A committee leading the search for a new university-system chancellor whittled a list of 18 applicants to four candidates who will be interviewed next week, as the Florida Board of Governors moves closer to choosing a replacement for former Chancellor Frank Brogan.
The four who made the first cut Thursday to become the next leader of Florida's 12 universities were:
• AT&T Florida President Marshall Criser.
• Mark Drummond, who has served as chancellor of the California Community College System and the Los Angeles Community College District and was most recently the provost of the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates.
• James Purcell, commissioner of higher education in Louisiana.
• Bruce Rafert, provost of North Dakota State University, who has a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Florida and was a professor at the Florida Institute of Technology from 1984 to 1995.
Two other candidates — Vincent Beach, provost of New Mexico State University
Carlsbad, and Ronald Nykiel, provost of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore — also received support from at least one member of the search committee.
They could be interviewed if the committee decides to do so after hearing from the top four candidates.
Criser, a fixture in Florida's business community and political establishment, was one of two candidates who received backing from all six search-committee members who took part in a conference call Thursday. Purcell was the other.
Officials with the board proclaimed themselves satisfied with those who had applied for the job.
Brogan left the position to take a similar job in Pennsylvania.
"We were very pleased with the quality of the applications we received," said Randy Goins, chief of staff for the State University System.
Interviews with the four selected candidates are set for Nov. 12 in Orlando.
Finalists would interview with the committee a week later; the board hopes to choose the next chancellor Nov. 21, during its regularly scheduled meeting in Miami.