Dean candidates for the University of Kansas schools of business and social welfare are expected to be on campus for presentations and interviews in a few weeks.

“The dean searches are well underway,” said Jill Hummels, communications manager for the KU provost’s office. “We anticipate on-campus interviews taking place at the end of April.”

The new deans should be announced in May, Hummels said.

KU plans to announce presentation dates and times in advance, then announce names of candidates by the day before each visit, she said.

The School of Business dean position has been open since last summer, when former dean Neeli Bendapudi became KU’s new provost and executive vice chancellor effective July 1. James Guthrie, professor and associate dean of academic affairs for the School of Business, has been interim dean since.

Kansas University School of Business dean Neeli Bendapudi will take over as provost of the university on July 1, 2016. She is pictured inside the main atrium of the new Capitol Federal Hall, a project she helped push through while serving as dean of the School of Business.

The School of Social Welfare dean position has been in flux for more than a year, since former dean Paul Smokowski abruptly announced his resignation in March 2016 after less than a year on the job. Professor of social welfare Steve Kapp was quickly named acting dean, then later interim dean.

Smokowski’s resignation came on the heels of student diversity protests that targeted him personally, culminating in a Twente Hall sit-in by students demanding his resignation. Smokowski remains at KU as a professor.

Paul Smokowski became dean of the Kansas University School of Social Welfare on July 1, 2015.

R. William Funk & Associates — the same firm that’s been hired to help with KU’s ongoing chancellor search — is also serving as the executive search consultant for both dean searches. Funk also consulted on the national searches that hired new deans, all announced in 2015, for KU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; the School of Architecture, Design and Planning; and School of Social Welfare (Smokowski).

In addition to the two deans, KU is conducting internal searches for two vice provosts, anticipated to be announced in early to mid-May, Hummels said.

The application deadline is at the end of this week for vice provost of diversity of equity and vice provost of faculty development, Hummels said.

E. Nathan Thomas, who had been KU’s vice provost for diversity and equity since July 2014, left KU this semester, the provost’s office announced in February. Serving as interim is Jennifer Hamer, associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor and chair of the department of American Studies. 

Vice provost of faculty development for the past 11 years, Mary Lee Hummert plans to return to her faculty appointment this fall. 

A third vice provost position was just filled.

In March, Stuart Day was permanently appointed to the position of senior vice provost for academic affairs, Hummels said.

Day — associate professor of Spanish and former director of faculty programs in KU’s Office of International Programs — had been interim since January 2016, when former vice provost for academic affairs Sara Rosen was tapped as interim provost. Rosen left KU last year to become dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Georgia State University.