VALLEY CITY - The search for a new Valley City State University president has drawn 24 applicants.

They include Phil Harmeson, the University of North Dakota's vice president for general administration, and Charles Ericksen, an accounting professor at Dickinson State University, who has administrative experience.

Harmeson and Ericksen are the only applicants from within the state university system. Another candidate, Ray Brown, was the vice president for academic affairs for Valley City State and Mayville State University from 1995 to 1998. He is now director of institutional research at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo.

The search committee is expected to narrow the list on Feb. 29.

The current Valley City State president, Ellen Chaffee, is retiring.

Separately, the committee searching for a new president for Lake Region State College in Devils Lake has voted to forward two names to the state Board of Higher Education.

The finalists are Doug Darling, a current Lake Region vice president, and Mike Bower, a dean of Mott Community College in Flint, Mich.

A motion to submit three names was defeated on a tie vote. That eliminated Darren Pitcher, a dean at Miles City Community College in Montana.

The search committee chairman, Richard Kunkel, says Bower also is a finalist for another college job. Kunkel says submitting only two names to the Board of Higher Education could put the board in a tough spot.