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.

First woman at Duke's helm

Keohane made history when she assumed the presidency of Duke in 1993, as the first woman to lead Duke and one of the first women to head a major research university.

Since then, her name has appeared on the short lists for several major presidential searches. Almost immediately after Rudenstine announced his resignation last spring, University observers and insiders began tossing Keohane's name around as a possible successor.

But she never reached the top of the list--even before she seemingly took herself out of the race--mainly, many say, because, at 60, she is beyond the ideal age for a new president who is expected to stay at least a decade in the post. Rudenstine was 56 when he was appointed.

Despite the speculation, Keohane has said she is fully committed to Duke, citing the school's $1.5 billion capital campaign, which ends in 2003, as the reason; she is committed, she says, to ensuring the success of the campaign.

Already during Keohane's term the Duke endowment has risen from $600 million to $1.68 billion.

While Keohane was born in the south and is now working there, she is not a stranger to New England. Before coming to Duke she served for 12 years as President of Wellesley College, the college from which she earned her bachelor's degree.

Keohane's links to Harvard come mainly through her husband, Robert O. Keohane. Until 1996, when he took a position at Duke, he was Stanfield Professor of International Peace at Harvard. He earned his masters and doctoral degrees from the University.

Keohane received an honorary degree from Harvard in 1993.

First Female Ivy Leader

Rodin, the first and so far only female president in the Ivy League, began her tenure as president of UPenn in 1994, moving from the provost's position at Yale. Rodin received her undergraduate degree from UPenn and is an academic in psychology and psychiatry.

Rodin has already once turned down becoming the head of a Cambridge institution. In 1986 she refused the deanship of Radcliffe College.

Like Keohane, while she made the list of Rudenstine successors, she failed to appear at the top. Although Keohane's junior, she has no ties to Harvard.

While no official requirement exists that presidents must have previous ties to the University, an incoming president with absolutely no previous relationship with Harvard would be unprecedented.

In addition, Rodin was passed over for president of Yale in 1993 when she was provost, raising the question of whether Harvard would pick as its president someone passed over by a rival institution.

Other possibilities

Just because the two most prominent women candidates have taken themselves out of the running, does not mean the search committee has no women to choose from.

"I would assume that Harvard would be very open to women candidates," says John Chandler, a senior consultant with Academic Search Consulting Service.

One such possibility is current Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen M. Sullivan. She is a Harvard Law School alumna and served as a professor at Harvard Law School. She has even made appearances in Cambridge since her 1999 appointment at Stanford, giving the first in a series of lectures inaugurating Radcliffe College's reorganization as the Radcliffe Institute.

But, unlike the two other women, she has only served in her current position for a limited time and would find it difficult to leave.

An individual who has served as an Overseer and knows Sullivan personally told The Crimson in June, "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." This person suggested the United States Supreme Court as a more viable option.

Two other women mentioned for the position, Donna E. Shalala and Condoleezza Rice, are both well known in the political and academic arena.

Shalala, the current secretary of health of human services, was chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison for seven years. Rice, who served as provost of Stanford from 1993 to 1999, is now a chief foreign policy advisor in the George W. Bush campaign and likely to become a chief presidential advisor to Bush if he is wins the election.

Finally, if Harvard decided to go for the controversial, one other female who has been mentioned as a possibility to replace Rudenstine is Hillary Clinton.

While such a possibility would be highly unlikely, as Clinton has no ties to Harvard and lacks background in academia, even the suggestion of her candidacy has created controversy.

This summer, after conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh tossed her name around as a possible Rudenstine successor, the University was inundated with e-mail messages from Harvard graduates threatening to withhold any future gifts to the University if she were selected.

While the University has several qualified and prominent women to choose from, none, it appears, quite fit the bill. Harvard may have to wait at least another decade before it has a woman at its helm.