community in picking committee members. Lemmon said the board is free to decide what geographical area constitutes UNCP’s community.

“It’s your catch-all category, whatever it means to you. ... How you define community is up to you,” Lemmon said.

She recommended the board choose 16 to 18 committee members.

The trustees can hire a search firm to assist the committee, Lemmon said. The standard fee is one-third of the chancellor’s salary, meaning if he earned $180,000 a year the firm would be paid $60,000. A search firm can help diversify the pool of candidates, Lemmon said.

The average search costs a university $100,000 to $150,000, according to Lemmon. The search will be paid for by state money from UNCP’s budget and discretionary money. Finding the money will be difficult, Jenkins told the board.

It usually takes five to six months for a committee to make a recommendation.

“And that’s moving quickly,” Lemmon said.

The board will select a search committee during an Aug. 7 meeting. Lemmon said the committee would likely begin its work in early September.

“It is not unreasonable to think that by the Feb. 4th Board of Governors meeting, certainly by the March meeting, you can have a new chancellor appointed,” Lemmon said.

The committee will start by meeting with Bowles and hearing his expectations. The committee is expected to hold public forums for faculty, staff, students and the community to provide input. The committee will then use that information to craft a job description before advertising the job for four to six weeks in higher education publications.

The board will also decide if the search will be open or closed, Lemmon said. In an open search, the names of finalists and their qualifications would be released to public. A closed search would provide confidentiality for candidates.

Trustee Arlinda Locklear asked if an open search would discourage candidates. Lemmon said an open search would mean a smaller pool.

“That will be one of the first questions we get, especially if we recruit a sitting head,” she said.

In other business, the board swore in five trustees appointed by the governor: Donna Lowry, Thomas Nance, Ray Pennington, Lorna Ricotta and Robin Cummings. The other new trustee, Newy Scruggs, phoned into the meeting and was not given the oath of office. Student Government Association President Arjay Quizon Jr. was also sworn in as a student representative to the board.

The board then elected Freda Porter as chairman, Dick Taylor as vice chairman and Alan Thompson as secretary.

In his introduction to the board, Jenkins said: “I see our work very much as a public trust and I take that very seriously. We, without question, have some real challenges. ... We will move forward despite the challenges we face.”

Jenkins, who was appointed by Bowles as interim chancellor on June 22, told the board that his appointment was not entirely about his skills and experience.

“It’s not a statement about Charles Jenkins,” he said. “It’s a statement about the confidence he (Bowles) has in The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and all of you. ... It’s about all of us working together.”

Jenkins said UNCP biggest challenge is its budget.