A nine-month search for the new provost and academic vice president appears to be heading down the home stretch this month, as the search committee and administration have tabbed two candidates to visit the Pullman campus.

The first candidate to visit will be Alan G. Goodridge, executive dean of Ohio State University’s Colleges of Arts and Sciences since 1999. Goodridge will visit the Pullman campus Sept. 19-21, with an open session slated for 2:30 to 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21, in FSHN T101.

The second candidate is Robert C. Bates, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and University since 1994. Bates will visit Sept. 24-25, with an open session slated for 2:30 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25, in FSHN T101.

While numerous visits and interviews are slated during the visits, all faculty and staff are invited to attend the open sessions.

Ron Hopkins, WSU’s interim provost, has been serving in the position since June 13, 2000.

"We have an excellent search committee that has worked very hard and has looked at about 60 candidates," said Yogi Gupta, physics professor, director of the Institute for Shock Physics and chair of the Provost and Academic Vice President Search Committee. "We feel we have two very good candidates from excellent public universities. These are both very accomplished individuals who have a good understanding of the issues facing higher education today."

Goodridge earned his bachelor’s degree in biology in 1958 from Tufts University and his master’s and doctoral degrees in zoology from the University of Michigan in 1963 and 1964, respectively. He joined Ohio State in 1996 as dean of the College of Biological Sciences. From 1987-96, Goodridge served as professor and head of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Iowa. He also has been on the faculties of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio; University of Toronto, Canada; and University of Kansas Medical Center.

Goodridge’s research has been focused on the regulation of fat synthesis by diet and hormones. His training and early research involved the measurements of metabolic fluxes, concentrations of metabolic intermediates and enzyme turnover. His research has resulted in his being published 86 times in leading professional journals. He also has received several major grants from the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In addition to classroom teaching, he served as director of the correlated curriculum in cellular and molecular biology, core courses for all first-year graduate students in biological and biomedical sciences at Case Western Reserve University.

Bates has been an administrator at Virginia Tech since 1987 and, before becoming dean, was associate dean for research, facilities and graduate studies.

He joined the Virginia Tech faculty in 1972 as an assistant professor and has been a full professor since 1985. He holds a bachelor’s in biology from Lewis and Clark College, a master’s in microbiology from WSU and a doctorate in virology from Colorado State University.

He has published extensively in professional journals and is a member of numerous professional societies, such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Virginia Academy of Science and American Society of Biological Chemists.

In addition to his research into parvoviruses, Bates has taught courses in microbiology and virology and reviewed manuscripts for such journals as the Journal of Virology and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"The search committee has been acting on behalf of the students, faculty and staff to identify candidates that it feels should come on campus for interviews," said Gupta. "I think this next step involving their visit to campus and their interaction with faculty and staff is critical. In my mind, this is the most important aspect of the process.

"We’ll have many different meetings and opportunities for them to interact during their two-day visits. This should be a two-way street, where they find out about the university, and the community at large finds out about them. I strongly urge everyone to come and engage with these candidates in dialog and provide feedback to the president."

Gupta said the search committee has worked very hard over the past nine months, reviewing candidates credentials and visiting them on their campuses.

"I want to thank all members of the university and committee who suggested names of possible candidates for the position," Gupta said. "The search committee followed up on each one of them. I also want to thank the President’s Office for its efforts and support during the entire process."

Other search committee members include: Donald Bender, professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Ann Christenson, associate professor, Fine Arts; William Gray, campus executive officer and dean, WSU Spokane; Victoria Hansel, graduate student, Anthropology; Duane Leigh, professor/chair, Economics; Vicki McCracken, associate dean/director of academic programs, College of Agriculture and Home Economics; Frances McSweeney, professor/scientist, Psychology; Judy Mitchell, dean, College of Education; Matt Moore and Darren Eastman, undergraduate students; Mary Read, associate director, Publications and Printing; Michael Smerdon, professor, Molecular Biosciences; Michael Tate, dean/director of Cooperative Extension; Joe Valacich, professor, School of Accounting, Information Systems and Business Law; and Victor Villanueva, professor/chair, English.