CHARLESTON, W.Va. - West Virginia University's interim president said Monday he has no doubt the search for his successor would be conducted with integrity.

A search committee for the next president could be announced as soon as Sept. 12, when the WVU Board of Governors next is scheduled to meet, Interim President Peter Magrath said in a meeting with Gazette editors.

"I'm quite confident that it will be a very credible search," said Magrath, who took over Aug. 1.

Magrath's appointment as interim president followed the resignation of WVU President Mike Garrison over the degree scandal involving Heather Bresch, Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter.

Many faculty members had opposed Garrison's 2007 appointment from the beginning. Some said it was a rigged and politically motivated decision, as Garrison had no academic background.

Magrath, who took over Aug. 1, said consulting with the board on the presidential search ranks as one of his top priorities.

WVU will need to hire a search firm for the process, he said. Also, faculty, student and alumni representatives on the search committee should be chosen directly by their respective constituencies.

"That's a standard procedure and it can be done," he said.

WVU should award the new president a competitive salary, he said.

"They're going to have to pay more than they're paying me," said Magrath, who is earning $300,000 annually. "I think everybody understands that."

Magrath also said he does not believe the Bresch scandal would permanently damage the school's reputation. He pointed to the record-breaking incoming freshman class of 5,000 students as proof.

"They're coming because it's a good university," he said.

Magrath was asked about the fact that several high-ranking officials who were involved in the scandal are still working for WVU. An investigative panel concluded that top administrators awarded Bresch, a pharmaceutical executive at Mylan Inc. in Pennsylvania, a degree she did not earn.

Former Provost Gerald Lang will be working for the university's Bucks for Brains campaign, and former business school Dean Stephen Sears will return to teaching. Both are tenured faculty members.

Magrath, who has served as the president of three public universities, said stripping someone of tenure is very difficult.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - West Virginia University's interim president said Monday he has no doubt the search for his successor would be conducted with integrity.

A search committee for the next president could be announced as soon as Sept. 12, when the WVU Board of Governors next is scheduled to meet, Interim President Peter Magrath said in a meeting with Gazette editors.

"I'm quite confident that it will be a very credible search," said Magrath, who took over Aug. 1.

Magrath's appointment as interim president followed the resignation of WVU President Mike Garrison over the degree scandal involving Heather Bresch, Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter.

Many faculty members had opposed Garrison's 2007 appointment from the beginning. Some said it was a rigged and politically motivated decision, as Garrison had no academic background.

Magrath, who took over Aug. 1, said consulting with the board on the presidential search ranks as one of his top priorities.

WVU will need to hire a search firm for the process, he said. Also, faculty, student and alumni representatives on the search committee should be chosen directly by their respective constituencies.

"That's a standard procedure and it can be done," he said.

WVU should award the new president a competitive salary, he said.

"They're going to have to pay more than they're paying me," said Magrath, who is earning $300,000 annually. "I think everybody understands that."

Magrath also said he does not believe the Bresch scandal would permanently damage the school's reputation. He pointed to the record-breaking incoming freshman class of 5,000 students as proof.

"They're coming because it's a good university," he said.

Magrath was asked about the fact that several high-ranking officials who were involved in the scandal are still working for WVU. An investigative panel concluded that top administrators awarded Bresch, a pharmaceutical executive at Mylan Inc. in Pennsylvania, a degree she did not earn.

Former Provost Gerald Lang will be working for the university's Bucks for Brains campaign, and former business school Dean Stephen Sears will return to teaching. Both are tenured faculty members.

Magrath, who has served as the president of three public universities, said stripping someone of tenure is very difficult.

"It is a long and complicated and often super-expensive process," he said.

Among other goals, Magrath said he also wants to take a close look at the financial and organizational efficiency of WVU's Health Sciences Center, saying the center's organizational chart "made my mind swim."

"I think [the center] is working," he said. "I'm just not persuaded that it's working as well as it should ... I'll know more in a few months than I do now."

His other priorities include "getting the best possible state appropriations" for the university.

"Investing in WVU - not spending money on it - is investing in West Virginia," he said.

Universities must be "very entrepreneurial and nimble" in attracting resources, and Magrath also wants the school to focus on fundraising from private donors, he said.

Magrath on Monday also briefly discussed WVU's collapsed deal with Union Carbide Corp. to turn 58 acres of land at South Charleston's Union Carbide Technology Park into a WVU research campus.

In July, WVU officials said the deal fell through because of problems with insurance and environmental liabilities. Magrath said the university has no plans to resurrect the proposal for a South Charleston research campus.

"From what I understand, that one's closed for now," he said.

WVU officials recruited Magrath for the interim position, and he expects he will stay with WVU for a year at most, he said.

Magrath, 75, is a political scientist and has previously served as president of the University of Minnesota, the University of Missouri and the State University of New York-Binghamton.

He is also the former president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges in Washington, D.C. While at WVU, Magrath is on leave from the College Board as senior presidential adviser.

Reach Alison Knezevich at

alis...@wvgazette.com or 348-1240.