Updated: Gov. Daniels Will Be Purdue University's Next President

June 19, 2012 | 12:15 PM

By Rachel Morello

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UPDATE, 3:15 p.m.: Gov. Mitch Daniels will be selected as Purdue University’s next president on Thursday, WFIU-FM/WTIU-TV has confirmed, citing a source close to the governor.

WISH-TV first broke the story Tuesday afternoon:

Purdue University officials plan to vote on a candidate for the school’s next president this week – and WISH-TV has learned Gov. Mitch Daniels is the candidate in question.

The Purdue Board of Trustees will meet at 10 a.m. Thursday in Steward Center’s Loeb Playhouse to vote on a nominee to be the school’s 12th president. Several sources close to the proceedings tells WISH-TV that the nominee is Daniels. After the vote, the president-elect will be introduced, the school said in a news release.

UPDATE, 12:45 p.m.: Mary Beth Schneider of the Indianapolis Star says sources close to the governor confirmed Daniels will be the next president of Purdue University.

Rumors about Daniels’ next move have been swirling for months, but the governor, his staff, and Purdue officials haven’t discussed them publicly. Daniels’ office declined to comment to WISH-TV and said they wouldn’t comment on the matter Tuesday.

In March, Daniels told WBAA’s Mike Loizzo he couldn’t comment when asked if he was interested in the job. He said he wouldn’t take another position until later this year at the soonest.

Daniels made a similar remark to Indiana Public Media in May when asked about leadership at Purdue.

“That’s a question you’ll have to ask somebody else about, I’ve not been making any plans,” Daniels said.

He told WBAA he wanted to see a statewide leader get the job.

“I’d like to see (Purdue) commit itself fully to a stronger, perhaps slightly more focused academic mission,” Daniels said in March. “It goes without saying that what is taught so well here at Purdue is what the nation and the state needs most: Math, science, engineering, agricultural science — the critical intellectual building blocks of a winning national economy.”

The university’s Board of Trustees has been meeting behind closed doors at the airports in Chicago and Indianapolis, leading the Lafayette Journal & Courier to seek an advisory opinion from the state as to whether the meeting locations violated Indiana open meeting laws. (An attorney for the state told the newspaper the university did not break any laws.)

Purdue’s current president, France Córdova, is stepping down this summer at the end of her contract. StateImpact will be reporting from West Lafayette Thursday when the trustees announce the university’s next leader.