Bob Hatfield, director of the MBA program at WKU’s Gordon Ford College of Business, has been named a finalist for a business dean opening at Northern Kentucky University, according to a report from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The Enquirer reported on Tuesday that Hatfield is paired against Rick Kolbe, who is the associate dean of faculty for the college of business at Kent State University.

NKU provost Gail Wells told the Enquirer that the university hopes to make its choice by the end of the month. The new dean will replace John Beehler, who left NKU last spring for what the Enquirer called “a start-up university” in Texas.

Hatfield has been teaching at WKU since 2003, which followed six years at Morehead State University. He earned a bachelor’s degree at WKU before getting a law degree from the University of Louisville and a doctoral degree in management from Indiana University.

Attempts by the Herald to reach Hatfield as of Tuesday night were unsuccessful.