Provost Blair Lord told the Faculty Senate Tuesday that he would, “with great reluctance,” reopen the search for an Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs for Technology.

After Lord’s reexamination of the search finalists, it became clear that neither would be a good fit for Eastern and vice versa.

After the search committee for the position narrowed down the search to two possible candidates, Lord said he checked their references, interviewed them and spoke more with them about the position.

“There are many reasons why these searches don’t succeed, and several were present in this case.”

One candidate, Glenn S. Everett, currently serves as the director of Informational Technology at the University of Tennessee-Martin. He earned his doctorate in English at Brown University and his master’s in English from George Washington University.

The other candidate, Dale E. Bower, has worked for two years as a postdoctoral assistant studying methods of instructional technology at the University of South Florida. She has written several unpublished research papers on Web-based learning, including “The Emergence of Virtual Learning in a Knowledge-Based Economy” and “Teaching and Learning Circa 2004: Wireless, Wondrous and Worldly.”

Among the responsibilities of the position is managing the Center for Academic Technology Support, which helps faculty scout out new technologies to use in classes. The office also involves providing support and information to students in online classes and programs.

Lord stressed that the lack of an appointment is not the fault of the committee. Senate member James Tidwell, journalism professor, has agreed to chair the committee again, and Lord offered all members of the first committee the opportunity to serve again.

The second search process “won’t be wildly different” than the first, Lord said. Filling positions related to technology is difficult at colleges and universities, he said, because the demand for technology experts is great and the supply is modest.