The E.J. Ourso College of Business Administration is still in the process of selecting a new dean after Dean Thomas Clark retired two years ago.
John Hamilton, Manship School of Mass Communication dean and member of the business college dean search committee, said the committee formed when Clark retired.
Hamilton said the committee has made its recommendations to Chancellor Mark Emmert.
“We’ve done our job, and now it’s in the hands of the chancellor,” Hamilton said.
Chancellor Emmert could not be reached for comment, and it is unknown when he will make a decision on the matter.
Four men are in the running for the position of dean.
One of the candidates is William Lane, interim dean of the college and the college’s John Davidson Teaching Endowed Professor. He joined the University faculty in 1975 and served as associate dean of undergraduate studies for the college from 1983 to 1985. He also served as the chairman of the Department of Finance from 1999 to 2002.
Fellow candidate M. DeKalb Terrell arrived at the University in 1996. He has served as the Freeport McMoran Chair of Economics and director of the Division for Economic Development since 2000.
Candidate Robert Sumichrast currently is at Virginia Tech, where he has served as the associate dean for graduate and international programs at the Pamplin College of Business.
Sumichrast said an executive search firm, Heidrick and Struggles, contacted him on behalf of the college in September 2002 about the dean vacancy.
Sumichrast met with college officials in February and visited the University campus last month. However, he said he has not since heard directly from the college.
“They really weren’t able to tell me about when they’d make a decision,” Sumichrast said.
The final candidate, R. Stephen Sears, serves as the interim dean of the Rawls College of Business Administration at Texas Tech University. He is also the senior executive associate dean and Lubbock Bankers’ Association professor of finance.
Karen Deville, College of Business Administration director and member of the dean search committee, said she could not provide information about the search.
“We can’t say anything about the process right now,” she said.