In the second-to-last step of a months-long application process, the regent candidate field has been narrowed down to one applicant for each of the four open seats, at least for the time being. The final stage in the selection process will be confirmation by a joint convention of the entire Legislature. The selection process started in August when the Regent Candidate Advisory Council, a group of 24 appointed by the Legislature to recruit and vet potential Regents, began accepting applications. After completing interviews, the advisory council recommended two candidates from each district to a regent nomination joint committee composed of the House and Senate Higher Education Budget Policy Divisions. The committee selected their nominees on Tuesday, but Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia , the co-chair of the nomination committee, said anything can still happen when the joint convention of the Legislature meets next week because any legislator can nominate whoever they want. Rukavina said because a couple of the races were within a vote or two, it is possible that legislators could nominate a completely different candidate than the four already chosen.