Search Reaches Intermediate Stage

The presidential search committee has narrowed down its pool of candidates to a tentative intermediate list of 35 to 50 people, The Crimson learned this week.

The group, whittled down from a long list of at least 200, includes a number of Harvard deans, university presidents and national political figures.

Despite the quick narrowing of the field, officials said the list of successors to outgoing President Derek C. Bok is by no means closed. The nine-member committee, which is still soliciting suggestions on the search from Harvard affiliates, will continue to add new names as the process winds down, said Harvard spokesperson Peter Costa.

The pool as it now stands contains a number of candidates whose names had not previously surfaced, including Andrus Professor of Genetics Philip Leder '56, Ford Foundation Professor of International Security Joseph S. Nye, Jr., and Ropes Professor of Political Economy Lawrence H. Summers.

The list is also dotted with a handful of dark horse candidates from Washington D.C., including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and U.S. trade representative Carla A. Hills.

A number of leading scientific figures are under consideration: Earth and Planetary Sciences Chair Michael B. McElroy, who has advised Congress on a number of environmental matters; Mallinckrodt Professor of Chemistry George M. Whitesides '60, a central player in developing fundraising plans for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and Professor of Physics Roy. F. Schwitters, director of the federal government's $4.5 billion Superconducting Super Collider.

Other scientists in the running are: Houghton Professor of Chemistry Jeremy R. Knowles, who reportedly turned down the position of FAS dean in 1984; Christopher T. Walsh, Jr., Gaiser professor of biological chemistry and pharmacology; and Peter H. Raven, a noted botanist.

Leder, who in 1988 was granted the world's first patent on an animal--a genetically altered strain of mice, has been mentioned as a top contender for the presidency.

A number of high-level Harvard administrators have also remained on the list through the three-month-long search process: Divinity School Dean Ronald F. Thiemann, Law School Dean Robert C. Clark and Kennedy School Dean Robert D. Putnam.

In addition to appearing on the presidential candidate list, Nye, who is spearheading FAS's internationalization plans, has been mentioned widely as a top contender for dean of the Faculty.

The presidential candidate list also includes a number of top executives from other institutions: Nannerl O. Keohane, president of Wellesley College; Mary P. McPherson, president of Bryn Mawr College; and Thomas Ehrlich '56, president of Indiana University.

Still in the pool are two university presidents whose names have been widely circulated as possible successors to Bok; James O. Freedman '57 of Dartmouth College and Rice President George E. Rupp, formerly dean of Harvard Divinity School.

Philip A. Griffiths and Gerhard Casper are provosts at Duke University and the University of Chicago respectively, and appear on the provisional medium list.

Several Harvard faculty members appear on the list, including Martin S. Feldstein '61, Baker professor of economics; Dwight H. Perkins, Burbank professor of political economy and director of the Harvard Institute for International Development; and Stephen G. Breyer, U.S Circuit Court of Appeals judge and Harvard Law School professor.

Michael Boskin, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers; Peter C. Goldmark, Jr., Rockefeller Foundation director, Roger B. Porter, chief domestic policy adviser to the Bush Administration and IBM professor of business and government at the Kennedy School; and Neil L. Rudenstine, executive director of the Mellon Foundation and former Princeton provost, are in the poll.

The search committee has said that it will name a new president by late winter.

Toyia R. Battle and Ivan J. Oransky contributed to the reporting of this article.