Iowa State has named four finalists in the search to replace William Whitman, associate vice president for facilities planning and management.

After having a hand in the construction of about 60 percent of all buildings on campus during his years at ISU, Whitman is retiring Dec. 31.

Each candidate will be on campus during December for two-day visits. The finalists will respond to questions on the first day of each visit during an open forum at 4 p.m. in 142 General Services Building

The first of the four candidates to be interviewed is Christopher Ahoy, assistant vice president for business and finance and director of facilities planning and management at the University of Nebraska. He will visit Dec. 2.

Richard McDermott, director of facilities management for the University of Nebraska, will visit Dec. 5.

James Vespi, who will visit Dec. 10, is director for facilities operations at North Carolina State University.

The final candidate, Gary Reynolds, will visit Dec. 12. He has worked as the director of facilities planning and management at Iowa State since 1989 and has been employed by ISU since 1981. In addition, Reynolds received a B.S. degree in engineering science and an M.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Iowa State.

Whitman said he is proud to have served ISU, but his retirement does not mean he will not stay busy.

“I’ve got a lot of volunteer work I do,” he said.

After serving in the Air Force, Whitman moved to Ames and got a job with the physical plant in 1960. In 1968 he became director of the physical plant. In 1987 they combined the physical plant, the office of space and scheduling, and university architects. At that time, he became associate vice president for facilities planning and management.

“I think the most important thing to me as I leave this place is the high quality of the people who work here,” Whitman said. “I couldn’t have done what I did without good people because I couldn’t do it myself.”