Kim Wilcox's visit to MSU will be a his first in almost 30 years. The 1976 MSU graduate returns today as the fourth of five provost candidates.

Wilcox is the dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Kansas. He also serves as the vice provost for General Education Coordination and will host a public forum at 4 p.m. today in the Kellogg Center Auditorium.

Wilcox said he has been, and still is, committed to MSU.

"I'm a proud alumnus of MSU and I'm committed to the university," Wilcox said. "It's that sense of connectedness that is the biggest attribute that my days as a student provide."

The provost is the chief academic officer and oversees areas such as appointments, terminations, salaries and the academic budget.

Wilcox said he will use today's visit to reacquaint himself with campus.

"It's been 30 years and I know the institution has changed a lot," he said. "I'm interested to come and learn how."

His experience at MSU and abroad make him a strong candidate, said Patricia Smith, a student member of the provost search and rating committee and a history and art history senior.

"Having that outside experience and having the value of being an MSU alum - it would probably give him the extra drive to push MSU to reach its potential," Smith said. "He's worked at other institutions, so he's had the opportunity to gain an outsider's perspective on MSU and also bring new ideas to campus."

His time at MSU doesn't necessarily put Wilcox ahead of the other candidates, but it does give him a different knowledge base, said Lynne Goldstein, chairwoman of the provost search and rating committee, and professor and chairwoman of the anthropology department.

"Most undergraduate students here don't know the inner workings of the university, so it doesn't give a real benefit," she said. "But it gives you some ties to the university - a better understanding and feel for the university."

Wilcox' vision for MSU will evolve as he talks to people, but he has some ideas for the future of the institution, he said.

"I see myself helping the university build on its land-grant tradition and make it a true university of the world," he said. "The university has so much to offer the world."

Wilcox is the second of two liberal arts deans to be selected as a provost finalist. Deans of liberal arts colleges are highly qualified because the colleges span many disciplines, Goldstein said.

"These are big colleges that include natural science, social science and the humanities - it's like they're deans of the equivalent of three colleges here," Goldstein said. "We know by the experience they have that they already have an understanding of a lot of the research we do."

At Kansas, Wilcox said he oversees a college with 18,000 students and 50 departments and programs. In the past, MSU administrators debated on combining the multiple liberal arts and sciences colleges into a single college, but Wilcox said he doesn't have an agenda to do that.

"What's important is that the administrative structure fits the culture and aspirations of the institution," he said.

Wilcox served as the president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents.

The provost search and rating committee picked five candidates earlier this month after a national search produced 50 applicants. It will make recommendations to the MSU Board of Trustees to choose the provost at its June meeting.