WACO, Texas (ABP) -- Baylor University regents Feb. 4 formally approved the transition of President Robert Sloan to chancellor beginning June 1 and asked two of their officers to name a search committee to seek his replacement.

Sloan, who has served as Baylor's 12th president since June 1995, announced Jan. 21 that he and the board had agreed to the transition, which was formally approved Feb. 4.

Chair Will Davis, in consulation with vice chair Jim Turner, will pick the presidential search committee and appoint an advisory committee composed of individuals representing a broad spectrum of Baylor constituents.

Davis said he expects to have both committees appointed prior to the next regents' meeting in April, at which he said they also will likely name an interim president. He said the search committee will range from nine to 14 members, and that he hopes to have them appointed within the next several weeks.

Neither Davis, Sloan nor other Baylor officials would divulge the details of Sloan's contract as chancellor. But sources close to the board said Sloan was offered $275,000 a year, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald. As president, he was paid about $420,000 per year. In his role as chancellor, Sloan will not have an administrative role but will focus on fund-raising, student recruitment and representing Baylor to groups outside the university, the largest Baptist university in the world.

Sloan's presidency has been embroiled in conflict for the past several years as an ambitious expansion, called Baylor 2012, was enacted. Rising tuition costs and Sloan's management of faculty and staff caused many to call for his resignation, deeply dividing the regents' board.

With the controversy behind them, Davis and other regents spoke of a sense of optimism and healing. Jaclanel McFarland, a regent who had gone from being one of Sloan's strongest supporters to one of his more outspoken critics, agreed there is hope for reconciliation.

"Baylor has a great history and I think we have a fabulous future," she said, according to the Tribune-Herald. "This board is going to come together over its divisions."

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