photo by: Contributed photo by the KU School of Pharmacy

Kenneth Audus, dean of pharmacy at KU

Kenneth Audus, dean of pharmacy at the University of Kansas, will be stepping down from his post, KU Provost Carl Lejuez announced Wednesday during a meeting of the Kansas Board of Regents.

While the timeline for Audus to leave the dean’s position has not been established, Jackie Hosey, director of external affairs with the School of Pharmacy, confirmed that Audus would return to teaching at the school and to collaborative research with colleagues in the pharmaceutical chemistry department.

Audus earned a doctoral degree in pharmacology from KU in 1984, then completed postdoctoral work in pharmaceutical chemistry at KU. He joined the faculty in 1986 and became a full professor in 1996. He became chairman of the department in 1998 and dean of the pharmacy school in 2004, according to information provided by Hosey.

“He has agreed to stay on as long as he is needed to form a search committee and hire a new dean,” Hosey said.

KU’s School of Pharmacy is currently ranked fourth in National Institutes of Health funding, according to the school’s website, marking the 23rd consecutive year the school has been in the top 10. The Doctorate of Pharmacy program is ranked 19th among all schools of pharmacy by U.S. News & World Report.

Lejuez told the Regents that KU would begin searching for a new dean of the school.

KU currently is in conducting other searches — including for deans of medicine and engineering — and should be announcing new campus leaders soon, Lejuez told the Regents. KU has also completed final interviews for the vice chancellor for research position and for the director of the Hall Center for the Humanities.