With the death of interim Chancellor Paul Sarvela on Sunday, SIU President Randy Dunn said he expects the SIU Board of Trustees to move forward with a national search for a permanent chancellor soon.

“I do have the impression that we’ll see that search process get going sooner rather than later,” said Dunn, who anticipates the search will be open to internal and external applicants.

While he would not disclose much detail, Dunn said the chancellor’s cabinet spent a lot of its Monday meeting talking about a transitional plan and coverage of the chancellor’s duties.

“Within a few days we’ll be able to come together and have a plan going forward,” Dunn said during an interview Monday. “But in the mean time, operations will continue. It’s not unusual for people in these roles to be gone for some period, so we have some protocols set up for work to continue getting done as we think this through.”

Dunn said the board appointed Sarvela indefinitely, and didn’t expect to begin a search until after assessing the fall semester in 2015.

“While it’s important that we think through carefully the future of the university, when you have this type of loss in leadership, we also know we need to provide some time for grieving and for people to process this and to be respectful to the family,” he said.

Luke Nozicka can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @lukenozicka.