Kathleen Rountree, provost and vice president for academic affairs, announced Monday a timetable for the search for a new dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications.

Rountree said the search would begin during the current academic year, but would not conclude until Fall 2008.

The college will choose an executive search firm, develop advertising and discuss qualities sought in the next dean, with the intention of forming a search committee by

January 2008.

Rountree said her decision to proceed on a different schedule was based on faculty input, the progress of the presidential and other dean searches and to ensure the process was not rushed.

“If we can get a candidate to come by January, we will,” she said. “But my goal is always to make sure we can get the best possible candidate.”

Diane Gayeski, professor and associate dean in the strategic communication department, was appointed interim dean from Jan. 1, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2008.

Gayeski was appointed after Dean Dianne Lynch confirmed in July her plans to leave the college in January 2008 for a position as dean of the University of California at Berkeley’s graduate school of journalism.