UCF presidential search narrows to eight candidates including Provost Dale Whittaker

The University of Central Florida Presidential Search Committee on Thursday narrowed a list of more than 40 applicants for the school’s presidency to eight semifinalists including the university’s current Provost and Executive Vice President Dale Whittaker and four candidates whose applications were not previously released.

Whittaker, the number-two executive at UCF since 2014, is joined on the list of semifinalists by sitting presidents at the University of North Dakota and the University of Akron, by four vice presidents of various universities, and by a former university vice-chancellor.

The list of semifinalists is:

— James Dean, former executive vice chancellor and provost, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill;

— Kelvin Droegemeier, vice president for research, University of Oklahoma;

— Suresh Garimella, executive vice president for research and partnerships, Purdue University;

— Venu Govindaraju, vice president for research and economic development, University at Buffalo;

— Mark Kennedy, president, University of North Dakota;

— James Weyhenmeyer, professor and vice president of research and economic development, Georgia State University;

— Whittaker; and

— Matthew Wilson, president, University of Akron.

The applications of Garimella, Govindaraju, Kennedy, and Wilson were late entries, arriving Thursday just before the committee meeting, and had not been previously released.

The committee is narrowing the field in the search for someone to succeed UCF President John Hitt, who is retiring in June after nearly 26 years of presiding over the university.