A committee has formed to search for a replacement for an Iowa State department head with 45 years experience in his field.

Tom Walsh, department chair of hotel, restaurant and institution management (HRI), started his phase-out retirement July 1.

A national search for a new department chair is being organized by a committee of two students and four faculty from ISU, and one industrial representative from the Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Maurice MacDonald, professor of human development and family studies.

Walsh will step down from his position as department chair January 1, though he will stay on as a professor at ISU during the ’98 fall semester.

Walsh has been a faculty member at ISU for 35 years.

Walsh said the phase-out retirement allows him to reduce his time and work load while still staying on staff at ISU.

He said he does not know what his future plans are for teaching at ISU, but he said he will start to travel and spend more time with his family this spring.

MacDonald will head the search committee for the new department chair until the position is filled, by July ’98.

“The chair for the Department of HRI is responsible for the general faculty development. He will work with the deans and other department chairs,” MacDonald said. “Plus, this position will work with business and industry to get funding to help the department shape academic programs.”

The two students on the committee are Patricia Daughrity, a senior in HRI, and Junehee Kwon Thompson, a HRI graduate student.

Rich Harter is the industrial representative who will advise the committee on what the HRI industry is looking for in ISU.

The HRI faculty who will help with the hiring process include MacDonald, Shirley Gilmore, Cathy Hsu and Joe Hutchinson.

The committee will meet Thursdays until they are fully organized and the advertising proposal is done.

MacDonald encourages ISU faculty to apply for the position, but he said the university will also look at applicants from all over the nation.