Last week, the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Screening Committee announced their selection of three candidates for a final round of interviews and university­-wide forums.

Dr. Sabine Heinhorst, chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, serves as chair of the search committee.

“The screening committee has identified three strong finalists for the position of Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Southern Miss,” Heinhorst said. “These candidates are visiting the Hattiesburg and Gulf Park campuses this month to meet with various constituent groups. Students, staff and faculty have an opportunity to interact with the candidates in open forums. Information about the candidates and the open forum schedules can be found on the Southern Miss Provost’s website.”

Cyndi Gaudet, chair of the Department of Human Capital Development on the Gulf Parkcampus, serves as vice chair of the search committee.

“It has been a distinct honor to serve as co-­chair with Dr. Sabine Heinhorst for this ScreeningCommittee,” Gaudet said. “Charged with recommending the best candidates possible by Dr. Bennett and working with the executive search firm, the Southern Miss committee looks forward to the candidates’ campus visits over the next couple of weeks. Finding the right talent to lead the University as our chief academic officer is critically important for the future of Southern Miss.”

The candidates chosen for final consideration include Wayne Raskind of Wayne State University in Detroit, Steve Moser of Southern Miss and Glen Cope of the University of Missouri­-St. Louis.

Students, faculty and staff at both the Hattiesburg and Gulf Park campuses have the opportunity to interact with each candidate in a series of open forums, beginning this week with the forums featuring Raskind that were on Monday at Gulf Park and Tuesday in Hattiesburg.

Moser’s forums will be held Tuesday, Oct. 13, at Gulf Park and Wednesday, Oct. 14, in Hattiesburg, and Cope’s forums will be held Tuesday, Oct. 21, at Gulf Park and Wednesday, Oct. 22, in Hattiesburg.

Of the remaining forums scheduled for the Hattiesburg campus, Moser’s will be held in the Trent Lott Center room 103, and Cope’s will be held in the Thad Cochran Center room 218.

The process for hiring a new Provost began in July when the search committee convened and the application opened.

Selection of applicants for preliminary interviews occurred in mid­ September, and the committee, made up of 28 members including faculty, staff and community leaders has now narrowed the pool to the three candidates that they have recommended to University President Rodney Bennett.

Bennett will take into consideration the committee’s recommendations as well as feedback from students and faculty after the candidates’ open forums to make the final hiring decision by mid­ November.

Sabine Heinhorst, chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, serves as chair of the search committee. She told the Hattiesburg American that, through the search and elimination process, the committee has looked for “somebody who can work well with faculty, staff and students and with Dr. Bennett and his cabinet.”

The candidate who is selected to serve as provost will begin their duties on Jan. 1, 2016 according to the timeline on the Provost Search web page.

Detailed schedules of each candidate’s open forum discussions, as well as their full curricula vitae, are available on the Provost Search web page.