BELLINGHAM, Wash. ― The Western Washington University board of trustees has picked the provost at Oregon State University as the preferred candidate to become the school’s 14th president.
Sabah Randhawa is OSU’s second ranking administrator. He is in line to replace retiring WWU President Bruce Shepard.
In addition to being the school’s chief academic officer, Randhawa also serves at the OSU’s chief operating officer and manages the school’s budget planning and development.
The industrial engineer has been in his current position at OSU since 2005 and held a number of other administrative positions. He earned his master’s degree in Corvallis after moving to Oregon from his childhood home in Lahore, Pakistan.
He was originally one of four finalists for the job in Bellingham, but no others were nominated to the next level by the trustees on Wednesday. The board has scheduled another vote next week.
Randhawa was previously a finalist earlier this year for the job of chancellor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and last year for the chancellor job at Southern Illinois University.
