The next director of the Nasher Museum of Art should be bold, creative and energetic; a successful fund-raiser and an effective manager; someone with a vision and a love of art.

Since this summer, a search committee has been looking for a new museum director who embodies all of those qualities. An internationally known executive search firm, Russell Reynolds, is assisting the committee.

This week, Russell Reynolds sent the committee a preliminary short list of candidates. Search committee chairman Neil De Marchi, a professor of economics, said the committee hopes to be able to present to the president and provost two or three top candidates in early February.

De Marchi said the successful candidate should be able to work well on a variety of levels -- not just as a leader in the arts locally, nationally and internationally, but among the faculty and with the administration, Duke student body and the Durham community. The new director will also be working with a newly appointed board of advisors, whose charge is to assist in shaping programmatic plans for the new museum.

While committee members had ideas of their own, De Marchi said the search firm's help has been valuable in broadening the candidate pool. "It seemed there might be splendid candidates below the radar, and we had less chance of being able to identify them than a professional search team," he said.

University administrators in May decided not to renew the contract for previous museum director Michael Mezzatesta. Recently, officials named Mezzatesta the museum's director emeritus and an advisor on the construction of the new museum.

Meanwhile, the 12 members of the search committee, including an art collector, a museum director, professors and an undergraduate student, have been soliciting community input in its quest for a new director.

"We want people to know what we're doing," De Marchi said. "We welcome interest and input."

Now that the search firm has come back with a list of candidates, officials from the firm will return to Duke to discuss resumeand share insights. The local committee will then conduct interviews. When two or three candidates remain, senior administrators will hear pros and cons of each potential director and make their decision.

"We have a wonderful package to offer the right person," De Marchi said. "Duke's reputation will be a draw. The area is attractive. It has an extended intellectual, cultural and political community. There is also much going on of artistic quality."

Duke is also building a new $23-million museum, scheduled to open in 2004. Already, the five-building complex off Anderson Street and Duke University Road is beginning to take shape. The museum was designed by world-famous architect Rafael Vin -- a draw in itself, said museum events coordinator Michelle Brassard.

"The new director has the chance to shape an artistic identity for the new museum," said Sarah Schroth, the museum's interim director. "Integrated into university life in a whole new way, the museum will be a beautiful stage for something -- and the new director will have the discretion to decide what that 'something' is."