Associated Press

Gov. John Hoeven's chief of staff is one of three finalists for the job of chancellor of North Dakota's university system.

A search committee on Sunday picked William Goetz, a former Dickinson State University business professor and administrator, and higher education officials from Illinois and the Middle East from a list of five semifinalists.

Goetz has been Hoeven's chief of staff since the governor was elected in 2000. He served as chief of staff to Hoeven's predecessor, Ed Schafer, for the previous three years.

Goetz was a business professor at Dickinson State University for 30 years, and an administrator in Dickinson State's business school for 14 years. He is a former state legislator, and served as assistant Republican floor leader in both the state House and Senate.

Another finalist, Warren Halsey Fox, has served as executive director for the Office of Higher Education in United Arab Emirates since 2004. He was executive director of the California Postsecondary Education Commission from 1991 to 2002.

The other finalist is Paul Keys, provost for academic and student affairs at Governors State University, in University Park, Ill.

Ronald Abrams, president of North Central State College in Mansfield, Ohio, and Roger Bowen, general secretary of the American Association of University Professors in Washington, D.C., were eliminated after a video conference on Sunday.

The board plans to name the new chancellor on Feb. 23, after interviewing the finalists in Bismarck Feb. 14-15.