A former associate athletic director at Kansas University is moving into another high-profile job at the university — this time at the Dole Institute of Politics.

Richard Konzem, who spent more than two decades in the athletic department, is lined up to serve as an interim associate director of the institute on west campus.

Steve McAllister, the institute’s interim director, said a formal announcement about Konzem’s appointment could be made by the end of the week.

The two have an agreement, “in principle,” for Konzem to start work next month and continue through the end of May, McAllister said. Konzem will be responsible for managing the Dole building, coordinating its programs and handling other arrangements.

“He’s a very efficient, resourceful guy,” said McAllister, who also serves as KU law dean. “He gets things done. That’s what I need. And I need somebody who knows this campus and its people very well.”

Konzem comes to the job from the world of sports. He joined the athletic department in 1981 as assistant director of the Williams Fund, and he worked his way up to senior associate athletic director — a post that made him administrative supervisor for football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, Williams Fund, the KU ticket office and events and facilities.

Konzem resigned his post in August, a month after KU hired Lew Perkins as athletic director. Konzem had sought the athletic director’s job after the university fired Al Bohl in April.

Making the transition from a long tenure in sports to a new campus center for political discourse — the $11.3 million institute was dedicated in July — shouldn’t be a problem for Konzem, McAllister said.

“He’ll have to learn some things about the institute,” McAllister said, “but he’s certainly up to speed on KU.”

McAllister said he also expected to appoint two others from KU to interim associate director posts at the institute: one for academic programming and another for public outreach.

Attempts to contact Konzem on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Konzem, who has continued working for the athletic department as a special assistant to Perkins, will be filling the job being vacated by Erik Nelson, the institute’s associate director.

Nelson and the institute’s founding director, Richard Norton Smith, are scheduled to leave next month for jobs at the Lincoln presidential library in Illinois.