After 15 months, the Boise State University presidential search is approaching a milestone.

The State Board of Education will announce a sole finalist for the job Tuesday morning, and could hire a president by July 1.

The finalist’s announcement will begin a truncated public phase of the search — including meetings geared toward “students, faculty and staff, campus leaders, donors, community and industry partners, state leaders and others,” State Board members said in a Thursday announcement.

The board will host an open forum with the finalist from 3 to 4 p.m. Wednesday.

“The board realizes that a summer visit to campus is less than ideal when faculty may be in the field researching, teaching at other universities or on vacation,” State Board President Kurt Liebich and State Board member and presidential search committee chair David Turnbull said in Thursday’s announcement.

“To help provide a range of opportunities for people to hear from the sole finalist, this open forum will be livestreamed and recorded to be posted for later viewing. An invite with full details on how to attend and/or submit questions in advance will be sent to students, faculty and staff via email.”

Under a new state law, the board must wait at least 10 business days to hire a sole presidential finalist. The board is scheduled to meet on July 1, and could vote then.

The Boise State search began in March 2025, after Marlene Tromp announced she was leaving Idaho’s largest university for the University of Vermont’s presidency. It has proven to be a turbulent process, with rules changing along the way.

The search committee put the process on ice in October. State Board officials said they were stymied by state law — which required the board to release a list of five finalists. They said qualified candidates, including presidents from other institutions, did not want to be identified publicly as an applicant.

The 2026 Legislature swiftly changed the law, making the search an entirely closed-door process. The State Board must now name only a single finalist.

Over the past year, a pair of short-term leaders have held the Boise State post. Jeremiah Shinn took over as interim president in May 2025, but he has since taken the president’s job at the University of Montana. After Shinn’s departure, Boise State vice president of research and economic development Nancy Glenn has served as acting president.