UK’s president announced Thursday that the search for a new provost will be internal.

President Eli Capilouto sent a campus-wide email with an update about the search for a new provost, since Tim Tracy recently decided to accept a position at Aprecia Pharmaceuticals.

Capilouto said he has since been speaking to “dozens of people across our campus.”

He said that after taking to these people, “what emerged most clearly was a sense of urgency and a commitment to the goals and initiatives we already have established and are pursuing.”

Capilouto said his decision to conduct an internal search was based on four factors: his recent conversations, the university’s confidence in its Strategic Plan, the initiatives the university has undertaken and the unsettled environment in which university employees work.

“I am confident we have the on-campus talent necessary to finding out next Chief Academic Officer,” he wrote.

He said he has appointed a search committee, co-chaired by College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment Dean Nancy Cox and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Eric Monday. 

He also included a list of the other committee members:

• Kim Anderson, Professor, College of Engineering, Bob DiPaola, Dean, College of Medicine, Sonja Feist-Price, Vice President, Institutional Diversity, Elizabeth Foster, Vice President, Student Government Association, Jon Gent, Chair, Staff Senate, Andrew Hippisley, Professor, College of Arts and Sciences, Katherine McCormick, Chair, Senate Council and Gina Toma, Professor, Martin School of Public Administration. 

Capilouto described the search process. The position will be posted for seven days, beginning on Monday, Nov. 13. The committee will then review applications and identify one to three finalists, who will then meet with various campus constituencies. Capilouto will make the final selection after these stages.

Capilouto wrote that he would keep the campus informed throughout the process.