Harter cites fund raising among top achievements

Monday, Jan. 10, 2000 | 11:02 a.m.

When Carol Harter became UNLV president in 1995, she left the State University of New York at Geneseo frustrated that it took her five years to raise $5 million.

In contrast, she has raised $95 million in four years at UNLV and almost doubled the endowment from $42 million to $82 million, two of her accomplishments listed in an initial interview with a Florida university.

"I actually like fund raising," Harter told the Morris & Berger consulting team that interviewed her.

Most people don't realize how often other institutions have recognized her success at UNLV, spokesman Tom Flagg said.

Harter had turned down previous offers until the University of South Florida at Tampa listed her as one of seven finalists on Thursday, surprising some and angering others.

"She hasn't made up her mind by any means," Flagg said late Friday, noting Harter has a long way to go in Florida's interview process and still has a full agenda at UNLV.

Florida's regents will not consider a finalist until March 10.

"Personally, I hope she stays," Flagg said. If Harter leaves this summer, three of the University and Community College System of Nevada's top positions will be vacant. Richard Moore, president of the Community College of Southern Nevada, was named president of the proposed Henderson state college, and former Chancellor Richard Jarvis left Nevada in June to lead the U.S. Open University.

Flagg and others at UNLV said that Harter's major accomplishment has been to raise academic standards while supporting athletics.

Striking a balance between the two is not easy to do, said Fred Albrecht, vice president of university and community relations.

Albrecht, who has been at UNLV for 30 years, also noted that Harter has given UNLV direction under a strategic plan that will help the institution rank as a research university by 2005.

Harter noted in her interview with Morris & Berger that she has doubled research funds at UNLV from $15 million to $30 million.

She has diversified the faculty at UNLV, hiring 48 percent women and 20 percent minorities for new positions last year, she told the consultants, and has hired 570 faculty in three years.

"We have moved from a teaching institution with a regional focus to a research-oriented culture," she said.

Harter proclaimed her sensitivity to community needs in the interviews. While Southern Nevada schools need 2,000 teachers a year, UNLV supplied only 240 of them last year. "This year, we will produce 700 teachers," she said.

Harter considers her task-oriented nature to move fast and expect others to keep up as a weakness. She likes a strong executive team, and said she built one at UNLV, hiring 10 deans in the process.

If Harter stays at UNLV, regents will review her contract in June and could extend it until 2004.

Regent Mark Alden said he moved to extend Harter's original contract -- he voted to extend it two years ago -- and became furious when Harter criticized the board for micromanagement during her Florida interview.

"I was very upset by what she said," he said Friday. Nevada is only one of five states with an elective board. Members serve a six-year term without pay.

"Perhaps she would be happier in Florida," Alden said. "She's begging for this job."

Other candidates for the Florida post are Sharon Brehm, Ohio University provost, Athens; Antoine Garibaldi, Howard University provost and chief academic officer, Washington, D.C.; Judy Genshaft, University of Albany provost and vice president of academic affairs, State University of New York, Albany; Thomas George, University of Wisconsin chancellor, Stevens Point; Steffen Rogers, Clemson University provost and vice president of academic affairs, South Carolina; and Thomas Tighe, University of South Florida provost and executive vice president.