Two days after Sue Carter, secretary to the MSU Board of Trustees and executive assistant to the MSU president, announced she would leave the positions on July 1, the process to select her successor is beginning, MSU officials say.

MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon will personally select the next secretary, MSU Spokesman Terry Denbow said.

"She should have something to share with the university community in the next few days," Denbow said. "It just might not be ready yet."

Board policy states that the board will appoint the secretary based on the selection of the president.

Carter has been secretary since January 2002, and her job duties have included scheduling meetings and handling appointments for both parties. She also has helped draft several university policies.

Most notably, Carter drafted the rules for recent tailgating restrictions and the campus open-alcohol ban. It was to be up to her - and will be the job of the future secretary - to provide exceptions to the ban.

Simon could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Some trustees said they would like to see the next board secretary chosen internally. Generally, the president will select the candidates and then include board members in discussions.

"We're certainly hoping that there are some people within the campus community who might be interested," Board Chairman David Porteous said. "It's a tough, challenging job, but it's very interesting."

There is no set timetable for when the next secretary will be chosen, but it is possible that he or she could be selected by the summer, Porteous said.

"We're just beginning it, and so we're very interested in if there are people who are familiar with the position and are interested in the position," he said.

Trustee Colleen McNamara also said she would like to see a board secretary chosen from within the university.

"I would like to see somebody who understands what the sensitivities to faculty are, and that would need to be somebody who understands the inner workings of the university," she said.

The secretary should be someone who knows the structure of the university and the board, how policy is developed and is capable of handling issues both large and small, McNamara said.

"Somebody who can work with eight very diverse people who have different interests and perhaps needs," she said.