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Texas A&M Interim President R. Bowen Loftin said that he would accept the university's presidency post if it were offered to him and that it would be an honor to lead his alma mater.
Loftin suggested that he was a candidate for the position but didn't directly say that he had applied.
"They've had my CV for a long time," he said, referring to his curriculum vitae, a sort of academic résumé.
"As an Aggie, as a person who for his whole life has been an educator ... I can think of no higher calling than to be Texas A&M's president," the 1971 graduate said during an interview Thursday.
Loftin, who had served as head of Texas A&M's Galveston branch campus, was selected to be interim leader by the Board of Regents on June 15, the same day Elsa Murano resigned as the university's 23rd leader.
"He has the ability to communicate with faculty. He's got the respect of faculty," said Regent Gene Stallings. "I'm sort of outside looking in, but I think he's done an outstanding job under some pretty tough circumstances."
Murano's resignation came amid a falling-out between her and Texas A&M System Chancellor Mike McKinney and the Board of Regents.
In a performance review, McKinney criticized Murano for poor honesty and integrity and for working too closely with faculty members. Murano protested the review to regents.
Many faculty members viewed Murano's departure as her punishment for resisting influence from the Texas A&M System, which governs the flagship College Station campus along with 10 other campuses, seven state agencies and a health science center.
Loftin said his primary goal was to alleviate concerns. He met with faculty groups and others, and touted his academic credentials and his stint as president of a faculty senate.
In 4 1/2 months, Loftin has ordered administrative belt-tightening, asked Provost Jeffrey Vitter to resign and helped secure funding last month for a $46 million humanities building, which had been on hold since 2007 because of a lack of funding.
"Faculty have generally found his decisions reasonable," said Robert Bednarz, speaker of the Texas A&M Faculty Senate. "They've been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt."
Bednarz, who was speaking as a spokesman for the faculty, also is a member of the 16-person search committee that is looking for Texas A&M's next president.
The committee, chaired by Austin dentist Richard Box, is scheduled to send three or four names in January to the Board of Regents, which will make the final call. Box also is a regent.
Candidates for the presidency will remain secret until one or more finalists are named by regents in February. After naming the finalists, regents must wait 21 days before offering someone the job.
Loftin, who grew up in Navasota, said his primary focus was on his all-consuming job as interim president.
"I'm not sitting here thinking about how every move I make will make my case stronger in terms of being a president," the 60-year-old said. "I just do my job day to day. Hour to hour, sometimes."
