ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996 TAG: 9605080041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
A field of 150 candidates has been narrowed to three women in the search for Hollins College's ninth president.
The three finalists will visit the campus this week and next to meet with students, faculty, alumnae and trustees, said Hollins spokeswoman Linda Steele.
Hollins' commencement is scheduled for May 19, but it's unclear whether a new president will be chosen when the board of trustees meets the day before.
"A lot of it is contingent on how things go, but there is a possibility that a candidate would be selected when the board of trustees meets ... on May 18,'' Steele said.
The three candidates are:
Elisabeth Muhlenfeld, dean of undergraduate studies at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Muhlenfeld has taught English there since 1978. Since she was named dean in 1984, she has been responsible for the academic progress of the university's 8,000 undergraduate students as well as academic advising, the honors program and minority academic programs. She is a graduate of Goucher College with a doctorate in English from the University of South Carolina. Her specialty is American literature, concentrating on Southern writers.
Janet Rasmussen, vice president for academic affairs at Nebraska Wesleyan University. She has had that job for five years. From 1980 to 1991, she was coordinator of Scandinavian studies, chairman of the department of languages and dean of the division of humanities at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash. She received her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Illinois and a doctorate in Germanic languages and literature from Harvard.
Constance Rooke, associate vice president of academics at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. She arrived in Guelph, near Toronto, in 1988 to become chairman of the English department and was named associate vice president in 1994. Born in the United States, she now is a Canadian citizen. She is a graduate of Smith College and earned her master's degree in English from Tulane and her doctorate from the University of North Carolina. She was a faculty member at the University of Victoria from 1969 to 1988, where she was chairman of women's studies.
None of the candidates could be reached for comment Tuesday.
President Jane Margaret O'Brien is leaving Hollins at the end of the school year. She will become president of St.Mary's College of Maryland, a public coeducational liberal arts college south of Annapolis. Her five-year contract with Hollins expires June 30.
The presidential search committee - which is being headed by alumna and trustee Anna Lawson of Daleville - will meet May 16 to develop a recommendation for the board of trustees. It began its work in February with instructions to recommend one to three candidates.
Lawson said eight applicants made it as far as the interview process, which reduced the number to three.
At this point, Lawson said, "It's the fit with the college. They're all great people.
``Their academic credentials are really outstanding, and their management administration experience is seasoned," Lawson said of the three women.
It's only a coincidence that all three finalists are women, she said.
"It's just the way it happened, but it is important," she said. "We didn't go into it saying it had to be a woman."
Four men and three women have served as president of Hollins in its 154-year history. Its second president, Matty Cocke, was the first woman to lead a college in Virginia.
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