Edward J. Ray, Ohio State’s executive vice president and provost, is one of six candidates being considered for the presidency of the University of Iowa.
Iowa’s Web site stated the Board of Regents, the governing body for Iowa’s three state universities and two special schools, will make the final decision on the appointment of a president to succeed Mary Sue Coleman, who left Iowa in August to become president of the University of Michigan.
According to the Iowa’s Web site, the University of Iowa Presidential Search and Screen Advisory Committee announced six candidates for the position on Dec. 21. The search committee was to prepare detailed recommendations and submit them to the Regents before it met with the candidates. The search committee has been charged with forwarding the names of at least four finalists for the position.
Another familiar face to OSU, Greg Williams, is also a candidate. Williams is the president of the City College of New York. He is a former Iowa law professor and administrator and was previously the dean of OSU’s law school.
The Presidential Search and Screen Advisory Committee proposed the candidates for the position be evaluated based on certain criteria. The complete set of criteria can be viewed on the University of Iowa Web site.
Ray interviewed with the regents on Dec. 16 with four other candidates.
Ray has held the position of vice president and provost since December 1998 and has been a professor of economics since 1977.
Coleman left the University of Iowa after holding the position as president since 1995.
