Anderes top choice for interim chancellor

Friday, July 2, 1999 | 11:16 a.m.

The vice chancellor for finance and planning for the University and Community College System of Nevada appears to be the leading candidate to temporarily replace Chancellor Richard Jarvis, who announced suddenly Thursday he is resigning effective Aug. 31.

Tom Anderes, 49, is a highly respected administrator whose name surfaced almost immediately after Jarvis announced he was quitting his $208,000-a-year job to become the first chancellor of the newly created United States Open University in Washington, D.C. -- which is affiliated with the 30-year-old Open University based in England.

A special meeting by the regents that had been set for July 13 in Las Vegas to evaluate the job performance of Jarvis instead will be used to begin the search for an interim chancellor.

They may not have to look any further than Anderes. One official, who asked not to be identified, confirmed he is the odds-on favorite.

"Tom is one of the best," Regent Chairwoman Jill Derby said. "He has the respect of the board and, as vice chancellor for finance and planning, he is a major player in the planning effort that has gone on for so long here."

Derby says it is possible someone will be named at the upcoming special meeting.

Anderes said he will accept the temporary position if offered.

"I could provide context and continuity," he said.

And he indicated he would like to be considered for the permanent post of chancellor.

"I've been a vice chancellor for 11 years, between the University of Connecticut and here. Obviously, the next step for me is chancellor or president or something of that nature," Anderes said.

Anderes is intimately familiar with the problems anyone who takes the position, either temporary or permanent, will face and he also knows the board is going through a philosophical change in its approach to management.

"Richard (Jarvis) was working under a particular job description. The regents may be redefining it. I would have to see how I would fit in. But I would be interested," he said.

The next person to sit in the chancellor's chair will likely have a more pro-active board as the regents begin the process of redefining themselves.

"This is going to be a very active board, a very involved board," Southern Nevada Regent Douglas Seastrand said.

He said the next chancellor needs to have the vision that Jarvis had.

Anderes has a number of ideas he would like to pursue.

"I would hope that I could raise some issues or concerns or possible solutions that would take me out of the caretaker role," Anderes said. "But right now I need to listen to the board to hear how they define the role."

Seastrand said the future chancellor also must be a "consensus builder and be able to take directions from the board. We won't be requiring new initiatives, but look at him to hold the reins."

He called Anderes a wonderful person, "but whoever the choice will be, it will be someone who would have broad support and be well respected by everyone."

Seastrand said Anderes fits the description, "but there are other people in the system" who also are qualified.

Regent Mark Alden was unequivocal in his support of Anderes as a temporary replacement.

"Tom Anderes should be named interim-chancellor," he said. "I don't think we should have a search committee yet (for chancellor). I think we should proceed with the interim. Chancellor Jarvis has assembled an excellent staff. We (the university system) will be fine. Dr. Jarvis took this system to a higher level."

Alden said as the search for a permanent replacement progresses, the board will "re-address what its role is. We need a re-definition of the board's role, take a more active role. And this is no criticism of the chancellor. When Dr. Jarvis was hired he was made CEO. He did what he was hired to do."

Finding a permanent replacement for Jarvis will not be as rapid as the search for an interim chancellor.

No one is even considering a search committee this early, focusing instead on a temporary replacement and the task that lies ahead for that person and the board.

"It is important we study what our needs are in terms of the next chancellor," Derby said. "We will look at where we need to go and the leadership we need to get there. There are a lot of issues, and I see this as an opportunity for the board to re-think how we provide leadership. It's a healthy process for the board to revisit what works best."

Derby praised the out-going chancellor.

"He leaves us in good shape. His leadership was critical," she said.

University of Nevada, Reno President Joe Crowley also applauded Jarvis.

"Dr. Jarvis has been an excellent chancellor," Crowley said in a press release. "He streamlined the administration of UCCSN and built a strong collaborative relationship with the K-12 community and with key state agencies."

Also during Jarvis' tenure the system created a law school, is in the process of creating a dental school and a feasibility study has been funded to determine whether a state college system is needed.

When Jarvis took over the reins, the biennial budget he had to work with was $513.8 million. Over the next five years that budget grew to its present $894.8 million -- an increase of almost 75 percent.

Enrollment in the two universities and five community colleges increased more than 25 percent during his tenure. The actual number of students attending classes on the campuses, either full- or part-time, in the fall of 1994 was 65,598 and in the fall of 1998 it was 82,666. The full-time equivalency was 35,870 in 1994 and 45,646 last fall.

Nevada is said to have one of the fastest-growing higher education systems in the country, but that growth has been a double-edged sword in higher education, one that ultimately may have cut short Jarvis' stay here.

Educators are pleased at the tremendous increase in the number of students, but are in a quandary as to how to adequately fund the system to educate them.

Though funding from the legislature is at record levels, the money is still far short of what many say is needed to create an enviable system of learning.

Scarcity of funds has created many bitter confrontations among northern and southern regents and contributed to an uncomfortable environment for Jarvis.

Derby says the conflicts may have been a contributing factor in Jarvis' decision to move on, but at the same time his new position as the first chancellor of a new university in Washington, D.C., was an opportunity hard to pass up.

"The last six months have been a very tough time," Derby said. "The equity issue in the south really boiled over. It created a tough environment."

Seastrand says solving the funding inequity problems is probably the most critical task.

"I am very hopeful that we can work out a good arrangement ... we have till the next biennium to do it. We have the right people involved ... between us all I believe we can come up with something that will work. I very much anticipate this will be done," he said.

Derby doesn't think the controversy will affect the search for a new chancellor.

"We're a fast-growing state that supports growth," she said. "There are exciting opportunities here."