SLIPPERY ROCK — Trustees for Slippery Rock University voted Friday to go ahead with a search that officials hope will completely divest the school from its administrative duties at McKeever Environmental Learning Center in Mercer County.

The center, which was created in 1974 and is housed in Goddard State Park outside Sandy lake, provides school programs and summer camps to primarily students in elementary and high school classes. It has been administered by SRU since 1985, when the university took over responsibilities from Clarion University.

Amir Mohammadi, the university's vice president of finance, administrative affairs and advancement services, said SRU wants to put the center into the hands of a state organization more focused on K-12 education.

With SRU's focus on undergraduate and graduate studies, and the school's Robert A. Macoskey Center providing an on-campus resource for environmental education students, Mohammadi said the school was pursuing an arrangement that would put the center under the control of the state Depart of Conversation and Natural Resources.

“It was very difficult for our students to go up north,” he said. “We think this is a very positive, bold move.”

The university's goal is to completely divest itself from day-to-day operations at the center, but Mohammadi said that it would continue to provide instructors and “educational support” upon request, once the center is in new hands.