photo by: Richard Gwin

Chaden Djalali, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Iowa, spoke Monday, April 25, 2016, at the Adams Alumni Center. He was the final of three candidates for Kansas University provost to give a public presentation.

Kansas University’s third candidate for provost addressed a crowd on Monday, saying open communication is key to doing the job right.

“Top-down doesn’t work. Bottom-up doesn’t work,” he said. “Something in between the two is where we reach a balance.”

Chaden Djalali, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Iowa, was the third and final provost candidate to give a campus presentation this month.

Djalali said he abides by “three Ts” in his leadership role at Iowa and would do the same at KU. Transparency is vital, he said, openly sharing information and the reasons decisions were reached. Trust also is vital, especially when changes must be made because people are naturally fearful of change. Teamwork means people must come together to reach decisions, even when it’s difficult.

He said KU’s search firm contacted him about the KU job, calling the move to provost “a step I want to take because I like the challenge.”

Djalali has served in his current position at Iowa since 2012, according to KU. A nuclear physicist, he was previously chair of the physics department at the University of South Carolina.

He earned his doctorate in nuclear physics and a post-doc from IPN-Orsay in Paris, France, and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in physics from University of Paris XI, according to his resume.

Djalali said his prior years gave him a sense of the world at a time before globalization was an issue.

His parents were from Iran, which they fled because of religious intolerance, he said. He was born in Morocco; then the family moved to Algeria but, not being Muslim, also left there for religious reasons. Djalali said he grew up mostly in Spain but went through the French education system.

Djalali is a scientist with a self-described passion for the arts, and he discussed some interdisciplinary steps he’d made at Iowa.

One, he said, was working with arts and business programs to create a certificate for how to run studios. Inspiration came from parents asking whether their children should pursue degrees in dance and the arts. They should follow their passions, he said, but universities owe it to society and students to enable them to get jobs. Such a certificate program gives them options.

Djalali answered questions about how he would work with legislators, again stressing communication.

Iowa’s legislative climate is similar to Kansas when it comes to higher education, Djalali said. Instead of ignoring seemingly unsupportive legislators he said Iowa has “systematically” brought them in and had conversations.

“You have to engage them,” he said.

Djalali also addressed diversity on campus, saying it must be more than a “check mark” or else even the minority faculty who are recruited to a university won’t stay there long-term.

“Diversity has to be something you mean, you really mean,” he said, adding, “it’s a constant struggle.”

Relatively white overall populations in places like Iowa and Kansas make that more challenging, he said.

“What is our mission as an institution? It’s to show what the world is,” he said. “If you don’t have it, you have to create it.”

More than 100 members of the KU community, mostly faculty and staff, attended Djalali’s presentation at the Adams Alumni Center.

The first provost candidate, KU School of Business Dean Neeli Bendapudi gave her presentation April 11. Larry Singell, executive dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, presented Thursday.

The provost search committee asked each to address the question: How can a provost foster an intellectually vibrant campus and advance the educational and research quality of the university?

KU’s provost and executive vice chancellor is second in command for KU’s Lawrence campus but does not oversee KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.

The new hire will replace Jeff Vitter, who left KU in December to become chancellor of the University of Mississippi. KU’s interim provost since Jan. 1 has been Sara Rosen, senior vice provost for academic affairs.