LEWISTON — A search committee charged with finding a new president for Bates College says it is on track to hire someone this spring.

The 19-member panel has been working for months to round up and review applications. Now, its leaders said, it is in the midst of “the most intensive phase of its work, which is the assessment of candidates.”

The candidates under consideration, none of whom have been identified, are “impressively strong” and represent “a broad range of backgrounds, experiences and areas of expertise,” according to a Jan. 26 email sent by its co-persons to the Bates community.

President Clayton Spencer is stepping down at the end of June after an 11-year stint as the eighth leader of the liberal arts college since its founding as the Maine State Seminary in 1855.

To make sure Bates had someone ready to take Spencer’s place, it created a search panel that includes faculty members, trustees, staff and two students, sophomore Aydan Gedeon-Hope and senior Ali Manning.

The group discussed what it sought in a president and heard from more than 300 faculty, staff, students, trustees, alumni and parents to identify “the opportunities and challenges” involved in the hiring process.

The Boston-based Isaacson, Miller, a consulting firm known for its expertise in recruiting higher education leaders, has worked with the panel to identify specific candidates who might be interested in taking the job in Lewiston.

“The committee’s work will proceed in the weeks ahead and culminate in the recommendation of one candidate to the Board of Trustees” in time for the college to announce its next president in the spring, Andrea Conklin Bueschel and Gregory Ehret, co-chairpersons of the panel, said.

The committee said last month that it would have “several rounds of interviews, as well as rigorous referencing for the strongest candidates.”

It said it would not identify contenders “in order to attract the strongest and most diverse pool.”

The search committee’s leaders said they anticipate “that our next communication with you will be when Bates’ ninth president is announced this spring.”