Alden takes position as interim provost

Ed Koch and Aaron Clemens

Thursday, June 15, 2000 | 11:32 a.m.

Ray Alden, the dean of UNLV's College of Science, has been named interim provost in the wake of Douglas Ferraro's resignation Wednesday from the post he has held for five years.

Alden, who has been at UNLV since 1997, takes over the provost job -- the university's top academic officer -- on Aug. 15, the day Ferraro is scheduled to step down.

Ferraro, who will become a faculty member of the UNLV department of psychology, is the fourth in a string of top administrators to leave their positions since spring semester ended.

The exodus followed UNLV President Carol Harter's confirmation for another four years at the helm, resulting in speculation among campus observers that a major house-cleaning is occurring.

Robert Ackerman, vice president of Student Services, Ferraro and Len Zane, founding dean of UNLV's Honors College, have all decided to return to teaching.

Ferraro has been an academic administrator for the last 16 years, coming to UNLV from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo in 1995 to take the provost job.

Alden is a graduate of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., where he was director of the Applied Marine Research Laboratory. He also was a professor of biological sciences at that school.

"Dr. Alden is an outstanding dean -- he is greatly respected by the faculty, the President's Cabinet and his fellow deans," Harter said in a news release. "I know he will continue to advance UNLV's academic mission during this transition period."