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Penn State about to name new president

Pennsylvania State University is poised to name a new president, who will be charged with leading the state's flagship university through continued controversy in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal.

Pennsylvania State University is poised to name a new president, who will be charged with leading the state's flagship university through continued controversy in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal.

The board of trustees has scheduled a special meeting for 10:15 a.m. Friday at the Nittany Lion Inn in State College to deal with "personnel matters." Board members previously said they planned to name a new president before the end of the year.

Penn State officials contacted Tuesday declined to name the person who will become the next leader of the 96,000-student university. He or she will replace Rodney Erickson, who has said he plans to leave by June 30, 2014, or sooner if a new president is named.

Erickson, whose salary is $600,000, took over in November 2011 after longtime president Graham B. Spanier was forced out by the scandal.

The university's 18th president will have to deal with fractious relationships among trustees and alumni, some of whom are still upset that the school fired football coach Joe Paterno amid the scandal.

Another measure of the scandal was revealed Monday, when the school announced it would pay $59.7 million to settle the claims of 26 people who say former Paterno assistant Sandusky molested them.

The university last March gathered input from faculty, staff and students on what they wanted to see in the next president. Penn State hired the executive search firm of Isaacson, Miller to help with the search.

The presidential search website is: http://presidentialsearch.psu.edu/