Chancellor Nancy Cantor was listed among the top five candidates for president of the University of Pennsylvania in the October issue of Philadelphia Magazine, but spokeswoman Robin Kaler denied on Wednesday that Cantor is a candidate.

Cantor was out of town and unavailable for comment. She is representing the University at meetings of the Association of American Universities in Oregon.

Kaler said Cantor is not considering the position and is unsure as to why her name came up for the position.

"She is one of the leading women in higher education," Kaler said. "Any time you are looking for someone, you're going to try to poach the best people from other places."

Eileen Gifford, who is Cantor's administrative assistant and keeps her calendar, said the chancellor was surprised on Wednesday to hear about the article.

"There's no pursuits of any other positions outside the University to my knowledge," Gifford said. "She's busy being our chancellor."

Ron Ozio, director of media relations at the University of Pennsylvania, said the list of candidates did not come from the university.

"They (Philadelphia Magazine) were just speculating," he said. "The university is not releasing any information about the search. We have absolutely no comment about the search."

— Ann Sanner