Provided Photo

Executive Vice President and Provost Kathy Krendl is one of three finalists for the president job at Elmhurst College, near Chicago.

Less than a year after Ohio University’s provost gained more power over academic operations, she is a finalist for the president position at another school.

Kathy Krendl, now executive vice president and provost, is one of three finalists for the president position at Elmhurst College, near Chicago. She will visit the small, liberal-arts school with about 3,200 students next week for an interview, said Helga Noice, a member of the search committee at Elmhurst.

“We have 11 different characteristics that we identify for the president position,” Noice said. “Kathy Krendl obviously met all of those.”

Following Krendl’s visit, Elmhurst’s Board of Directors will meet Feb. 23 to make a decision, Noice said.

Krendl has two children at Northwestern University, which is about 20 miles from Elmhurst, according to an e-mail sent to Elmhurst students and staff. Elmhurst also will interview S. Alan Ray, the senior vice provost at the University of New Hampshire, and Elizabeth J. Stroble, the senior vice president and provost at the University of Akron, according to the e-mail.

Krendl, who was named provost in April 2005, declined to comment through Joe Brennan, executive director of University Communications and Marketing at OU. Last spring, President Roderick McDavis announced that Krendl would have more control of day-to-day operations so he could focus on fundraising.

Krendl earns a yearly salary of $245,116.

Members of the Elmhurst search committee hope to have a new president effective July 1, when current president Bryant Cureton retires, said Jon Johnson, another search committee member.

Krendl first came to OU as dean of the College of Communications in August 1996. During her years as dean, admissions standards and enrollment increased in the college, according to the OU Web site.

She was appointed interim provost in August 2004 before taking the permanent position in April 2005.

Over the last three years, Krendl has been instrumental in the development and implementation of Vision Ohio, an academic plan that outlined university goals for undergraduate programs, research and increased national prominence.

Most recently, Krendl has found herself at the center of a defamation lawsuit by former engineering faculty member Bhavin Mehta as a result of a report she released in 2006 that alleged “rampant and flagrant plagiarism has occurred in the Department of Mechanical Engineering for over twenty years.”

The report did not mention Mehta by name but recommended punishment for a Group II faculty member in the department. Mehta was the only Group II faculty member in the department at the time.

— Managing Editor Rick Rouan contributed to this report