While Clark and Fineberg have already drawn attention as internal favorites, a number of external possibilities with strong Harvard ties have also piqued interest.

The Dean of Stanford Law School, Kathleen M. Sullivan--a graduate of and former faculty member at Harvard Law School--is one of the country's top constitutional law experts. She is enormously popular among those who emphasize the inclusion of women as presidential possibilities--and she is Stanford's first female academic dean.

Most important: her ties to Harvard remain strong. She was here recently to deliver the first in a series of inaugural lectures honoring the new Radcliffe Institute. Fineberg introduced her in glowing terms; she was spotted chatting with Rudenstine.

But Sullivan only became the dean of Stanford Law School in 1999--leading some to question whether she could leave her job. Born in 1945, she is in fact young enough to wait another decade for the next Harvard presidential search.

Frequently mentioned as a Supreme Court nominee, she may be better suited for the bench than for Mass. Hall.

A person who has served as an Overseer and knows Sullivan personally says, "She's marvelous... but I'm not sure she wouldn't be miscast. I'm not sure it's the right use for her extraordinary skills."

Nobel Laureate Harold E. Varmus--who did graduate work in English at Harvard--has also been mentioned frequently. Formerly the director of the National Institutes of Health, Varmus moved to head the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York at the beginning of this year, prompting some to suggest that he also cannot switch jobs again so quickly.

Others suggest that the Harvard presidency's virtually unrivaled bully pulpit could pull Sullivan, Varmus and other candidates away from previous engagements.