The selection committee charged with picking the first permanent dean for the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study met last evening to whittle down the applicant pool to "the range of a dozen," according to President Neil L. Rudenstine.

Rudenstine has taken command of the selection process and is working with a committee of eight others--four former Radcliffe Trustees, two members of the Harvard Corporation and two individuals associated with the Board of Overseers--to snag a top academic and visionary leader for the dean's post and get her to Cambridge before this fall.

Emphasizing the scope of the selection process, Rudenstine said he had gotten 15 nominations for the post last week alone, bringing the total number of candidates to well over 80.

"We're trying to evaluate and find people that are truly exceptional," he said. "It's not over till it's over."

Rudenstine said last month that he hoped to go into last night's meeting with about 20 candidates.

Selection committee members were close-lipped last night about what specifically went on at the meeting.

"It went very well. But I can't discuss the details," said Nancy-Beth G. Sheerr'71.

Further cuts will be made in upcoming weeks. Rudenstine said last month that he hoped to get the pool of candidates down to five to eight by March.

The first regularly appointed dean of the Radcliffe Institute will be charged with defining the Institute's academic undertakings as well as shaping what role Radcliffe will play in the Harvard campus as a whole.

"The first dean will be the founding dean in a sense," Rudenstine said. "She'll shape a lot of the intellectual agenda. She has to figure out how to make all the pieces of Radcliffe work."

In a speech given at a luncheon for Harvard and Radcliffe alumni on Saturday, Acting Dean of the Institute Mary Maples Dunn said, "Neil has told me he's devoting an hour or two every day to making calls, nationally and internationally, looking for the best person to fill this spot."

Dunn emphasized the pronoun "she" when she mentioned the first regularly appointed dean of Radcliffe, highlighting the notion that the ultimate choice will be a woman.

Rudenstine said he is also looking for someone with a vested interest--though not necessarily an academic one--in the fields of gender or women's studies.

"We're not going to appoint someone who is not vitally interested and committed to those types of issues," he says. "They'll one way or another do work in that field."

A separate selection committee, made up of faculty members, will also be reporting to Rudenstine on candidates.

Radcliffe is trying to finish up a $100 million capital campaign. With a completion party planned for October, Radcliffe could benefit from having a permanent leader to garner financial donations.

Currently, the campaign pot sits at over $85 million.

Dunn acknowledged at Saturday's luncheon that the number of donors to Radcliffe's annual drive has dropped, though the amount of money raised remains equal to past years.

"The participation rate concerns me," Dunn said.

She has been crisscrossing the nation in recent months, explaining to alumnae the finer points of Radcliffe College's merger with Harvard and the Institute's functions.

A'Lelia P. Bundles '74, president of the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association, said that financial support from Radcliffe College graduates is critical to the success of the Institute.

"The Radcliffe Institute does not have graduates," she said. "We have to find creative ways to make alums interested in the Institute. "