BISMARCK, N.D. - The University of North Dakota presidential search committee met today and voted to forward to the State Board of Higher Education the name of one candidate, Dr. Robert Kelley, for the presidency of UND.

Kelley was the only candidate to receive at least 12 votes, the minimum threshold established by the committee at its Jan. 7, 2008, meeting. The SBHE will meet at UND Feb. 4, 2008, to select the university's next president.

Kelley is dean of the College of Health Sciences and professor of medical education and public health at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyo. He has been in his present position since 1999. Prior to that, he was associate vice chancellor for research and executive associate dean of the graduate college at the University of Illinois at Chicago, professor of biological sciences at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of anatomy and cell biology at the College of Medicine, both at the University of Illinois at Chicago. At the University of New Mexico, he served as chair of anatomy and senior executive associate dean, as well as in other faculty capacities. He also has taught at the University of California, Berkeley.

Kelley earned a bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry from Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, in 1965 and a master's degree in 1966 and doctorate in 1969, both in cell and developmental biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

He has served as chair of the Assembly for the Association of American Medical Colleges, chaired the Council of Academic Societies for the AAMC and was a member of the executive board of the National Board of Medical Examiners, which is responsible for the U.S. medical licensure examination. He also has served on several National Institutes of Health (NIH) study sections, served on the director's advisory board for NIH strategic planning and chaired the Minority Biomedical Research Support Program advisory committee in the NIH Division of Research Resources. That program helped support research for historically black universities, tribal colleges and "minority-majority" institutions.

Kelley currently is principal investigator for the University of Wyoming/Northern Rockies INBRE (IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence), an NIH program that promotes biomedical research and connects the state's community colleges with the University of Wyoming.

He and his wife Marcia Jean have four children.