SAN MARCOS ---- Mum was the word Friday as an advisory panel working to find the next president for Cal State San Marcos met on the campus to sift through applicants' credentials.

Adjourning after a meeting of about three hours in the conference room of the president's office on the fifth floor of Craven Hall, panel members would not say how many people had applied or been nominated for the job or discuss their range of experience.

It was the first time the panelists sat down since they had been urged to secrecy in an organizational session May 3.

"We're dealing with people's lives. We're not going to do that (answer questions)," said CSU trustee Robert Foster, a six-year veteran of the governing board for the 23-campus system who chaired the meeting.

But in a few guarded and extracurricular remarks made by panel members, it appeared the meeting was productive, the mood was upbeat and the panel confident a suitable new president will be found by the November target date.

Panel member Dick Montonari, who is also the CSUSM Academic Senate president, said, "It's a great, great time ... that's all I can say."

Another person in attendance, CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed, an ex-officio panel member, said, "Things are going well." He was seconded by Honey Folk, a panelist who serves as president of the Associated Student Government on the campus.

The committee was expected to sift through names and resumes and choose who to interview for the job. An unspecified number of interviews are being scheduled for Oct. 9 and 10 at an as-yet-undisclosed location, probably a hotel in the vicinity of the John Wayne airport in Orange County.

The CSU trustees are "on track" to choose the new president ---- the third in the 14-year history of Cal State San Marcos ---- when they meet Nov. 17 and 18 in Long Beach, said CSU spokeswoman Colleen Bentley-Adler. The presidency became vacant in July when Alexander Gonzalez left after six years to take the top post at Cal State Sacramento. Roy McTarnaghan, the retired president of Florida's Gulf Coast University, agreed to serve as interim CSUSM chief until January.

In May, in what was billed as the panel's one and only public session for the duration of the selection process, leaders of the CSU system had pleaded for secrecy. They urged committee members to disclose no names or identifying information about applicants, or any details about the deliberations.

The panel's 13 members include eight CSUSM faculty members and staff, the student government president, the chair of the CSUSM university council, an alumnus, a dean and Milton A. Gordon, the president of Cal State Fullerton.