A search for a new dean for the College of Education will bring three prospective candidates to Iowa State on Thursday, as well as Monday, Jan. 26 and Thursday, Jan. 29.

Sandra Bowman Damico, professor and director of the Division of Educational Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, will be interviewing on campus today and Friday.

Walter Gmelch, interim dean of the College of Education at Washington State University, will visit ISU Jan. 26-27.

Les Sternberg, dean of the College of Education and Human Development at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, is scheduled to interview on Jan. 29-30.

A fourth finalist, Paula Short, who is from the University of Missouri at Columbia, has withdrawn from the search.

Cathy Curtis, ISU college relations coordinator, said students in the college of education are “certainly encouraged to come” meet with the prospective deans.

“It’s a chance to visit with people who are quite accomplished in the area of education,” Curtis said.

James Melsa, chairman of the search committee, which recommends a set of the three candidates to Provost John Kozak and ISU President Martin Jischke, said the candidates are looking forward to meeting with the students.

Melsa, who is also the dean of the College of Engineering, said each candidate is very well qualified for the job.

“They are a really good group of people,” Melsa said. “I’ve heard really good comments about each of them.”

The search for a new dean started when the former dean, Norene Daly, chose to retire, Curtis said.

Daly has recently been named as the Jones Distinguished University Professor at Emporia State University, where she is serving as a visiting professor.

The three finalists will be visiting ISU to discuss their “vision for colleges of education at land-grant universities.”

According to the ISU News Service, each candidate will respond to questions at an open forum and reception, and take part in a “diversity discussion.”

The diversity discussion is open to the campus community.

The candidates will also get an opportunity to visit with faculty in each department within the college, university administrators, and graduate and undergraduate students in the College of Education.

For anyone interested in attending Damico’s visit, the schedule is:

Thursday, Jan. 15

2:10 p.m. Open forum presentation, E164 Lagomarcino

3-3:30 p.m. Reception, Barton Morgan Reading Room, N166 Lagomarcino

4-4:30 p.m. Meet the undergraduate students, N166 Lagomarcino.

Friday, Jan. 16

1:15-2:15 p.m. Diversity discussion, 107 Beardshear.