Kansas State University

MANHATTAN — Kimathi I.A. Choma will serve as the interim assistant dean for diversity, recruitment and retention for the College of Arts & Sciences at Kansas State University.

"We are very excited to have someone like Kimathi joining our team in the college," said Peter Dorhout, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. "He has a proven record of working with students, focusing on their successes in a very challenging academic environment like K-State."

Choma has been the director of undergraduate public health programs for Pathways to Public Health and the Master of Public Health field experience facilitator in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University for the past six years. In addition to being a veterinarian and mentoring veterinary and pre-veterinary students, he has taught and directed the Pathways to Public Health program, which was designed to recruit diverse students into the field of public health and ultimately into the Master of Public Health program.

"I am passionate about diversity and I strive to promote student academic and professional success at the undergraduate and the graduate levels," Choma said. "Much of my experience has centered on the student perspective, but I look forward to working with faculty, staff and various entities to enhance the Kansas State experience and to service the needs of those within the College of Arts & Sciences."

As interim assistant dean, Choma will develop and guide a comprehensive strategy for diversity, retention, recruitment and inclusion for the college. He also will lead efforts to advance inclusion initiatives and practices for underrepresented groups within the college.

Choma earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, in 1997 before completing two years of graduate-level chemistry course work at the University of South Dakota in preparation for veterinary medical school. He graduated from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University in May 2007 and earned his Master of Public Health from the university in 2013. He will begin his term as interim assistant dean on June 9.