MADISON, Wis. -- The interim chancellor at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has been recommended as its next leader.

Richard Telfer said that he looks forward to leading the university where he has worked 23 years.

UW System President Kevin Reilly and a Board of Regents special committee are recommending Telfer from five finalists. The regents are expected to confirm the pick in June.

Reilly said that Telfer knows the campus from top to bottom and is a champion for higher education.

Telfer joined UW-Whitewater as an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction in 1985. He held a series of administrative posts before becoming provost in 2002.

He was named interim chancellor last June after Chancellor Martha Saunders left to become president of the University of Southern Mississippi.