The pressure is on for the search committee to find a new dean for the university's largest college, as the interim dean announced that he will leave the University of Arizona in July.

Charlie Hurt, interim dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, announced last week that he would be leaving on July 1, taking a job offer at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.

Hurt has been serving as interim dean while a search committee has been working to find a permanent replacement for Holly Smith.

"He was looking for a job elsewhere and this one opened up," Shockey said. "I like him, trust him and whatever he does is in the best interests of the university and the college."

A faculty search committee has been working since November to find a new dean for SBS, which is home to approximately 5,800 of the UA's 35,000 students.

The committee has identified four finalists, who will be coming to campus throughout April. The first candidate, Gerald C. Davison, chairman of the psychology department at the University of Southern California, will be on campus tomorrow.

The remaining candidates are: Renu Khator, interim dean of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Florida; Lawrence A. Scaff, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Wayne State University; and Edward I. Donnerstein, dean of social sciences at the University of California Santa Barbara.

Shockey said he hoped the process would bring a new leader to the college in time for Hurt's departure.

"My hope would be that the interview process would identify a candidate, and would come into play over the time when he leaves," Shockey said.

Shockey said the committee is still interviewing candidates for the position and that another would be interviewed this week

Search committee members said in November that the new dean would have to meet a wide range of challenges - from fiscal setbacks stemming from state-mandated budget cuts, to a faculty shortage that has caused class overcrowding in departments college-wide.

Hurt's assistant, Carol Wertman, said that although Hurt's departure was understandable, he will be missed.

"He's done an awesome job as interim dean, and we'll miss him," Wertman said.