A committee charged with finding a new chancellor for the University of Hawai'i-Manoa is expected to submit a short list of candidates to UH President David McClain no later than spring 2007.

Formation of the 18-member Search Advisory Committee was announced yesterday at the monthly UH Board of Regents meeting at Leeward Community College. The committee is made up of faculty members, students and members of the community.

The international search for the new chancellor begins eight months after Manoa interim Chancellor Denise Konan took office. Her term is expected to expire on July 31, said Robert Bley-Vroman, head of the search committee and chairman of the Manoa Faculty Senate.

Konan is paid $254,016 a year, as was her predecessor Peter Englert, said Jim Manke, UH-Manoa spokesman.

The search was expected to start around the same time the interim chancellor took office, Bley-Vroman said. But "the context was really not good for beginning a search in the fall.

"There was a lot of unclarity about the relationship between the office of the system president and the office of the Manoa chancellor," Bley-Vroman said.

Since then, the regents and the UH system office have clarified the roles of both president and chancellor, he said.

"We're now in a state that if we interview candidates for the chancellor, we would have a pretty good idea of telling them what the job was and what sort of administrative structure they would have to work with. That was really not true six months ago," Bley-Vroman said.

Konan likely will be reappointed by the regents to another one-year term or until a new chancellor is found, university officials said.

Konan said that it was "too early to make a decision" on whether she was interested in the post permanently. Konan has wide support from students on the Manoa campus.

Bley-Vroman said there is nothing barring her from expressing interest or becoming a candidate. However, Konan was appointed with the understanding that she would not be a candidate.

"Last summer, the Senate Executive Committee advised the president that no candidate for permanent position should be appointed to the interim position," Bley-Vroman said, adding that the senate's statement was not binding.

The first task of the Search Advisory Committee will be to select a search firm to assist in finding potential candidates. The committee is expected to meet within the next few weeks.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.