The Board of Trustees will meet in a closed session today and Monday to interview two finalists for the University presidency, according to University officials.

In an e-mail sent Wednesday morning, the University announced that board members will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. and Monday at 7 p.m. at the Chicago Club, 81 E. Van Buren St. in Chicago.

“In closed session, the Board of Trustees will consider an employment matter,” the e-mail stated.

University officials said that during the meetings, the board would interview two finalists for the position, but declined to say who was being considered.

The University began looking for a new president in April, when current University President James Stukel announced he would retire in February 2005.

A search committee composed of eight faculty members, five alumni, an administrative officer and one student from each of the University’s three campuses has met nine times, most recently on Sept. 17, according to the University Web site. The search committee is chaired by Avijit Ghosh, dean of the College of Business. Tuesday afternoon, Ghosh’s secretary referred all questions to University spokesman Tom Hardy.

Hardy said trustees and search committee members remain confident that a new president will be selected by the end of the calendar year.

“The search is moving ahead, moving forward,” Hardy said.

The University’s search for a new president has been more secretive than other recent presidential searches at Big Ten schools. This year, both the University of Wisconsin and the University of Iowa made their list of presidential finalists public.

However, Hardy said that maintaining the confidentiality of the presidential candidates will help the University attract the best people to the job because many of the top candidates already have prominent positions at other schools.

“There are differences of opinion on this subject (of open searches),” Hardy said. “The practice here at the University of Illinois has been to maintain confidentiality. That has been a practice that has worked pretty well in allowing us to choose top candidates.”