Topeka ? State higher education officials Tuesday announced four finalists for the job of president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Board of Regents, including a high-ranking Kansas University administrator.

The finalists are:

 Reggie Robinson, counselor and chief of staff to KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway since 1998. Robinson has a law degree from KU and previously served as acting director of the Office for Victims of Crime with the Justice Department.

 Kendall Blanchard, business and anthropology professor at Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colo. He previously served as president of Fort Lewis College and as vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Tennessee at Martin. He has a doctorate in cultural anthropology from Southern Methodist University.

 Barry Martin Dorsey, president of the University of Rio Grande in south-central Ohio. He previously served as deputy director for the Council of Higher Education for Virginia, and has a doctorate of higher education administration from the University of Virginia.

 Paula Myrick Short, vice chancellor for academic affairs on the Tennessee Board of Regents. She previously served as associate vice president for academic affairs for the University of Missouri system. She has a doctorate in organizational leadership, management and change from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

The finalists were selected after a national hunt for the position vacated by Kim Wilcox, who returned to KU to become dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Wilcox was making nearly $140,000 per year when he left the regents position.

The finalists will be interviewed by regents members Sept. 16-17. Three of the nine members have ties to KU.

The regents govern six state universities and coordinate all of Kansas public higher education, including 19 community colleges, 10 technical schools and colleges, and Washburn University in Topeka.