Dr. Pamela V. Hammond has agreed to spend an extra month as interim president of Virginia State University.

The VSU Board of Visitors last week approved a one-month extension of Dr. Hammond’s contract that will keep her in place through Jan. 31.

Her agreement to stay comes as the board and its search committee move closer to naming a permanent president.

Dr. Hammond was hired from her post as provost of Hampton University to take over as interim president following the November 2014 resignation of Dr. Keith T. Miller, who was under fire from students and alumni. When Dr. Hammond officially took the helm Jan. 1, she was the first woman to fill the school’s top administrative post since its founding in 1882.

Her one-year contract was set to expire Dec. 31, and she had indicated last month she would leave then.

Dr. Hammond had competed for the permanent position and made the short list. However, she apparently was not the top choice of the search committee, which began its work of finding a new president after she was named interim president late last year.

The effort to get Dr. Hammond to stay longer began after VSU Rector Harry Black, who chairs the search committee, proposed Washington consultant and former Richmond City Manager Robert C. Bobb take over briefly after Dr. Hammond’s exit.

Mr. Black, who is the city manager of Cincinnati, garnered little support for his proposal from the rest of the board, which was more interested in ensuring continuity and providing a smooth transition for the individual to be named as president.

According to a highly placed university source, the search committee has selected a finalist and the board has authorized negotiations, with prospects that the individual could be named sometime next month and begin work before Dr. Hammond departs.

The source said if negotiations fail, then talks would begin with a backup candidate.