UI vice president search nearing end

IOWA CITY -- It's likely that finalists for the vice president for strategic communication position will visit the University of Iowa campus soon, a UI spokesman said Monday.

The search committee is in the process of identifying finalists for the position and hopes to bring them to campus for public interviews in the "relatively near future," UI Spokesman Tom Moore said. There is no set number of expected finalists, but it's typical to have three or four finalists visit campus after a national search, he said.

The search is on track to have the process concluded and a new vice president for strategic communication on campus for the start of the fall semester, Moore said.

The vice president reports directly to UI President Sally Mason and is the "chief communication officer responsible for conveying, internally and externally, the university's mission, vision and values," according to the job description. The position also has administrative oversight for university communication and marketing, the UI Alumni Association and Hancher Auditorium.

The former vice president for strategic communication, Tysen Kendig, left the UI in December for a similar job at the University of Connecticut after nearly three years at Iowa.

Mark Braun, chief of staff to Mason, is serving in the vice president role on an interim basis.