Six individuals have been identified as finalists for the position of president of the University of Nevada, Reno:

Steven Roger Angle is provost of Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Angle previously served as dean of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and director of the Agricultural and Natural Resources Program at the University of California, Riverside;

Rachel Toni Algaze Croson is division director of the Division of Social and Economic Sciences, part of the National Science Foundation's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate. Croson serves in this role while on leave from the University of Texas at Dallas where she served as professor and director of The Negotiations Center, a joint appointment between the School of Management and the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences;

Yash P. Gupta is president and chief executive officer of SDP Telecom, Inc. Gupta previously served as dean of the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School;

Marc A. Johnson is interim president of the University of Nevada, Reno. Johnson previously served as executive vice president and provost at the University;

Sabah U. Randhawa is provost and executive vice president of Oregon State University. Randhawa previously served as vice provost for academic affairs and international programs at Oregon State;

Stephen G. Wells is president of DRI, the Desert Research Institute. Wells previously served as executive director of DRI's Quaternary Sciences Center.

"The University of Nevada, Reno is a vibrant, public university, with a growing national reputation and a long-standing history of service to our state," said James Dean Leavitt, member of the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents and chair of the Regents' Presidential Search Committee. "We are looking for a visionary leader to guide the University to the next echelon of quality and national visibility. These candidates bring strong academic, research and administrative experience, and we appreciate their interest in this vitally important role."

The finalists will be invited to participate in a series of campus forums on April 13, 16 and 17 to allow faculty, staff, students and the community to meet them and provide input to the search process.

The search for the University's next president is conducted with two committees< that meet jointly and in accordance with Nevada's open meeting law. The Presidential Search Committee includes six members of the NSHE Board of Regents. The Institutional Advisory Committee includes 11 representatives of the community and 12 representatives of University of Nevada, Reno faculty, staff and students. The President Search Committee engaged the services of William Funk, president of R. William Funk & Associates, as the consultant for the search process. The desired characteristics of the next president are summarized in the University of Nevada, Reno Presidential Prospectus, prepared after a series of open meetings with campus and external constituents and approved by the two committees.

The two committees will meet April 5 in the Joe Crowley Student Union Ballroom, starting at 1 p.m., to discuss the finalists and review their resumes. It is planned that the committees will then reconvene on April 18 in Lawlor Event Center at 9 a.m. to hear from the search consultant regarding the forums and conduct interviews with the finalists. At that meeting, the Presidential Search Committee may potentially select a candidate to recommend to the full NSHE Board of Regents for consideration.

The University of Nevada, Reno president reports to the chancellor of the NSHE, who holds an ex-officio, nonvoting membership on both committees.