University Times

The list of candidates to be the new dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) is down to 13 — barring any last-minute, stellar applicants — and the search committee will begin interviews with them on Oct. 10.

The 13 men and women include candidates from within Pitt as well as outsiders, representing all three of the traditional arts and sciences divisions: humanities, natural sciences and social sciences, said search committee chairperson Edward Stricker.

"On paper, they all look terrific," Stricker said. "You never know until you meet candidates face to face, but at this point I'm very optimistic. I would suppose that 10 of them will prove to be excellent. There have got to be five among the 13 who are terrific." The search committee plans to finish its interviews with the 13 by the end of the first week of November, Stricker said. Then the committee will pick 6-8 semi-finalists, whose names will be announced to the public. Provost James Maher has asked the committee to recommend 3-5 finalists by Feb. 1, 1998, but Stricker says the committee hopes to do so by the end of 1997.

During the first round of interviews, the 13 current candidates will meet on campus only with the search committee. "We're not being secretive, but these are people who already have jobs, and it could be very difficult and awkward for them if it becomes public knowledge that they have applied" for the FAS deanship, Stricker said. "After all, 12 very good people are going to be turned down in this process." Besides, FAS faculty and other Pitt personnel will have the opportunity to meet the semi-finalists, he noted.

Stricker acknowledged that every chairperson of a search committee tries to sound upbeat, at least publicly, but he insisted: "In the case of this search, it's really true. At the end of June, I thought we would have to make the best of a bad situation. We didn't have 10 really good candidates at that point. But since then, we've gotten a flood of good applicants. Both the number and quality of candidates went way up." He wouldn't reveal how many applications and nominations the search committee received, but said "we had to make quite a severe cut" to reduce the list to 13 candidates.

— Bruce Steele