The University of Oregon Selection Advisory Committee — on the hunt for a replacement provost of outgoing Jim Bean — met for the first time on Monday evening to lay the groundwork for the rest of the search.

“We are just starting the search process,” said Alec Murphy, committee chair and geography professor. “We were really just talking generally about how we’re going to do things from here on out.”

Bean announced his intent to return to faculty status at the UO for the 2013-2014 academic year in early February. He plans to continue his duties through June 30, the end of the current fiscal year, at which point an interim provost, appointed by UO President Michael Gottfredson, will hold the position until a new permanent one is chosen.

The provost search committee — composed of faculty, staff, administration and students — is charged with the task of recruiting, interviewing and refining a list of potential candidates. According to Murphy, after the committee has approved a suggested list of final candidates, the process will be passed along to Gottfredson and his leadership team for final selection.

Murphy and the rest of the committee hope to complete their process over the span of the summer.

“The hope is that we can bring the search to a conclusion by the end of the next calendar year,” he said.

According to the job description, the provost serves as the “chief academic officer” for the UO and is responsible for overseeing key academic matters such as faculty appointments, promotions and tenure processes, academic recruiting and curriculum standards.

According to Murphy, although the search committee hopes to complete its task as quickly and efficiently as possible, they won’t allow themselves to be constrained by the coming of the next academic year if they haven’t yet found a good pool of strong candidates for the position.

“Our goal is to find a suitable candidate going forward,”  he said. “We are looking for a strong academic who has the drive and initiative to lead a major research institution.”