For the third time in five years, the Kennedy School of Government is looking for a dean. This time, weary professors simply want an easy transition and a continuation of Dean Albert Carnesale's successful administration.

The faculty also wants a speedy search. Left leaderless in the midst of the University's $2.1 billion capital campaign, the school is also badly understaffed. Several top teachers are in Washington, and almost 10 searches will be going on this fall in a faculty of only about 95 people.

"A lot of our very best faculty went down to Washington. We took a much larger hit than any other part of Harvard," says Harmon Professor of International Science William D. Clark. "[Faculty members] are running pretty close to empty now."

Carnesale, University provost since July 1, still performs his official functions as dean--he gave the welcoming speech to incoming Kennedy School students last Friday, for instance.

But the question is whether a half-time dean is good enough during the largest fund drive in the history of higher education.

"The school is in a reasonable operating situation," says Williams Professor of International Trade and Investment Robert Z. Lawrence. But "if you spoke to me in six months or a year, I would say things wouldn't be functioning."

Faculty members say they are already taking many of their concerns to academic dean Alan Altshuler, rather than Carnesale.

"Clearly, [Carnesale] is shifting his focus to the provost's office," says Frederick M. Scherer, professor of business and government.

Altshuler himself says Carnesale's team can hold the fort for at least another academic year without a full-time leader.

President Neil L. Rudenstine, however, has said the wait won't be that long--he hopes to end the search maybe even as early as this fall.

Faculty members say they expect an insider, given Rudenstine's rush and the desire for continuity.

"People don't want to take a chance, and that gives insiders a leg up," Lawrence says.

Rumored Candidates

A search committee member says both insiders and outsiders remain on the list, but will name no names. In the meantime, the rumor mill churns out the usual suspects:

* Dillon Professor of International Affairs Joseph S. Nye Jr. Nye has been through this wringer before, as a contender in the 1991 search. A close associate of both former Kennedy School Dean Graham T. Allison '62 and Carnesale in the Avoiding Nuclear War project in the 1980s, he also has administrative experience as the director of the Center for International Affairs.