photo by: Purdue University

Alfred López

A leader at Purdue University who is an expert in Latin American and Latino studies will be the first candidate to publicly interview to become KU’s next dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

Alfred López will participate in a public interview at 2 p.m. Monday at Slawson Hall on KU’s Lawrence campus. López is the first of four candidates expected to interview to become the executive dean of the largest academic unit at the University of Kansas. People also can attend the presentation remotely at kansas.zoom.us/j/94493918957#success. The passcode is 952208.

López currently serves as the leader of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue. That school works with Purdue’s College of Liberal Arts, and includes academic areas such as comparative literature, religious studies, women, gender and sexuality studies, African American studies and American studies, among others. It serves about 385 undergraduate students and about 80 master’s and doctoral students, according to a KU release.

López received an appointment to lead the school in 2022, after having served as its interim leader on two other occasions. In addition, López is the director of Purdue’s Global Studies Program and is director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program.

He’s been a tenured faculty member in English and comparative literature at Purdue since 2012, and previously served as an associate professor in the English departments at the University of Mississippi and Florida International.

López is regarded as an expert on José Marti, a leader in Cuba’s liberation from Spain. López also is a founder of Global South, a leading journal on globalization studies. López earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Florida International, a master’s degree in English from Ohio State and a doctorate in English from the University of Iowa. He also did graduate study at the Universidad de Guanajuato in Mexico.

KU is seeking a dean for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences after years of interim leadership, when its former dean, Carl Lejuez, left to temporarily serve as provost for KU. The college’s current interim dean, John Colombo, has been serving since 2019.

The college is KU’s largest academic unit, with 11,000 undergraduate students, 1,700 graduate students, 700 faculty members and 375 staff members, spread across 50 departments, programs and centers.

The current search is the first time KU is seeking to hire what it now calls an “executive dean” for the college. Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer in March announced the new title, saying it would allow KU to attract a broader range of diverse candidates. In her March message, Bichelmeyer said she envisions the executive dean “will take leadership for priorities such as promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging for students, staff and faculty in the College; fostering interdisciplinary research and discovery, increasing enrollment and retention of undergraduates, aligning the College strategic plan with Jayhawks Rising, and engaging with KU Endowment in philanthropic activities.” She said KU’s various associate deans in the college also may receive new responsibilities under the new format.

KU plans to have three more public interviews for future dean candidates. They are scheduled for 2 p.m. Oct. 19; 2:30 p.m. Oct. 25; and 2 p.m. Oct. 28. Names of the other candidates haven’t yet been released, but will be prior to their interviews.