University Times

The search committee looking for a successor to School of Law Dean Mary A. Crossley has narrowed the field of candidates to a handful.

Crossley, dean of the school since 2005, announced last May that she would resign the deanship effective this July 1. She will remain on the law school faculty.

David DeJong, vice provost for Academic Planning and Resources Management who chairs the search committee, said this week, “We had more than 40 well-qualified candidates from a larger pool to choose from. Of those, we interviewed 10 and subsequently narrowed the list down to five semifinalists.”

DeJong declined to identify the semifinalists.

Beginning next week, the semifinalists will be invited to campus individually for meetings and presentations during two-day visits. Those presentations will consist of a “vision talk” that will be open to constituents of the School of Law community but not the general public, and meetings with smaller groups of law faculty, students and other affiliates, open only to those groups, DeJong said.

“We will announce to the law community the schedule for each candidate’s visit two days before the visit occurs,” he added.

Plans to develop a web site dedicated to the search have been scrapped, DeJong added.

“I’m very pleased with the work of the search committee. I feel confident saying we will be recommending final candidates [to Provost Patricia Beeson] by March 26.”

—Peter Hart