During the search that ended with Neil L. Rudenstine's appointment, former University of Chicago President Hanna H. Gray participated not as a member of the Harvard Corporation, but as one of the three Overseers chosen to help them.

"She clearly understood the process better than all the other Overseers put together," says Gay W. Seidman '77, a former Overseer.

Gray performed so remarkably that she was later asked back in the stronger capacity of Corporation member.

She is bound to be even more powerful in this search than she was in the last one, when many on the search committee turned to her to learn what it takes to be a University president. Following the departure of Charles P. Slichter '45, the former University of Illinois physicist who as senior fellow chaired the Rudenstine search, Gray became the strongest academic voice on the Corporation.

Seidman, who is a former Crimson executive, has dubbed Gray the "kingmaker" of the presidential search.

According to some, her input could prompt the group to call on a scholarly candidate with administrative experience at a private university.

Gray, also formerly acting Yale University president, is currently a history professor at the University of Chicago.

As the president of that institution, she was one of the most visible college presidents in the nation--and one of the first women to serve as the leader of a large research university.