URBANA — The search for Uni High's next director is now in the hands of an eight-person committee.

University of Illinois Associate Provost Keith Marshall announced the committee members in a schoolwide e-mail sent today by current Director Steve Epperson. The members are:

• Craig Russell (chair) — elected faculty representative (math), current Uni parent
• David Stone — elected faculty representative (science), former Uni parent
• Billy Vaughn — elected faculty representative (social studies)
• Renee Baillargeon — U of I professor of psychology, former Uni parent
• Rita Black-Morocoima — local resident, former Uni parent
• Robert Coverdill — Parent-Faculty Organization president, current and former Uni parent
• Michele Crockett — U of I assistant professor of education, K-12 researcher
• John Hedeman — former director/principal (1998-2003), former Uni parent

"The search firm we employed [Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, Ltd.] has been actively soliciting and screening candidates over the past month," Marshall said in the e-mail. "They report that there is significant interest in the position and an excellent pool of candidates is emerging."

Epperson took over as interim director in August 2007 after Kathleen Patton stepped down following four years on the job.

Originally, the position was going to be filled by a permanent hire during the 2007-08 school year, but the Provost's Office decided to delay the search until this year while various physical improvements were made to Uni High. Epperson agreed to stay on for a second year.

"Beginning in January, the search committee will work with HYA to identify and screen the finalist," Marshall said. "The search committee will make every attempt to conduct an open, collaborative search with appropriate opportunities for input, but will honor requests from finalists who want to keep their candidacy confidential."

Back in September, teachers and students had an opportunity to give their input on the qualities they would like in a new director when representatives from HYA visited the school. Five students spoke with the search firm in a private meeting: freshman Christina Harden, sophomore Amanda Hwu, junior Rachel Harmon, and seniors Gordon Ruan and Miguel Zamora-Mills.

"I think the most important quality the new director should have is that they should be accepting of both the many different cultures at Uni as well as the open and personal atmosphere it has," Harden said after the meeting.