Former Princeton Dean of the Faculty Amy Gutmann '71 is a top candidate for the Harvard presidency.

The presidential search committee met last week with Gutmann, a dark horse candidate who left her position as dean to return to teaching after a brief two-year tenure.

The meeting took place in New York the morning of Jan. 23, the same day the Boston Globe reported that the search committee had narrowed its list down to three other candidates.

Citing sources "familiar with the search," the newspaper reported that the committee had pared the field down to University of Michigan President Lee C. Bollinger, Harvard Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers.

But the search committee is taking Gutmann at least as seriously as these candidates.

Last week's meeting was her second interview with the search committee in two months. She met with a small group of search committee members in New York in early December, sources say.

Experts on the university presidential search process say that while the search committee conducts preliminary interviews with many people, a second interview at this stage of the search indicates strong interest.

"About this time of year was when we were really in the thick of things," said Charles L. Slichter '45, who chaired the search that resulted in the selection of outgoing President Neil L. Rudenstine. "You have at least one person meet them firsthand, then possibly move to a stage where several of the people do. Then we worked down to a small number--four or five people--where almost all of us met with them."