Juan Manuel Santos, the KU alumnus who is president of Colombia, is the “Kansan of the Year” for 2012, at least according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.

The newspaper picked Santos for its annual honor last week, recalling his appearance at KU in September when he became the first sitting head of state to visit the Dole Institute of Politics.

In a Capital-Journal profile story to mark the occasion, Santos said he’s “a Kansan at heart.” He says he wound up at KU after his brother, who attended the university first, based on the reputation of its journalism school, reported that it was “a great university.” Santos graduated in 1973.

You’ve still got about 363 days to try for the 2013 “Kansan of the Year” honor, and submitting a KU news tip would hardly hurt your case, I think. Send ’em to merickson@ljworld.com.