The search for a new associate vice president for academic affairs of technology comes one step closer to being over with the announcement of the final three candidates.

The three candidates were chosen from applications submitted to the university during the summer. The three will now come to Eastern’s campus for the final interviewing process.

James Tidwell, journalism professor and chair of the search committee, views this as a very important milestone for Eastern because of the magnitude of the numerous duties the position entails both on and off campus affecting both the faculty and students.

“The office will serve as a focal point for all new services available in the world of technological education coming into and available to Eastern,” Tidwell said.

He said in the past, technology enhancement assistance has been scattered throughout the university and rather unorganized.

“When a faculty member needed help they didn’t know where to go. There were four or five places on campus in different programs to offer some assistance but none of them had enough personnel or resources to follow through.

“That is soon to be a thing of the past.

“This new office will be a very powerful one with a definitive centralized authority, anything that concerns technology regarding academic tools will have to pass this desk.”

There were originally three models considered for the project. The model referred to as (A) would have kept things as they had been in the past with the new position being more of a director rather than a vice president. This director would have been a coordinator between the offices already in place.

The model referred to as (C) would have centralized the power but kept the actual location of the physical offices spread throughout campus.

The model (B), which was finally agreed upon, centralizes authority and direction while absorbing personnel from other offices and moving them into a new Center for Academic Technology Support, or CATS, which is now located in Blair Hall.

The model also called for the creation of the position of associate vice president for academic affairs of technology.

The new administrator is completely responsible of all aspects of managing the long-term and day-to-day operations of CATS. This center, structured and administered in this manner, will help the Eastern staff and faculty source and choose new technologies to incorporate into classroom presentations, functions, and activities.

“The speed at which Eastern is going to move into the realm of 21st century technology in the classroom is hard to comprehend, and now, it will all go a lot smoother,” Tidwell said.

The three finalists seem very qualified to take Eastern swiftly and efficiently into the future, he said. The three finalist include Francis X. Moore III, John D. Gaboury, and Dale E. Bower.

The finalists will each appear separately on campus for three-day interviews