The search for the University’s second most powerful position is underway and an appointment announcement is expected in September.

William Potter, chair of the Provost Search Committee, said the committee created the Web site www.libs.uga.edu/provost to list the job ad, committee members and general information for applicants.

The provost serves as the University’s Chief Academic Officer, responsible for instruction, research and outreach, Potter said.

“The core mission of the University is to teach, to research and to serve,” Potter said. “All three of those come under the provost.”

University President Adams announced the retirement of Arnett Mace, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, at the annual State of the University address in January. Mace’s retirement is effective Jan. 1, 2010.

Potter told The Red & Black the 20-member search committee – consisting of faculty, staff, administrators, students and alumni – is looking for a “distinguished record in teaching and research and in service,” but it doesn’t want to “get too restrictive” in the qualifications.

Last month the University Council passed a motion that would give it more say in the hiring decision. Adams responded after the motion passed, saying the decision was “ill advised” and he might veto it because it could affect the number of applicants.

“I don’t think that’s true at all,” said Susan Mattern-Parkes, the council member who brought forward the motion, in a phone interview Tuesday. “I don’t think any candidate we would want to hire would not expect to face careful scrutiny of the decision.”

Mattern-Parkes said she sees the University’s reputation of hiring internally as being a deterrent.

“We have seen inside candidates appointed [for positions], and it’s not that they’re not qualified – everyone agrees they are qualified,” she said. “We would just like to see a full and fair procedure that gives people a chance to come in from outside. It’s a concern of not getting fresh blood and fresh ideas.”

Potter said the search committee has “absolutely no preconception” to hire a candidate from inside the University, saying the position is “wide open.”

“The president has made it clear to us it’s a wide-open search,” Potter said. “We’ll look at everybody outside and everybody inside, and we’ll treat them equally.”

In the past two provost searches, applicant numbers have been “upwards of 100,” Potter said.

The committee will be gathering applications until June, when it will narrow the search to 10 to 15 applicants who will be interviewed in mid-July. Potter said he hopes to have three to five serious candidates by August.

“We’ll have the new person named and the new person will come work with Dr. Mace while Dr. Mace is still a provost,” Potter said. “The person will not necessarily be here, but that person might come for a day or a couple days and actually be on campus to work with Dr. Mace.”

Potter said there are two nominations so far, one submitted by the search committee and one by an alumnus. Candidate names cannot be released during the early stages of the search, he said.

Adams mentioned at the University Council meeting last month these searches can prove difficult because good candidates normally have jobs already.

“As the president said, usually the people we want to apply and want to consider have a good job somewhere else and it might take some persuasion to get them to apply,” Potter said. “It might take explaining the job to them, explaining what’s involved here, what’s attractive about Georgia.”