California State University trustees Tuesday identified the two men and one woman who are finalists to become chancellor of the 20-campus, 370,000-student system.

The only candidate from inside Cal State is Warren J. Baker, president of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The other two are Shirley S. Chater, a former UC San Francisco official who is president of Texas Woman's University, and Barry Munitz, an educator and businessman with a Texas-based conglomerate tied to the lumber and real estate industry.

A final choice is expected Thursday shortly after the finalists are interviewed by the full Board of Trustees at a meeting in Long Beach. The winner will succeed Ellis E. McCune, acting chancellor since last May when then-chancellor W. Ann Reynolds was forced to resign in a controversy over large and secretive pay raises for herself and other top administrators. Reynolds is now chancellor of the City University of New York.

One well-informed Cal State official speculated that Baker, president of the San Luis Obispo campus since 1979, may have the strongest chance because of his familiarity with the system and the Legislature, particularly important during the current budget crisis. "If I were betting, that's where I would place my money," said the administrator at the Long Beach system headquarters.

Others suggested that Munitz, who was chancellor of the University of Houston's main campus from 1977-82, has an appealing combination of academic and business skills. Yet Munitz's current position as vice chairman of Maxxam Inc., which owns Pacific Lumber Co., troubles legislators such as Tom Hayden, the Santa Monica Democrat who chairs the Assembly Higher Education Committee, because of the lumber firm's controversial logging practices.

Chater, who has led Texas Woman's University since 1986, is thought by several Cal State officials to be the least likely of the three finalists.

However, J. Gary Shansby, the Cal State trustee who headed the search committee of administrators, students and faculty that recommended the finalists, insisted there is no ranking. "There clearly is a strong view by virtually anyone on the committee that all three could be chancellor," said Shansby. "A lot depends on their presentations Thursday and their dialogue with the trustees."