The Western Washington University Board of Trustees named Sabah U. Randhawa as the preferred candidate for WWU’s next president.

Randhawa currently serves as the Oregon State University provost and executive vice chair, the second ranking administrator at the university. The board named Randhawa today from a list of five finalists for the job, which came after a nationwide search.

Trustees were impressed by Randhawa’s “commitment to diversity and inclusion, shared governance, strengthening student’s academic experience and closing the achievement gap,” according to a statement released by the school today.

Randhawa earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1979 from the University of Engineering and Technology in Pakistan. He earned a master’s degree in industrial engineering from OSU and a doctorate in industrial engineering from Arizona State University.

Prior to his current position, he served at OSU as the vice provost for academic affairs and international programs, the interim dean of the school’s business college, associate dean for operations at the engineering college and department head of industrial and manufacturing engineering.

Randhawa will be invited to WWU next week to meet with student, faculty and staff leadership and members of the committee tasked with finding the school’s next president. After getting feedback from those groups, the board will vote on Randhawa to be the next WWU president.

WWU’s current president, Bruce Shepard, is retiring on June 30.