List for president of new Henderson college cut to six

Jennifer Knight

Monday, July 15, 2002 | 10:06 a.m.

The semifinalists for president of the Nevada State College at Henderson:

President, University of Idaho, doctorate in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara

President, Utah Valley State College, doctorate in higher education administration from Arizona State University

Dean and executive director of the Center for Excellence in Education at Northern Arizona University, doctorate in educational psychology from University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

Adviser for the Higher Education Advisory International in San Francisco, doctorate in international studies, University of Denver

Vice president of academic affairs, Valley City (N.D.) State University, doctorate in educational psychology, University of Washington at Pullman

Campus executive officer and dean, Washington State University at Spokane, doctorate in urban studies, Portland State University

Background checks and phone interviews will begin this week on the six semifinalists in the search for president of the Nevada State College at Henderson.

A search committee trimmed a list of 11 hopefuls down to six candidates, who were unanimously approved.

"This is the best pool of candidates I have ever seen," said Regent Mark Alden, who headed a search committee made up of five regents and 21 advisers from the community.

Two of the candidates are already sitting presidents: Kerry Romesburg of Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah, and Robert Hoover, University of Idaho, and a former administrator at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Other candidates are Melvin Hall, dean and executive director of Northern Arizona University's Center for Excellence in Education; Thomas Stauffer, an adviser for Higher Education Advisory International in San Francisco; Bill Gray, campus executive officer and dean of Washington State University at Spokane; and Les Wong, vice president of academic affairs at Valley City State University in Valley City, N.D.

Regents hope to put a new president in place by the Sept. 3 launch of the state college, but timing is tight. After background checks, the committee will meet on July 29 to interview candidates in person. They then are scheduled to choose one candidate to forward to the full Board of Regents, which meets in August.

Several community members on the search committee's advisory panel complained that Ron Meek's name was missing from the list. Meek is Community College of Southern Nevada's Henderson provost.

"I think the folks in Henderson think they have an able candidate," said Terry Graves, a lobbyist and consultant. "I just have a sense that the people of Henderson would be very disappointed that he didn't have an opportunity."

Meek publicly announced his intentions for candidacy two weeks after Richard Moore, state college founding president, stepped down amid controversy. Chris Chairsell has been serving as interim president until the search is completed.

Meek submitted his name to the executive search firm hired by regents but was eliminated along with 69 other candidates who applied.

Regent Jill Derby, a search committee member, said she would not approve of the inclusion of another name, and Nevada State Bank Chairman Bill Martin agreed. Martin, a committee member and head of the Nevada State College Foundation, said he did not buy the argument that a Nevadan would fit in best because of the political climate.

"I don't care about Nevada politics," Martin said. "I think it's ugly and it's wrong to put the name in at this point. I don't think it's fair to discard a very valid (search) process that began with 80 candidates."