Three of the four candidates vying for the top spot at UW-Madison have ties to the university.

The University of Wisconsin System announced the finalists Wednesday in the search to replace Chancellor John Wiley. He is planning to step down in September.

The candidates are:

• Gary Sandefur, dean of the College of Letters and Sciences at UW-Madison.

• Biddy (Carolyn A.) Martin, provost of Cornell University.

• R. Timothy Mulcahy, vice president for research at the University of Minnesota.

• Rebecca Blank, former dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

A search and screen committee made up of faculty, students, community members and university staff recommended the finalists to System President Kevin Reilly and a special committee of Regents on Tuesday.

Reilly and the Regents committee will interview the finalists Wednesday and make a recommendation to the full UW Board of Regents before its June 6 meeting.

"They're a spectacular group of university leaders," said Marsha Malick Seltzer, who chaired the search and screen committee. "Each one is extraordinarily well-qualified."

Sandefur is the only finalist from within the UW-Madison campus. But Mulcahy spent 20 years at UW-Madison and Martin got a doctorate in German literature here in 1985.

"There are benefits of being familiar with the campus and benefits of bringing in a fresh perspective," Seltzer said. "It's nice to bring in both sides of that experience."

There is no frontrunner, said Jay Smith, a member of the search-and-screen committee and former president of the Board of Regents. All are qualified to serve as chancellor, he said, and each represents a unique background and interest.

"Some may bring strong administrative strengths," Smith said. "Some may bring stronger personal strengths, or research strengths or knowledge of the campus in general. They all have very strong values and strong backgrounds as it pertains to education."

In brief interviews Wednesday, all of the candidates identified funding the university's mission and working well with the Legislature, the university and alumni as important parts of the job.

"What's critical is to hold on to the strong commitment to the public purpose, while relying increasingly on private funding," Martin said. "Finding the balance is really the name of the game."

The committee chose from a group of 55 applicants. Seltzer said they had a strong pool of applicants but admitted some possible candidates might have been turned away by Wiley's low salary. His salary of about $327,000 is the lowest for a chancellor in the university's peer group.

But the Board of Regents voted in February to increase the pay range to between $370,000 and $452,000 per year.

"We feel that does put us within the competitive range," Smith said.

The finalists will visit the campus next week to participate in meetings and a public reception. The full Board of Regents will appoint a UW-Madison chancellor at its June meeting.

"This is a big job," Smith said. "We're creating a new chapter, the university. It's a very important decision. It's a bit of a historic moment, really.

MEET THE FINALISTS

Public receptions will be held next week for all four candidates from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the main lounge of the Memorial Union: