KU names Board of Regents CEO Kim Wilcox as new CLAS dean

LAWRENCE -- Kim Wilcox, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Board of Regents, has been named dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Kansas, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor David Shulenburger announced today.

Wilcox, former chair of the speech-language-hearing department at KU, will become dean on July 15.

"Kim Wilcox has an extraordinary record as professor, researcher, mentor and administrator. He has been an effective advocate for all of higher education," Shulenburger said. "I am confident that the application of his skills to the job of dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will help make an already strong College an even better place for students and faculty."

The college is the largest of KU's 14 schools, with more than 500 faculty members, nearly 300 staff, more than 50 departments, an annual budget of nearly $60 million in state-allocated funds and more than $27 million in grants and contract monies. The college enrolls more than 15,000 students, including 70 percent of all undergraduates at KU. Most students enroll in the College as freshmen before choosing a major in the College or in one of KU's other professional schools.

"As the academic cornerstone of the university, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will play a pivotal role in defining KU in the 21st century," Wilcox said. "The global, knowledge-based economies of the future will be built on the disciplines represented in the College. I am honored to be asked to assist the College as it leads the university into the future."

Wilcox was a faculty member in the College from 1984 to 1998, when he was named interim director of academic affairs for the Board of Regents. A year later he was promoted to executive director. His title was changed to president and CEO in 2001.

During his tenure, the state's higher education system was reorganized to unify it and make it more efficient. Notably, it put community colleges and technical schools under the Board of Regents instead of the Kansas State Board of Education.

"I have been fortunate to serve the Board of Regents during such an important time for higher education in Kansas. In the past three years, the board has succeeded in creating a new system of higher education, and I am pleased that I have been able to play a part," Wilcox said.

Wilcox earned a bachelor's degree in audiology and speech sciences at Michigan State University in 1976 and his master's and doctoral degrees in speech and hearing science at Purdue University in 1978 and 1980. He taught at the University of Missouri-Columbia for four years before joining KU in 1984.

While at KU, Wilcox served as KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway's special counsel for strategic initiatives. In the speech-language-hearing department, Wilcox was director of the Native American Training Program and co-director of the Intercampus Program in Communicative Disorders.

He received the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1988 and was a finalist for the 1997 Honorable Outstanding Progressive Educator (HOPE) award given by the senior class at KU.

Wilcox will succeed Kathleen McCluskey-Fawcett, who has been interim dean of the College since July 2001, when Dean Sally Frost Mason resigned to become provost at Purdue University. McCluskey-Fawcett will return to her post of associate provost for academic services.