Forty-six people applied for the chance to become the University of Minnesota's next president, Board of Regents Chair Janie Mayeron said in a university-wide email Wednesday.

Search consultants from the firm WittKieffer "recruited a strong and diverse pool" of "talented candidates," Mayeron wrote. Of them, 89% were men and 11% were women. Thirty-nine percent described themselves as people of color.

All past U presidents have been white men except for Joan Gabel, who was the first woman to serve in the position.

Citing Minnesota law, the university said "all candidate names will remain confidential and only those who are selected to be interviewed by the Board will be named publicly."

The update comes at a time when the search for the next U president is accelerating. Gabel left this summer to become chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh, and former Hormel CEO Jeff Ettinger has been serving as interim president. His contract runs through June.

"The search began with all of you," Mayeron wrote in the email. A Presidential Search Advisory Committee consisting of students, faculty, alumni and others "has completed its evaluation of the applicants and was very impressed with the quality of the pool," Mayeron wrote.

She said the advisory committee interviewed 12 candidates and recommended four to the Board of Regents. The board is scheduled to meet Feb. 9 to discuss the search.

Finalists selected by the board will be expected to appear at public forums on each of the university's five campuses. The details of those forums are still being worked out, but Mayeron said she expects them to begin the week of Feb. 12.

The U president oversees a public university system that enrolls roughly 68,000 students, a mixture of undergraduates and graduates.

The U expected to face competition in its search for a new leader. Pandemic fatigue, political tensions and other stressors are contributing to turnover at universities across the nation; 130 schools had listings in the Chronicle of Higher Education for presidents, chancellors and vice presidents last month.