Iowa State University is hosting four provost finalists in April. The third arrived Monday.

Editor's note: This is an ongoing story that will be updated as Iowa State provost candidates visit campus.

Finalists in Iowa State University's provost and senior vice president search are visiting campus throughout April.

Mississippi State University's Jason Keit is visiting Ames this week.

Current provost Jonathan Wickert is leaving his position on June 30, ending a 12-year tenure. He is the longest-serving provost in the Big 12 Conference and the most tenured among Iowa's three public universities.

Iowa State has scheduled interviews and campus forums for its four final candidates. The new hire will also serve as the university's senior vice president.

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Interviews begin in Ames

Elizabeth Wentz, vice president and dean of the Graduate College at Arizona State University, was the first finalist to visit the Iowa State campus on April 15-6. She was followed by Purdue University College of Pharmacy Dean and acting provost Eric Barker visited campus April 17-18.

Jason Keit, dean of Mississippi State University College of Engineering, will interview in person this week, Monday, April 22, and Tuesday, April 23.

The fourth candidate, whose name has not been released, is scheduled to visit Ames April 29-30.

Each candidate's name and curriculum will be shared online the day before their visit, according to Iowa State's Office of the President's website.

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First Iowa State provost candidates visit campus

Wentz met with Iowa State personnel and toured campus on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, she participated in a public forum, answering questions about her background and vision for Iowa State.

Wentz is also a professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State. She has been with ASU since 2010 in several administrative roles and has been at the Graduate College since 2020.

Wentz's teaching focuses on geographic technologies, as well as graduate-level research design and proposal writing. Her book, "How to Design, Write, and Present a Successful Dissertation Proposal," guides graduate students through the dissertation proposal process.

Barker heads Purdue's pharmacy college

Barker is the acting associate provost for Graduate Programs at Purdue University. He has served in several administrative roles in West Lafayette, Indiana, and has been the College of Pharmacy's dean since 2017.

Barker has taught at Purdue for almost 30 years. He started as an assistant professor in 1998 and became an associate professor in 2004. He has been a professor since 2011.

Barker also serves as an adjunct professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

He is a member of several professional associations, including the American Pharmacists Association, Society for Neuroscience and American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. Barker became editor-in-chief for Pharmacological Reviews, a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal, in 2016.

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Keit leads Mississippi State engineering college, visits this week

Keit has been the dean of Mississippi State's engineering college since 2015. He is also a professor and Earnest W. and Mary Ann Deavenport, Jr. Chair.

Keit has also served as director for the Mississippi State University Energy Institute and Swalm School of Chemical Engineering.

Keit has taught for more than 20 years. He worked as an assistant and associate professor at Michigan Technological University before becoming a professor at Mississippi State in 2011.

He is a professional member of organizations such as the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the American Society for Engineering Education.

Upcoming campus visits and public forums

Iowa State's provost search is led by a 17-member committee, which includes faculty and the student government president.

Each provost finalist will meet with various members of the ISU community and participate in a campus forum at 3 p.m. on the first day.

Forums two and three will be in the Sun Room in Memorial Union on April 17 and April 22, respectively. The fourth forum will be held on April 29 in Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium in Howe Hall.

The forums will be recorded and available on the president's office page once the finalists have all visited.

Celia Brocker is a government, crime, political and education reporter for the Ames Tribune. She can be reached at CBrocker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Find out who's interviewing in Ames as ISU searches for a new provost