Provost Search Committee Chair Ronald Green said yesterday the committee is in the final stage of deliberations to fill the office of the second highest-ranking administrator of the College.
Green, a religion professor, said the group held a meeting yesterday as "part of our on-going review of candidates."
According to Green, the list of candidates has been substantially narrowed since former President James O. Freedman appointed the committee in February.
Freedman said he appointed the committee in February in order to speed up the process once the new president took office.
Freedman said delaying the selection of a new provost would allow the president who succeeded him to have input in the deliberations.
"Our job isn't to make decisions," Green said. "We will make recommendations to" President James Wright.
Although it is unclear when a final decision will be reached, the committee will meet regularly in the days and weeks ahead, Green said.
Ideally the new provost will take office during this year, according to Green.
The committee seeks a candidate who has administrative experience and "fits with a place like Dartmouth," Green said.
In addition to Green, the committee includes acting Provost and Biochemistry Professor Constance Brinckerhoff, Art History Professor Kathleen Corrigan, Business Administration Professor Sydney Finkelstein, Engineering Professor Ursula Gibson, Medical School Professor George Langford and History Professor Leo Spitzer.
The provost position was at the heart of controversy last Fall when then-Provost Wright announced he would step down June 30 from his position at the end of June, due to criticism that Freedman did not execute a formal search process in appointing him.
Following the announcement of his resignation, close to 60 percent of the College's faculty signed a petition to make Wright the provost for a full four-year term in office.
The provost is the chief academic officer of the College and oversees the operations of the College of the Arts and Sciences, the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, the Thayer School of Engineering and the Dartmouth Medical School.
The provost also oversees a wide variety of departments, such as the College's library and computing systems, the Hopkins Center and Hood Museum and the Dickey Center for International Understanding and the Tucker Foundation.
