photo by: Nick Krug

University of Kansas Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Jeff Vitter is pictured in this 2010 file photo.

Jackson, Miss. ? Jeffrey Vitter, who holds the second highest position at Kansas University, is the preferred candidate to be the University of Mississippi’s next chancellor, higher education officials announced Monday.

Vitter, 59, a New Orleans native, has been KU’s provost and executive vice chancellor for five years. Vitter also was a finalist for chancellor of the University of Arkansas but chose Mississippi instead.

“It was a very tough decision to leave that search,” Vitter told the Lawrence Journal-World on Monday. “It speaks to the passion and infectious enthusiasm that the board (of trustees) showed Sharon (Vitter) and me.”

Vitter will travel to Mississippi this weekend for a football game and then will meet next week with the university community, and following that, the trustees will vote a final time to hire him.

“It will be in the middle of next week,” Vitter said.

Alan Perry, president of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, announced Vitter was the preferred candidate Monday afternoon.

“(Vitter’s) credentials and experience are stellar,” Perry said in a news release. “He has demonstrated tremendous leadership at a number of exceptional institutions and has been recognized as a leading researcher in the field of computer science.”

Vitter, who makes $404,000 a year at KU, has several degrees: He graduated from Notre Dame in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in math, and in 1980, he received a doctorate in computer science from Stanford. He then received a master’s degree in business administration in 2002 from Duke University.

Vitter was vice president of research at Texas A&M when he was hired by Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little. He also was dean of the College of Science and served as professor at Purdue University and Brown University, according to his curriculum vitae.

At KU, Vitter initiated and co-led the campus-wide development of KU’s strategic plan, “Bold Aspirations: the Strategic Plan for the University of Kansas, 2012-2017.” He also created the first-ever university-wide KU core curriculum, according to a news release.

The College Board began a search for a chancellor in March after it decided not to renew the contract of Dan Jones, according to the Clarion-Ledger, a newspaper in Jackson, Miss.

Jones’ tenure as chancellor was marked by strife with the College Board although student enrollment was up and donors and alumni have been giving the school more than $100 million a year for several years, according to the Clarion-Ledger. The decision to fire Jones angered several donors including Jim Barksdale, Ole Miss’ biggest donor and former CEO of Netscape who was credited with providing the funding for the university’s honors college.

Jones, who has cancer, is now working for the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s obesity research center, the newspaper reported. Provost Morris Stocks has been leading Ole Miss since June 15. As interim chancellor, he isn’t eligible for the permanent job.

Vitter said Jones had contacted him and said he was willing to work with him.

“Dan Jones is a fine person and he has already reached out to me,” Vitter said.

Vitter said he is focused on the future and is impressed with the alumni support.

“Like KU, Ole Miss has an incredible alumni base,” he said. “It is time for the university to move up to the next level, and I’m looking forward to that leadership role.”

Vitter and his wife, Sharon, have three adult children. His brother, U.S. Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, is running for governor in that state.