Regents to review two candidates to lead Center for Intellectual Freedom

The overseeing committees for the Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa moved ahead two candidates for the center’s top role Friday after a finalist’s rejection of a job offer caused a national search to continue.

Members of the Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa’s executive committee and full advisory council met Friday afternoon to discuss finalists for the permanent director position, a job that was supposed to be already filled by a previously selected candidate.

Executive Committee Chair Mark Bauerlein told the advisory committee that the executive committee completed interviews with two candidates for the director job and its recommendation was to move both forward as finalists for the board of regents to interview. The advisory council gave unanimous approval to send the candidates ahead.

“The board of regents will interview the finalists in closed session at next week’s meeting, and all of the identities will continue to remain confidential before and during the interview process because they did sign confidentiality documents,” said Regent Chris Hensley, chair of the board of regents committee overseeing the center.

Discussion of the center director position is scheduled for Nov. 11 at the board’s meeting at Iowa State University, according to the board’s meeting agenda.

The original candidate chosen for the position, Carson Holloway, informed the board Tuesday he had chosen to go with another job offer at the University of Florida. Holloway was a department head and professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha at the time he was interviewing for the position in Iowa.

With Holloway’s decision, the national search for a new center director has now lasted close to five months, having launched in mid-June with the original goal of selecting a permanent director in September. University of Iowa professor Luciano de Castro served as interim president from the center’s establishment in summer 2025 to Oct. 22 of this year.