A new search committee is going back to the drawing board after an unsuccessful attempt to find a new distinguished professor of economics and agriculture.

The original search for a candidate to fill the position ended in September with the final two candidates dropping out of the running before visiting campus. Neil Harl, current distinguished professor of economics and agriculture, is set to retire at the end of the year.

However, Harl has been contracted to keep his position on a part-time basis, working mostly in the area of what one official described as “extension work.”

He will receive half of his usual $157,588 salary for working in this capacity until the end of 2004.

Eric Hoiberg, associate dean of the College of Agriculture, heads the new search committee.

Hoiberg said the committee is currently in the final phase of approving the vacancy notice for the position, which will hopefully be placed in publications such as The Chronicle for Higher Education by next week.

“The position remains the same,” said Catherine Woteki, dean of the College of Agriculture.

“We’re looking for someone who has a law degree in agriculture and a master’s or, preferably, a Ph.D. in a related field,” she said.

The director of the former search, Arne Hallam, chairman and professor of economics and agriculture, said the failure of the committee was due largely to the lack of qualified applicants for the position.

Only two, he said, met the written standards required for the job.

Of those, one withdrew due to the media attention, having asked that her information be kept confidential by the college because she hadn’t told her current employers she was considering the position, Hallam said.

The other, Jon Lauck, an assistant professor at South Dakota State University, withdrew due to questions about whether he met the requirements of the job.

Lauck’s withdrawal was disappointing, Hallam said.

“He had a lot of really desirable traits,” he said.

Formerly, the qualifications required by the college for the position included a doctorate in economics and a juris doctorate.

The new, revised qualifications have been relaxed slightly, with candidates being required to hold at least a master’s degree in a field within the College of Agriculture, as well as a juris doctorate.

“They decided they wanted to go broader,” Hallam said of the new criteria. “They want people with Ph.D.s in other areas to be drawn in.”

Hoiberg said he hopes the change in specifications will result in a much larger candidate pool.

“We want to attract the best quality person for what we feel is a very important position,” Hoiberg said.

The tentative deadline for applications is Feb. 15; however, the committee will remain flexible on that date, Hoiberg said.

“We’d very much like to have someone in position by the end of the next fiscal year,” Hoiberg said. “And I feel that’s a very realistic goal.”