The search for the Liberal Arts and Science dean is still in progress while the new search committee accepts nominations for the next LAS dean.

Elizabeth Hoffman, executive vice president and provost, selected a majority of the 20 committee members from a wide variety of LAS departments to help select the new dean.

The search committee co-chairs are Jonathan Wickert, dean of the College of Engineering, and David Holger, associate provost for academic programs and dean of the Graduate College.

“The committee members were selected to represent students, staff and two external alumni-type constituents of the college,” Holger said.

Sawyer Baker, sophomore in political science, represents the only undergraduate in the search committee and is trying to do her part by connecting with the students.

“When I talk to students and ask, ‘What do you look for in a dean?’, the students reply with, ‘I don’t even know my dean,'” Baker said.

Baker plans to focus on listening to what students want and bringing students’ opinions to the meetings.

The search committee has had one meeting dealing with schedules for dean searches and has two more meetings left this semester, with the primary focus aimed at finalizing the recruitment strategy.

The first step is to get a pool of good candidates by advertising in a variety of ways, Holger said, but the best method will be a single-page descriptive ad for the position that will be distributed to a wide audience.

“The reality of it is, in dean searches, very few — if any — of the candidates you are really interested in are people you find out about because they answer the ad,” Hogler said. “The way you get the candidates you are interested in is typically faculty and often department chairs know of people at other universities in their disciplines or internal to Iowa State that would be good dean candidates.”

Once the committee has collected nominations, it will contact the nominees and encourage them to apply.

The applying process basically consists of submitting a letter of why the candidate thinks they are prepared for the position, how they think their qualifications match up with the position’s criteria, why they are interested in the position and a resume.

“A dean search like this will probably consist of 30 to 50 serious applications at least, but there could easily be 75 to 100 nominations, but usually a quarter or a third of those are not interested,” Holger said.

Starting in early September, the committee will narrow the pool of candidates down to see whom it is most interested in.

“During the forums open to public, these were some recurring qualities people were looking for in the new dean: Good at fundraising, able to manage budget cuts, creative problem solver, leadership skills, management experience, willing to make hard decisions, sensitive to the undergraduate experience and someone who is willing to listen to the students,” Baker said.

The group will be narrowed down to 8 to 12 quality candidates who will meet with as many committee members as possible. This number is then cut down again to four-to-five applicants, and the group is brought to campus for an interview.

“The final decision is up to the provost, and she will look at the input she gets from campus people, background of the candidates and what the committee’s input is before making up her mind,” Holger said.

As of now, starting July 1, David Oliver, professor of genetics, development and cell biology and associate dean of LAS, will serve as interim dean until a new dean is selected.