STATE COLLEGE — Penn State trustees are poised to vote on a new president for Pennsylvania’s largest university.

Officials have not identified the candidate who’s expected to be introduced at today’s special meeting at the Penn Stater conference center.

On Saturday, Florida State University President Eric Barron — a former professor and dean at Penn State — shocked FSU trustees by publicly talking about leaving the school in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat.

Penn State trustees have not confirmed whether Barron was under consideration and have been tight-lipped about the 15-month process of recruiting a successor to President Rodney Erickson, who plans to retire in June.

Barron worked at Penn State for 20 years, including four as dean of its College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

Barron said that he is not making a move for the money, but rather because he sees the next challenge for himself.

“People would be surprised at how much pain is associated with leaving Florida State,” Barron said. “It is awfully hard.”

As Florida State’s president since 2010, Barron was an aggressive advocate in the halls of the Florida Capitol to secure more money for the university. It took two years for FSU and the University of Florida to win approval from the Florida Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott to be designated as the state’s two “pre-eminent state research” universities. The designation brought with it extra funding intended to boost FSU’s national standing, including helping the school achieve membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities.

Previously the university’s provost and executive vice president, Erickson was named to the top job in November 2011 after then-president Graham Spanier was forced out amid the unfolding Jerry Sandusky scandal. Spanier was later charged in an alleged cover-up.