Iowa State Provost John Kozak is one of three finalists to become chancellor at the University of Nebraska’s main campus in Lincoln.

L. Dennis Smith, president of the NU system, released the names of the finalists Friday. Thomas F. George, 47, provost and academic vice president at Washington State University, and James C. Moeser, 56, vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of South Carolina, are the other finalists.

The position was vacated over the summer by Graham Spanier, who left to become president at Penn State University.

“It’s a major opportunity. It’s a position at an institution that is one of the major research universities in the country,” Kozak said Sunday. “As a provost looking at the position of chancellor, it looks like it would be very challenging, very interesting.”

Kozak, 55, was dean of arts and sciences at the University of Georgia and associate dean of the College of Sciences at Notre Dame before coming to Ames in 1992. Kozak said a colleague at Nebraska wrote and encouraged him to apply for the job.

“This is the first time that I’ve ever thought seriously about a move,” he said.

Unsure

Candidates will be in Lincoln some time during the next two weeks for formal interviews and to meet with campus and community groups, said Joe Rowson, NU director of public affairs. Smith wants the position filled by January.

Kozak said he isn’t sure if he would accept the position if it is offered.

“It would depend a lot on what I perceive to be the commitment of the institution to teaching research and outreach,” he said.

Leaving ISU and university president Martin Jischke, Kozak said, would be difficult. “I really do believe that Martin Jischke is a superior president,” he said.

Though both Nebraska and ISU are land-grant universities, their governing structures are somewhat different. Smith oversees the entire NU system. In Iowa, university presidents report directly to the state Board of Regents.

Kozak worked in a system similar to Nebraska’s while he was at Georgia.

Some tension

In Lincoln, apparently not everyone is content with the list of finalists.

The list, finalized by a 15-member search committee Thursday, did not contain Dr. Joan Leitzel, who has served as interim chancellor since Graham’s departure.

NU Regent Drew Miller was among those upset Leitzel was left off the list. “I’m disappointed she’s not on the list, and looked forward, frankly, to voting for her,” he said. “Whoever we choose, I’ll support fully.”

Miller said the three finalists were “obviously qualified” but he was concerned none has worked “outside the ivory tower” of higher education. Miller has been an advocate of a more-business-like approach to managing higher education in the NU system.

UNL Academic Senate President Douglas Jose did not want to second-guess the selection committee. However, he too was disappointed Leitzel didn’t make the list of finalists.

“But I guess that means there are three candidates that are very good,” he told the Omaha World-Herald.

Leitzel refused to comment on the search process because it was confidential. In a news release Friday she said she would work with the new chancellor to make the “leadership transition as smooth as possible.”

Should Kozak leave for Nebraska, he would be the second of four ISU administrators that report directly to Jischke to resign this year. Reid Crawford, former vice president for external affairs, left in September to fill a similar position at the University of Maryland.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.