The search committee has named three candidates for College of Music and Dramatic Arts dean.Patricia Hoy, Laurence Kaptain and Richard Helldobler will each be brought to campus to interact with students, faculty and staff before a final choice for dean is made, said David Cronrath, Dean of the College of Art and Design and search committee chair.The top three candidates were announced to faculty Friday, said Jane Cassidy, interim associate dean of the College of Music and Dramatic Arts.Beginning Oct. 19, each candidate will be on campus for three days. During the candidates’ visits, students will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn about candidate’s goals for the college.Hoy was director of the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis from 2002 to spring 2008. She is on leave for the 2008 to 2009 academic year. From 1985 to 2002, Hoy served as director of bands at Northern Arizona University. Hoy is the first candidate scheduled to visit the campus Oct. 19-21 but declined to comment.Kaptain will be on campus Oct. 22-24 and also declined comment. He said he would rather speak to students personally during his presentation. Kaptain is the dean of Shenandoah Conservatory and served as director of Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University from 2004 to 2006.Helldobler is the associate provost and associate vice president for Academic Affairs at California University of Pennsylvania. From 2000 to 2006, Helldobler was dean of the College of Liberal Arts at C.U.P. Helldobler could not be reached for comment.Last week, the committee conducted “airport interviews,” which usually last an hour,    Cassidy said.Cassidy said the committee is hopeful to have a contract signed with a new dean by December and have the selected candidate begin working in August.”All the candidates are excited about coming to LSU,” Cassidy said. They know we’re on the rise.”The candidates’ names are posted on the College of Music and Dramatic Arts’ Web site. But students won’t be able to access the candidate’s files. The search firm directed they only be available to Music and Dramatic Arts faculty because of confidentiality concerns, said Marian Jarratt, Cronrath’s assistant.Paul Chou, a representative of the Russell Reynold  Associates search firm, spoke with over 250 people about the job, said Cassidy, although she could not say how many applications the search committee received.The original search for a new dean for the College of Music and Dramatic Arts began last spring with the retirement of former dean Donald Ross’ retirement, Cronrath said. At the end of that process, the committee and provost decided there was a better candidate out there, so the search was restarted. The committee didn’t use a search firm for the first search, Cronrath said. —-Contact Olga Kourilova at [email protected]