(August 4, 2006)--Baylor University Chancellor Robert Sloan is the lone finalist for the presidency of Houston Baptist University, and Sloan said Friday he intends to accept if HBU trustees offer him the job during a special meeting next Tuesday.

Sloan met with school officials earlier this week and said he’s ready to take on the challenge.

“It felt very good to be there,” he said.

“We’re looking forward to the opportunity.”

Click Here To Read Houston Baptist Statement

Sloan has served as Baylor chancellor since last year after serving ten years as the university's president.

The Coleman-born, Abilene-reared Baylor alumnus holds a master of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and a doctorate in divinity from the University of Basel in Switzerland.

A statement issued Baylor President John Lilley expressed thanks to Sloan and his family and offered the university's "best wishes and prayers for their future."

Click Here To Read Baylor University Statement

Saying he had become a lightning rod for controversy, Sloan and university regents agreed in January 2005 that Sloan would step down to become chancellor effective June 1, 2005.

He said Friday that after he stepped down as president he wasn’t sure whether he would ever again serve as a college president, or whether he even wanted to lead another university.

He said when HBU first contacted him in March he declined at first, but he said HBU officials were persistent.

“I didn’t want to be on the sidelines,” Sloan said.

Sloan and his wife have spent 27 years in the Waco area during their years as students and during his tenure first as a faculty member and then as an administrator.

Sloan said Friday said the move will be bittersweet, but he said, “I think you cannot progress without change.”

Click Here For Baylor University Web Site

Click Here For Houston Baptist University Web Site

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