The announcement of the 14th president of Iowa State simultaneously narrowed the field for the presidential selection process at the University of Kentucky at Lexington.By accepting the position of ISU president, Gregory Geoffroy, senior vice president for Academic Affairs and provost at the University of Maryland, College Park, declined his position as one of the top three candidates in the Kentucky race.As a result, the Kentucky Board of Trustees announced Tuesday night that Lee Todd Jr., senior vice president of Lotus Development Corporation and a former University of Kentucky electrical engineering professor, will be their 11th president. The other candidate was Jon Whitmore, provost and professor of theater history at the University of Iowa.Alan Kaplan, UK professor and chair of microbiology and immunology, was a member of the UK presidential search committee. He said Geoffroy’s appointment at Iowa State “naturally reduced the options” for the committee, but did not make the process any easier.”I think it did affect the process in the sense that Greg was an extremely attractive candidate,” Kaplan said. “I think many of our faculty felt the same way.”After Geoffroy accepted Iowa State’s offer, Whitmore dropped out of Kentucky’s search early Tuesday for personal reasons, said Jack Guthrie, member of the Kentucky Board of Trustees and the search committee.”Because of that fact, and with Dr. Geoffroy’s withdrawal the night before, our consideration then centered around Todd,” he said.Jay Varellas, senior in history and member of UK’s presidential search committee, said feelings around campus for both Geoffroy and Todd were positive.”The students were really responsive to both candidates,” he said.After devoting months to the presidential search, Kaplan and Varellas said it was difficult to lose Geoffroy to Iowa State.”We weren’t anxious to lose any of them. I think [Geoffroy is] a very talented guy, and I’m mad at him,” Kaplan said, with a laugh.Despite their loss, Guthrie said he thinks both sides won in the end.”I thought Dr. Geoffroy was an outstanding candidate,” he said. “I’m pleased to see that he will be president of Iowa State, and I think he would’ve made a good president at the University of Kentucky.”Todd differed from the other two candidates, Varellas said, because he has an entrepreneurial background and has not held an administrative position at a university.However, he said Todd has served on several educational committees throughout the state and is excited for the future of the university.”He’s been a great advocate of science and technology education,” Varellas said. “I think Dr. Todd is a great man. He has high energy and he cares about the state, I think it will all work out for the best.”Both Geoffroy and Todd will begin their presidential duties on July 1.