Three candidates will be in Manhattan interviewing for the new vice president for marketing and communications position, according to a K-State Media Relations release.

The finalists are Jackie Hartman, associate professor of management at Colorado State University; Jeffery B. Morris, chief communications officer at the University of Central Missouri; and Jeanette DeDiemar, executive director of integrated marketing and communication at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Each finalist is scheduled to visit K-State for a day and participate in an open forum session at the K-State Alumni Center. The sessions will be from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and will be open to all K-State faculty, students and staff. Hartman is scheduled to be on campus Tuesday, Morris on Wednesday and DeDiemar on Friday.

The search committee has asked the candidates to discuss their ideas for bringing integrated marketing to K-State, according to the release.

Virginia Moxley, dean of the College of Human Ecology and chair of the search committee, said the applicants are all familiar with K-State and have graduated from the university.

"It really speaks for the passion about our university and will help promote K-State," Moxley said.

The new position will oversee the creation of an integrated communications and marketing strategy and provide leadership for the following categories: media relations, university publications, Educational Communications Center and printing services, according to the release. Two other units are also proposed: a Web design team and a marketing research team.

Moxley said the search committee is finished with its part of the selection process other than coordinating the interviews, but it will submit a list of strengths and weaknesses to President Kirk Schulz when the interviews are over.