As faculty and students were leaving the University in December for winter break, the work of the presidential search committee officially began with the announcement of its membership.

Board of Trustees (BOT) Chair Ben Johnson, who is chairing the committee charged with finding a successor to President Bill Chace, announced Dec. 11 the formation of a group that includes several trustees, three faculty, one administrator and a student.

John Ford, senior vice president and dean of Campus Life, is the sole administrator in the group, and he is joined by three professors: Wright Caughman, professor and chair of dermatology in the School of Medicine; Luke Johnson, Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins in the Candler School of Theology; and Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies. Also on the committee is Emory College senior and Student Govern-ment Association President Christopher Richardson.

Rounding out the committee’s membership is a quintet of Emory trustees: Robert Fannin, resident bishop of the Birmingham, Ala., area of the United Methodist Church and BOT vice-chair; Charles Ginden, retired executive vice president of SunTrust Bank and BOT secretary; Ellen Bailey, chief operating officer of Cardiology of Georgia; Neal Purcell, retired vice chairman of KPMG LLP; and Chilton Varner, partner in the law firm of King & Spalding.

According to University Secretary Gary Hauk, Johnson will appoint small advisory groups to represent various constituencies (students, faculty, alumni, etc.), propose candidates, seek nominations and consult with the search committee.

The committee was set to meet as a group for the first time last week, and Johnson said it will visit with campus governance groups in January as well as plan public forums to gauge community opinion on the kind of leader Emory needs. He also said the committee will immediately hire a seach consulting firm to assist.

“I’m not looking for someone who fits just one mold,” said Lipstadt, who agreed to serve on the committee despite being on medical leave this semester. “The college is the unit with which I’m closest and most familiar, but my loyalty is to the whole University, so I’ll be looking for someone who is good for the whole University—of which the college is part.”

To provide up-to-date information on the presidential search, a website has been set up at www.emory.edu/ SECRETARY/Trustees/search.