SOMERS - A former University of Wisconsin System official is reviewing the hiring process that almost put Robert Felner into the chancellor's office at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

Felner is the focus of a federal criminal investigation, which is expected to wrap up in a few weeks, and the center of a growing media furor in Kentucky, where he worked most recently as a dean at the University of Louisville.

UW System and Parkside officials avoided the ugly mess that followed Felner's forced resignation in June immediately after he informed them of the federal investigation.

Kevin Rielly, UW System president, hired Stephen Portch to review Parkside's hiring process and offer suggestions that might help avoid a repeat of the Felner mess at other UW campuses.

Portch spent 18 years in Wisconsin as an English professor, a campus dean, a chancellor and finally the UW System's senior vice president for academic affairs.

"He is someone who is very knowledgeable about UW and Wisconsin. He is someone who we think can hit the ground running very quickly and address the questions we wanted answered," said David Giroux, the UW System's spokesman.

Portch is looking at the extent to which hiring committees and UW officials do thorough background checks on chancellor candidates, the roles and responsibilities of search committee members and whether the Parkside search was too hasty, Giroux said.

Portch is expected to issue a report to UW officials by mid-August, Giroux said.

Beyond those three areas, Rielly also asked Portch to look more broadly at what might be considered the best practices in executive searches in higher education today and how the UW System matches up, Giroux said.

A report on that issue is due in September.

Media outlets in Kentucky have been reviewing e-mails between Felner and a former colleague who ran an Illinois education organization.

Federal agents could complete their criminal investigation of Felner within six weeks and are aware of e-mails indicating he believed his job was at risk, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported earlier this week.

Felner had apparently found what he was looking for after he had e-mailed a colleague months ago that he needed "to relentlessly look for another job as this one I have been told is probably not long," according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

U.S. Attorney Dave Huber told The Courier-Journal the e-mails were seized about two months ago during a search of former dean Felner's office and computer.

All the information at UW officials' disposal said Felner was highly qualified, but didn't turn up any of the issues that are now swirling around him, Giroux said.

They did do background checks and checked references. The question is whether they were adequate, Giroux added.

"The information coming out is painting another picture, which says that it was probably the good thing asking him to resign," Giroux said. "It would have been very difficult for anyone to come in to run a school with this growing cloud over their head."

Federal investigators have not focused on Wisconsin, except for taking materials that Felner had already sent to Parkside before he was scheduled to start there in June, Giroux said.