Armstrong said the university contacted him earlier in the semester about the position and he was interviewed by a selection committee about two weeks ago.

“I’m very happy with what we’re doing here at MSU, but this is a professional opportunity that’s just too good to not explore,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong, dean of the college since 2001, will tour the Cal Poly campus with his wife Thursday to meet with school officials, faculty, alumni and students. The other candidates for the position are Robert E. Palazzo, the provost and chief academic officer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, and Thomas C. Skalak, the vice president for research and a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia, according to a Cal Poly statement.

The candidate selected as the university’s next president is expected to assume the role in early 2011, according to the release. All candidates are scheduled to be interviewed by Cal Poly’s Board of Trustees on Dec. 13 and an announcement is expected several days after that, said Claudia Keith, assistant vice chancellor for public affairs at California State University. Keith would not say how many candidates originally were considered or which qualities are being sought.

If Armstrong is chosen for the position, finalizing a selection process to pick a new dean for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources will be the shared responsibility of the college’s faculty and MSU Provost Kim Wilcox, a spokesperson for the MSU Office of the Provost said.

While Cal Poly is a comprehensive university, its programs are geared heavily toward agriculture, architecture, engineering and business, which Armstrong, who also is a professor of animal science, said contributed to his excitement about the position.

After serving as dean for almost 10 years, Armstrong said he’s proud of how the college’s faculty, staff and students have continued to excel during tough financial times.

The mindset he has developed — thinking about what he needs to do each day to move MSU forward — has prepared him for a presidency position, though it will be hard to leave the university, he said.

“I’ll admit — that’s the tough part,” Armstrong said. “I was there in my basement yelling for the Green and White on Saturday to beat Penn State.”

Frank Fear, senior associate dean in the college, said when Armstrong entered as dean in 2001, there was a freeze on faculty positions because of the financial situation. Armstrong worked to turn that around, making fundraising a priority and working to recruit and entice faculty from other universities to MSU, Fear said.

Fear said leading the oldest agriculture college in the U.S., with its many complex and diverse departments, gave Armstrong the background to compete with the other candidates for the presidency.

“He’s not just interviewing as Jeff, but as a dean for Michigan State,” Fear said. “He will represent the college and the university successfully.”

Staff writer Andrew Krietz contributed to this report.