History professor Stuart Schwartz has been in discussions with Yale President Richard Levin about becoming the next master of Ezra Stiles College.

If Schwartz is the next master, he would not begin his position until the fall of 2003 because he and his wife, Spanish and Portuguese professor Maria Jordan, will be on leave next year. In that event, an interim master would likely serve next year.

“I’m having conversations with the president, but [there has been] no final decision,” Schwartz said. “There are some last bits of business to talk about.”

One of these bits of business is Schwartz’s schedule for next year.

“I had leave planned,” Schwartz said. “My wife has leave planned. My understanding is that some arrangement could be made if this was to happen.”

Levin said nothing is definite and declined to comment further.

Schwartz is the George Burton Adams Professor of History and specializes in colonial Latin American history.

Luis Poza ’04, who was on the master search committee, said the committee had not yet been notified about the final decision. He said the committee solicited recommendations from other students and faculty members.

“We asked around [about] who people thought would be a good master, and that’s how we got our list together,” Poza said. “There were 10 or 12 people that got nominated repeatedly; we asked around a little, and those ended up being the ones we put on our final list.”

Committee member Sriram Lakshman ’02 said he remembered getting several e-mails from students suggesting Schwartz as a good candidate for master.

Stiles student Martha Lovejoy ’03, who is currently taking Schwartz’s “History of Brazil” class, said she would be excited if Schwartz were the Stiles master.

“He’s a phenomenal teacher and he’s really open and really friendly, and from what I’ve heard his wife is really great too actually, and I would just be thrilled,” Lovejoy said. “I was hoping it would be him.”