The search for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences dean is one step closer to the finish line.

The last of four candidates for the LAS dean position spoke Monday at an open forum in the Memorial Union. Wolfgang Kliemann, associate vice provost for research and professor of mathematics, spoke about the role of liberal arts and sciences in the modern land grant research university and answered questions from faculty and staff.

Kliemann said he wants to prepare students to become “lifelong learners” in a “technological and global world.” He shared his views about differences in land grant universities that he would like to see occur in the next five years.

“The model one land grant university, number one, will be more focused and more outcome oriented than it is at this moment,” Kliemann said.

He said in the future, research land grant universities should be more focused “on the expectations that the state and other funding agencies will have” and that the land grant university should “have to defend and prove” to those funding agencies that the money is used to create the kind of outcomes that are expected of them.

Goals Kliemann has for the future of the college include recruiting and retaining excellent faculty and staff.

He recommended departments not wait until faculty or staff receive job offers from other universities to tell them they are appreciated and are wanted at the university.

Other goals include increasing diversity among faculty, staff and students and improving student learning experience by offering research experiences for undergraduates, partnering with businesses to offer more internship opportunities, and encouraging students to take advantage of study abroad opportunities. Another goal is to continue to serve the state and the nation through research and excellence.

Mark Engelbrecht, dean of the College of Design and search committee chairman, said once the search committee has analyzed written evaluations attendees filled out at each of the forums, the committee will meet with the provost to discuss the candidates.

“We’ll convene later in the week with the provost and discuss the candidates,” Engelbrecht said. “It’s not the province of the committee to make recommendations, it’s simply to explore the positives and the negatives of the candidates with the provost.”

Kliemann has served Iowa State since 1983 as an assistant professor in the mathematics department. Before coming to Iowa State, he taught at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, from 1974-76. In 2000, he became the associate dean for research in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and became associate vice provost for research in 2001.