Faculty Council will meet today to discuss the search and selection procedures for the acting and permanent provost.

The procedures for selecting the acting provost already have been approved through the Academic Governance system. Today's discussion is meant to put council members on the same page before discussing the procedures for selecting the permanent provost, said Jon Sticklen, Executive Committee of Academic Council chairman.

"We want to make sure that everyone is tuned into the procedures for the acting provost search and selection," Sticklen said.

The acting provost search will be conducted within the university. Applications for the position are due Sept. 15.

President-designate Lou Anna Simon said the MSU Faculty Handbook guidelines do not require a search for the acting provost, but she wanted a search rather than appointing someone to the temporary position.

"I talked with the Executive Committee on Academic Council about my desire to have a search process for an acting provost so there was faculty engagement well beyond that which is required by the policy," she said.

International relations Professor Michael Schechter, chairman of the subcommittee that drafted the procedures for permanent and acting provost, said the procedure for permanent provost will be presented to the council for feedback.

After Faculty Council discussion today, the procedure will head to the executive committee for modification. Simon has the final approval.

"We made sure we spent a lot of time on the composition of the search committee," Schechter said. "We had the recommendations of faculty, graduates and undergraduates."

Packaging Professor Harold Hughes, a member of Faculty Council, said he has high hopes for the selection process for a permanent provost.

"I'm expecting the search will be done in a professional fashion," Hughes said. "The last two or three have yielded excellent people."

Faculty members can be nominated for the search and selection committees for both the permanent and acting provost. Students also will be chosen to sit on the committees.

Schechter said the acting provost committee is seeking interested applicants. Simon will select from the committee's finalists.