ANN ARBOR—Four individuals have been recommended to the University of Michigan Board of Regents as finalists for the presidency of the University. The recommendations were made by the Presidential Search Advisory Committee (PSAC) at a special meeting of the Presidential Search Committee, a committee of the whole made up of the Board of Regents, this morning (Oct. 17).

Recommended were: Lee C. Bollinger, provost and professor of government, Dartmouth College; Stanley A. Chodorow, provost and professor of history, University of Pennsylvania; Carol T. Christ, vice chancellor, provost and professor of English, University of California at Berkeley; and Larry R. Faulkner, provost, vice chancellor for academic affairs and professor of chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The PSAC, chaired by Law School Dean Jeffrey S. Lehman and comprised of faculty, staff, student and alumni members, serves in an advisory capacity to the Board of Regents. The Board, acting as the Presidential Search Committee, can accept the recommendations of the PSAC or may consider names instead of, or in addition to, those recommended by the PSAC. The Presidential Search Committee will meet in a public session Friday afternoon presidency.

The 12 members of the PSAC, speaking before the Board, described a process that began in March and encompassed hundreds of hours of gathering opinions from University constituencies, advertising for and actively recruiting top candidates from leadership positions in academic and other organizations, collecting biographical information and confidential references on each of the proposed candidates, and conducting personal interviews with a select list of prospects.

Lehman noted that although the PSAC had originally intended to present a list of five recommended finalists, last-minute alterations in the search process made necessary by a court ruling earlier this week led one of the five to withdraw.

Nevertheless, he said, the four finalists recommended to the board have indicated their willingness to remain involved in the modified search process and represent “a remarkable group.” Each of the four is “a person of the highest integrity”; knows how to listen; is curious about the world; is an accomplished scholar; has a lot of energy; loves the craft of teaching; is committed to the special responsibilities of leading a public institution; is “decent and admirable,” and has a “wonderful sense of humor” and a “genuine humility.”

Bollinger, who has been provost of Dartmouth College since 1994, holds a B.S. degree from the University of Oregon (1968) and a law degree from Columbia University (1971). He began his academic career as assistant professor of law at the University of Michigan in 1973, progressing to associate professor and then professor. He served as dean of the University of Michigan Law School from 1987-94.

Chodorow, who has served as provost at the University of Pennsylvania since 1994, spent the majority of his career at the University of California at San Diego, where he held positions of assistant professor, associate professor and professor of history from 1968-94. There he also served as dean of arts and sciences, and then dean of arts and humanities and associate vice chancellor for academic planning, 1985-94. He earned an A.B. in 1964 and Ph.D. in 1968, both from Cornell University.

Christ was named vice chancellor and provost at the University of California at Berkeley in 1994. Prior to that she was dean of humanities and then provost and dean of the College of Letters and Science, 1988-94. Beginning in 1970 she also has been assistant professor, associate professor and professor of English at Berkeley. She received a B.A. degree in 1966 from Douglass College and M.Ph. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University in 1969 and 1970, respectively.

Faulkner has held his position as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1994. Prior to that appointment he served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1989-94. His other academic positions include assistant professor of chemistry at Harvard University, 1969-73; assistant professor, then associate professor, then professor of chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1973-83 and 1984 to the present; and professor of chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin, 1983-84.

The PSAC also released the names of all 302 candidates who were nominated for the U-M presidency and considered by the committee during the search process.

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