Megan Boehnke

megan.boehnke@knoxnews.com

The University of Tennessee on Monday released the name of the third candidate for the Knoxville chancellor job.

Alexander N. Cartwright, provost and executive vice chancellor for The State University of New York, is scheduled to visit campus Nov. 10-11.

The university had refused to release the identifies of the three applicants until 24 hours before their visits, insisting they were not finalists.

That changed Monday in response to a News Sentinel public records request asking for their names.

The university in its response to the public records request asked the search committee to "move the search process forward and select finalists for the position."

The release of Cartwright's name came 30 minutes before Beverly J. Davenport, interim president at the University of Cincinnati, was to speak at a campus forum. She is the second chancellor candidate to visit Knoxville.

Davenport has been interim president in Cincinnati since July after the sitting president left for the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Davenport had been provost at the university for three years when the Cincinnati Board of Trustees unanimously selected her to serve as the school's temporary leader.

It's unclear if Davenport would be in the running for the full-time job in Cincinnati. Candidates have not yet been announced in the presidential search and there is no strict deadline in that process, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported last month.

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She has also served as vice provost for faculty affairs at Purdue University and Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Kansas. She earned her doctorate from the University of Michigan and also holds degrees from Western Kentucky University and Harvard University.

UT posted Davenport's resume on its website Sunday morning, 24 hours before her visit on Monday. UT similarly announced the candidacy of Pamela S. Whitten, provost at the University of Georgia, 24 hours before her visit to campus last week.

The News Sentinel requested the names of the three candidates who are visiting campus more than a week ago, citing state law that requires identities be released once applicants become finalists for high-level university jobs. UT, however, insists that even though the three people visiting campus are the only candidates to reach this stage of the search process, they are not finalists. University officials said they expect to formally respond to the records request Monday.

“We have an incredible field of candidates, from the standpoint of talent, and they’re in positions where their exposure as candidates here puts them at some risk at their home place,” UT president Joe DiPietro said late last month. “What I’m really worried about is that if these names become all public very quickly, it could blow this whole search up in terms of (keeping the candidates) in the process.”

A salary range has not been set for the next chancellor, but will be determined based on the winning candidate's professional background and experience, said UT spokeswoman Gina Stafford. Cheek earns $447,492 annually.

Though no other visits from candidates are planned, the university's search committee could expand the pool it invites to campus, UT spokeswoman Tiffany Carpenter said last week.

The search committee will then collect feedback from the forums with faculty and staff before officially recommending finalists to DiPietro.

The law also requires the finalists be made public no later than 15 days before a final vote of the governing board, and DiPietro said the university would meet that requirement. He hopes to have a new leader in place by the end of the year.

UT received 62 formal applications, including submissions from college presidents, provosts, interim presidents and other executive-level administrators, he said.

The candidates are vying to replace Cheek who announced in June that he was stepping down to return to teaching, though he agreed to remain in the job until a successor is selected. UT is using Parker Executive Search firm to assist in the search for a fee of $75,000 plus expenses.