The 26 people who have served as president of Harvard University over its 350-year history have had two things in common: they have been male and they have been white.

Now as the Harvard Corporation stands poised to pick Neil L. Rudenstine's successor it seems improbable that they will deviate from this mold--and especially unlikely that they will pick a woman.

The country's two most prominent woman presidents--Duke University President Nannerl O. Keohane and University of Pennsylvania (Penn) President Judith Rodin--have publicly taken themselves out of the running for Harvard's highest office.

Keohane says she plans to stay in North Carolina through at least 2003.

"I have no intention of leaving Duke and will tell Harvard that is the case if an invitation to be a candidate is extended to me," she said. "I am very happy at Duke and am committed to stay at least until the end of my second five-year term."

Rodin told Penn's student newspaper, the Daily Pennsylvanian, that she was not interested in moving to Cambridge.

"I think Penn is a more exciting place, with a much more entrepreneurial spirit, and I would not leave here for Harvard," Rodin told the newspaper.

While they have taken their names from the running before the search has even begun in earnest, many say these women were never strong contenders. Harvard, it seems, is poised to pick from within. Currently topping the list are Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 and Business School Dean Kim B. Clark '74.