College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Peter Rabideau is expected to officially announce later this week if he will leave Iowa State and where he will continue his career.

Debra Patterson-Engelhorn, LAS secretary, confirmed Monday that Rabideau is a candidate for Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Mississippi State University.

Rabideau declined to comment further.

Joe Farris, director of university relations for Mississippi State University, said Rabideau is a candidate, but the search process for the position has not officially been concluded.

Rabideau took over as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1999.

Shu-min Huang, professor and chair of anthropology, said the LAS college had six or seven deans from 1975 to when Rabideau was hired. Several of them were interim deans, he said.

“This caused a lot of problems,” Huang said.

Faculty and staff within the LAS College said they have great respect and admiration for Rabideau.

“He has been instrumental in helping a lot of departments survive budget cuts,” said Craig Anderson, professor and chair of the psychology.

To a great extent, Rabideau has been spending time on the budget problems while he would have rather been focusing on other goals he had for the college, Anderson said.

“We have obviously experienced some very difficult budget cuts,” he said.

Charles Kostelnick, professor and chair of English, agreed.

“He was an effective leader in helping us address those problems,” Kostelnick said.

If Rabideau were to leave Iowa State for Mississippi State University, Kostelnick said he wishes him the best of luck.

Rabideau has been very helpful with new faculty and staff in the college, said Justin Peters, professor and chair of mathematics.

“He was very supportive of us filling open positions with new staff,” Peters said.

Rabideau has been an asset to lower profile projects as well, Kostelnick said. He helped establish a new divisional structure within the LAS, he said.

The new structure separates the college into science and mathematics, social sciences and humanities. He also was helpful in the creation of the Center for Excellence in Arts and Humanities, Kostelnick said.

Overall, faculty said Rabideau has made a great impression on the LAS College.

“He has been extremely good for the college,” said Carl Jacobson, professor and chair of geological and atmospherical sciences. “He is honest and straightforward. Peter has probably done the best job I have seen of getting good support for the [LAS] college.”

Anderson said Rabideau has been a “very good dean.”

“He has been forthright and candid with department chairs,” Anderson said.

“I would hate to see him go,” Anderson said. “It’s a real loss when great administrators leave.”

A dean’s job is to represent his or her college to the rest of the university and deal with individual departments, Jacobson said.

If a new dean is hired, he or she should be able to take on those tasks, he said.

“Rabideau pays equal attention to all departments,” Huang said. “A future dean should know enough about all of the disciplines in the LAS College, like Dean Rabideau does.”