Bok said he will solicit recommendations and advice from about 50 people in the next several weeks, and then start the actual selection process.

The permanent dean is expected to serve from six to eight years, Bok said. He will probably also have to give up most of his teaching and scholarship, he added.

Bok said last month that the new dean will come from Faculty or Administration ranks, noting that those already within the University have an advantage in the experience needed to fill the position.

Bok said he had decided against appointing a provost, an idea he had first advanced when he became President.

He explained that the central responsibility of provosts at other universities is to coordinate the allocation of financial resources among various departments and faculties.

"Because faculties at Harvard are financially independent of each other--Each Tub on Its Own Bottom--that function does not need to be performed here," he explained.

Bok added that the deans of the various faculties here would prefer to deal directly with him and not through an intermediary, and that he did not want to add an unnecessary bureaucratic position in the administrative apparatus.

"We should not be any more top-heavy than we have to be," he said