With Pace Unviersity Provost Uday Sukhatme stepping down on June 30, Chemistry Professor and Chair of the Faculty Council David Rahni has been named as one-of-three final candidates to succeed the Sukhatme, according to a faculty email from President Stephen Friedman.

The provost position was something that Rahni was not intentionally considering having just been reelected as the chair and co-president of Joint Faculty councils in February.

“Almost towards the end of the deadline for submission, a few faculty members and one key administration member reached out to me,” Rahni said. “I am a very frank and forthright speaker and most of the faculty appreciate that.”

Rahni believes that he will succeed as provost because he has a prior history with that sort of work as well as having faculty support.

“Believe it or not, when the last provost arrived, I went to0 two national searches and served as the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs,” Rahni said. “In the two searches, I turned out to be the only viable finalist and at that point the Provost appointed me on a interim basis.”

Rahni stepped down as associate provost, however, because he acknowledged that it was having that job was the equivalent to two or three full time jobs.

But now that Pace will be welcoming Marvin Krislov as the eighth president, Rahni feels like he can do a sufficient job acclimating Krislov to Pace.

However, Rahni also has new ideas that he wants to bring to Pace. The biggest one being more hands-on with the faculty and students—something he felt that Sukhatme did not do well.

“Today, I met with all the [school] deans and I told them that even if I were to be elected I will still be teaching,” Rahni said. “That’s the best part about my career, being around youths with promising potential, so I have a much more hands-on approach.”

For Rahni, this means making his presence very well known on campus. He wants to spend time in places such as Mortola Library and Kessel as well as touching base with the faculty members.

“I will see to that no less than 35-40 percent of my time will be spent in Pleasantville,” Rahni said. “Being around campus is my style. I do not like being in closed doors.”

Another topic that Rahni would like to address is prioritization of faculty research, which Rahni believes to be important but not at the expense of the students getting a proper education.