Lewis said the only quality he considers necessary for the candidates to possess is “a genuine and natural liking of undergraduates and a desire to engage with undergraduates and respect undergraduates.”

Lewis said the student advisory committee should look for tenured professors who are neither at the beginning nor end of their tenured career.

“We want professors who have full lives at Harvard without being masters,” Lewis said.

Lewis said this is also the only appointment at Harvard where it is appropriate to ask a job candidate about his or her spouse.

The search process begins with a long list of names of tenured faculty members from past searches and suggestions from students, tutors and the current masters.

In the past, some students and faculty have criticized Lewis for the lack of racial diversity among House masters.

“We’re very interested in getting names of persons of color,” Lewis said.

He said the dean’s office will provide the student advisory committee with a list of all tenured faculty members of color.

—Staff writer Anne K. Kofol can be reached at kofol@fas.harvard.edu.