Auburn University interim President Ed Richardson this week announced three finalists for the university's provost position.

The three finalists – Christine Curtis, professor of chemical engineering in AU's Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, Senior Presidential Assistant John Heilman, and William Sauser, associate dean and professor of Business and Engineering Outreach at AU – will each give public presentations on Tuesday, March 22, in Broun Hall Auditorium on the AU campus.

Curtis' presentation is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Presentations by Heilman and Sauser will follow at 2:45 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.

"Like the rest of the university community, I look forward to hearing from each of these candidates next Tuesday," said Richardson. "Regardless of which candidate is eventually successful, I'm comfortable that the Office of the Provost will be in extremely capable hands."

Richardson chose the finalists from among 10 applicants after receiving input on each of the 10 in meetings with the university's deans and vice presidents as well as representatives of the AU University Senate and the AU Multicultural Diversity Commission.

Following the finalists' public presentations, individuals in attendance are encouraged to complete and submit evaluation forms for each candidate. Richardson will consider those comments and, following individual interviews of the candidates, select the new provost.

Once selected, the new provost will begin serving immediately, and the president will submit that candidate to the Board of Trustees for its required approval at the Board's April 22 meeting.

Curtis came to Auburn as a research associate in the chemical engineering department in 1976 after receiving her doctorate in analytical chemistry from Florida State University. She progressed through the ranks of assistant, associate, full and Alumni professor of chemical engineering and, in 1993, took on the additional responsibility of associate vice president for research. From 1997 to 2000, she served the Office of the Provost as coordinator of Auburn's efforts to switch from academic quarters to semesters in addition to her duties as associate vice president for research.

Curtis was named associate provost in 2000 and associate provost and interim head of AU's facilities division in 2001. She served a brief stint as special assistant to the president before returning full-time to the chemical engineering faculty in 2004.

Heilman, a tenured professor of political science, received his doctorate in political science from New York University in 1973 and joined the Auburn faculty as an instructor shortly thereafter. He became an assistant professor in 1974, an associate professor in 1980 and earned a full professorship in political science at AU in 1993.

In addition to his professorship, Heilman served for four years as main campus coordinator of the joint Auburn/Auburn University Montgomery public administration program, six years as associate dean for research and development in AU's College of Liberal Arts and School of Fine Arts and for five years as co-dean and then dean of the AU College of Liberal Arts before being named senior presidential assistant in 2001.

Sauser, who received his doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology from Georgia Tech, came to Auburn in 1977 as an instructor of psychology. In 1978, he earned an assistant professorship in the AU psychology department, which he also served as director of the department's industrial/organizational psychology program.

Sauser left Auburn in 1984 to become head of AUM's management department. He returned to Auburn in 1988 as associate vice president for extension and professor of educational leadership, foundations and technology. In 1991, he served an American Council on Education Fellowship in the Office of the President of the University of Nebraska as part of ACE's leadership development program for higher education administrators. Sauser also served AU as interim associate provost and vice president for university outreach and as executive director for outreach and associate dean for administration and outreach in the AU College of Business. He accepted his current position in 2001.