Two days after the finalists were announced for the dean of the College of Engineering, a co-chair of the search committee sent an e-mail to the faculty of the college that said the uniformity of the search process has been compromised.

Electrical and computer engineering professor Nazeih Botros sent the e-mail because he believed the faculty needs to know what is going on.

The e-mail said the committee of 22 members, which represents various constituencies across campus and in the college, was formed last fall to review applications and make recommendations for interviews on campus.

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“The committee met numerous times and spent countless hours reviewing, discussing and evaluating the candidates based on the criteria published in the job description (which had also been reviewed and agreed upon by the committee),” the e-mail said.

The four candidates are Lizette Chevalier, Demetrios Kazakos, Darrell Pepper and John Warwick.

The dean position has been open since former interim dean, Ramanarayanan Viswanathan, resigned in November via a letter to former Provost Don Rice that said decisions made during the first five months of the semester had damaged the academic mission of the university and his college. Viswanathan had been interim dean since January 2008.

Botros said after reviewing the 34 candidates, the committee narrowed down the pool to about half of the applicants. He said following the reviews the committee picked four finalists and recommended them to Chancellor Rita Cheng.

The e-mail said the committee was then asked to review three additional candidates on the grounds of affirmative action.

Cheng said because the university is under guidance from the federal government as a federal contractor, it must comply with affirmative action hiring practices.

“One of the concerns I had was the lack of diversity in the pool, and I want to make sure the campus has an opportunity always to have a diverse pool when possible for these important leadership positions,” she said.

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Cheng said she took the recommendations and added a fourth candidate, Chevalier. She said women are underutilized and African-American, Hispanic and Native-American minorities are underrepresented in the College of Engineering.

“Our policies clearly state that if there is a woman or minority in the pool and the position is underutilized for women and minorities that we should provide an opportunity for interview,” Cheng said.

She said she does not agree that the uniformity of the search process has been compromised because she followed university procedures.

Botros said the three additional candidates had passed the first cut, down to half the pool of original candidates, and were well-qualified. But she said they were not as qualified as the four candidates the committee had chosen.

“The committee found large differences in the credentials of these candidates and those recommended for interview,” the e-mail said. “The upper administration then unilaterally added one of these candidates to the interview pool and ignored concerns expressed by the committee.”

He said when the committee called one of the finalists it had chosen, he could not be interviewed because he had accepted a job elsewhere.

Botros said the committee was not notified of the addition of the last finalist before the announcement of the four finalists Monday.

“We are not challenging the legality of what the chancellor did. We are saying the uniformity,” he said. “It would have been much better if she would have asked us to select another candidate to add to the three, and we would have met and selected the one, but she added the candidate because it is a minority.”

Satya Harpalani, chair of the department of mining and mineral resources engineering, said even though he was an applicant for the position, he hopes the search is successful because the college needs leadership.

“The dean is a person who represents the college at upper- administration things,” he said. “We haven’t had a real dean in three-and-a-half years.”

Harpalani said when interim deans are in place, serious issues are oftentimes put aside until a permanent dean is chosen.

“An interim dean could do the same thing, but they are essentially baby sitters,” he said. “You don’t expect a baby sitter to teach a kid or discipline a child. Their job is to be sure that everything is OK. Similarly, an interim or acting dean ensures that everything keeps moving.”