Finalists for the job of director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Kansas University will visit campus next week.

KU named the first finalist on Tuesday, with names of the second two expected to be released at least 24 hours prior to their appearances.

Festus Addo-Yobo, director of Black Programs in the division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at New Mexico State University, will give a public presentation at 11 a.m. Monday at the Kansas Room in the Kansas Union, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd.

The second candidate will present at 11 a.m. Dec. 1, and the third candidate will present at 11 a.m. Dec. 4, both at the Kansas Room.

The suggested topic for finalists to address in their presentations is “Strategic Leadership at KU’s Office of Multicultural Affairs.”

The OMA director’s position has been filled on an interim basis since May, when former director Blane Harding left KU and took a job at the University of Nevada, Reno. Precious Porras has been interim director.

Hiring a new OMA director by year’s end was one of 15 diversity-related demands of KU by a group calling themselves Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk that temporarily took over the stage during KU’s town hall forum on race earlier this month.

Jill Hummels, spokeswoman for the KU Provost’s office, said the upcoming candidate visits were not in response to those demands.

“It (the search) was ongoing and planned anyway,” she said. “All of this is a process.”

As is typical of finalist visits for other KU leadership positions, their presentations are scheduled fairly close together.

Hummels said KU wanted to announce Addo-Yobo’s visit prior to Thanksgiving break, even though the visit is almost a week away, though the other two names won’t be announced until shortly before their arrivals.

Jerry Crawford, associate professor of journalism, is chairman of the OMA search committee. He will take feedback from students, faculty and staff attending the presentations.

As director of Black Programs at New Mexico State, Addo-Yobo provides leadership for the strategic planning process to accelerate African-American student achievement, according to a KU news release announcing his visit. Previously Addo-Yobo was director of the African-American Studies Program in the Division of Student Affairs at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minn., and director of the African-American Learning Resource Center of Student Support Services at University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Addo-Yobo also has served as a counselor for former gang members, a prevention specialist at a mental health center and an academic counselor at Western Kentucky University, according to KU.