Open forums were held the past few weeks to give candidates for the Vice Provost position a chance to be heard.

The candidates are Paul Bauer, director of the NIU School of Music; Earl Seaver, chair of the Department of Communicative Disorders; and George Bishop, professor of English and dean of faculty at D’Youville College in Buffalo, N.Y.

The forums, which were open to all faculty and students, were held on Feb. 14 and 18, and on Wednesday.

The candidates were narrowed down to three by the Search Committee for the Vice Provost.

According to the Office of the Provost Web site, the position description for the vice provost includes overseeing undergraduate curriculum, teacher certification and enrollment services.

Provost Ivan Legg said the search for the candidates involved a very detailed screening process by the Search Committee for the Vice Provost.

The search for the candidates was very broad and was advertised nationally in higher education journals and publications, he said.

Candidate Bauer said he heard about the position because of this reason.

The process involved an application letter explaining his interest in the position, his involvement in different academic activities and a curriculum vitae, which basically is really long resume, he said.

Bauer said he has worked with the people in his 13 years at NIU that the vice provost comes into contact with and he has enjoyed his experiences with them.

“I really look forward to working with the big picture issues on campus,” he said.

Seaver and Bishop were not available for comment.

Legg said the vice provost position requires someone who has worked with undergrads, because the position involves this kind of interaction.

Heather Hardy, faculty chair of the search committee and chair of the department of English, also said the position involves undergraduate involvement.

“This is the position in the university that is most responsible for the undergraduate experience,” she said.

Legg added that although he makes the final decision as to who gets the position, he does it with a lot of advice.

If Bauer doesn’t get the position, he said he’ll have no hard feelings.

“If it doesn’t work out, I still get to be director of a great school of music,” Bauer said. “So, I’ll be happy either way.”

Legg said he likes the candidate selection.

“I think we’ve got a good group of candidates,” he said.