Executive Vice President and Provost William C. Richardson -- a possible successor for the retiring University president -- is one of two finalists for the presidency at Johns Hopkins University.

Richardson spent last week at the Baltimore university meeting with senior officers, academic department heads and the board of trustees' selection committee, he said. He declined to comment on whether he would accept the position if it were offered.

University President Bryce Jordan, who turned 65 last semester, will retire Aug. 31.

J. Lloyd Huck, who heads the Trustee Presidential Selection Committee, said Richardson's name was among those being considered to replace him.

"I feel he is an excellent candidate to succeed Dr. Jordan here at Penn State and we hope he will continue to be a candidate here," said Huck, president of the University Board of Trustees.

But Thomas Merritt, chairman of Penn State's Presidential Search and Screen Committee, would not confirm Richardson's consideration for the president's position here.

"That was Mr. Huck's statement," he said.

Although Johns Hopkins hopes to name a new president by the end of this month, Penn State's 15-member search and screen committee is not scheduled to submit candidates names to the trustee selection committee until March 1. And a president is not scheduled to be named until summer.

"The time table here is going to be a little later in the year," Richardson said.

Both Huck and Merritt said no possibility exists that Richardson's candidacy at Johns Hopkins will speed the process of naming of a president here.

"We really need to go through the process completely," Huck said. "Our task is to get the very best president for Penn State."

The search and screen committee has not yet reviewed the nominees and will follow the original time table handed down by the trustees, he said.

Merritt said Richardson's interviews at Johns Hopkins would have no effect on the presidential search here.

"That's separate from our procedures here . . . It can't have any effect on our process," he said.

Richardson, who has held his position at Penn State since 1984, is widely respected at the University, Huck said. He is second in the administration only to Jordan and is involved in running the day-to- day operations of the University.

Richardson said Johns Hopkins first contacted him in November and that he did not actively seek a position at another university. He has not been approached by any other university, he said.

Either Richardson or Massachusetts Institute of Technology Provost John M. Deutch is likely to replace Johns Hopkins President Steven Muller, who will leave at the end of June after 18 years at the university, according to an article in Friday's edition of The Baltimore Sun.

Johns Hopkins pays its current president $222,307, the article stated. Penn State paid Jordan $145,000 during 1986-1987, the only year for which administrative salaries were available.

Deutch, undersecretary of energy during the Carter administration, is also vying for the presidency at MIT, according to the Sun.