Gallaudet University made an official announcement today on the three finalists being considered by the Board of Trustees to become the interim president of Gallaudet while the search process for a full-time president is on-going.

Of the three: Dr. Robert Davila, William J. A. Marshall and Stephen Weiner.

My pick for the interim presidency of Gallaudet would be Dr. Robert Davila for his qualifications, broad knowledge and activities in the deaf community, deaf education, and deaf issues nationwide. He is deaf and is very highly regarded, having been the vice president of National Technical Institute of the Deaf under the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York from 1996 to 2004.

For me, not much is known about William J.A. Marshall but he seems to have a very impressive range of experiences and activities over the years with Gallaudet University, other academic institutions and the deaf community.

As for Stephen Weiner, I don't know a lot about him but from what I've read since the protest began, Mr. Weiner, who was one of the 3 finalists last spring that didn't made the cut, is known to be a good consensus builder in Gallaudet and the deaf communities and have an impressive range of experiences and activities at Gallaudet and beyond.

The Board of Trustees will determine who will be the interim president in a few days.

Should be very interesting.

I'm in absolute agreement with Mishka Zena. Gallaudet University definitely needed an outsider who is not used to Gallaudet's internal and academic politics and would not be distracted or burdened with it all the while the healing process and the search process are still going.