College pick plans to start soon

Jennifer Knight

Wednesday, July 31, 2002 | 9:25 a.m.

The top pick to head the Nevada State College at Henderson said this morning he has accepted the job and plans to start work next month.

"I will be there indeed during the first semester," said Kerry Romesburg, the third person in one year chosen to serve as president of an institution that has yet to open its door. "I can't imagine having split loyalties."

After receiving majority support from an advisory committee, a panel of five regents voted unanimously Tuesday to choose Romesburg as president. The final decision now goes to the full 11-member Board of Regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada, which will act Aug. 15-16.

"Let me just say, I'm surprised and really flattered," Romesburg said. "I was prepared for another round of interviews and am now in deep discussion with my wife about this."

Romesburg said he spent much of Tuesday evening talking with system Chancellor Jane Nichols. Officials are still negotiating his salary, expected to reach up to $200,000 a year with a housing and car allowance attached.

Nevada State College is scheduled to open Sept. 3. If the regents approve the hiring, Romesburg will replace acting president Chris Chairsell, who stepped in after the resignation of founding president Richard Moore.

Romesburg, 57, president of Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah, says he is used to startup operations. In his 14 years there, he has guided the institution as it evolved from a vocational two-year school to a four-year state college. Enrollment has increased by 17,000 students in that time.

Romesburg also said he has experience in meeting challenges. His vision to offer baccalaureate degrees met with a lot of resistance, he said.

"Eight (out of nine) of my very own colleagues and presidents spoke against it," Romesburg said. "But the cause was just ... We needed it. The state needed it, and it's been an unbelievable success."

The new Henderson college has also experienced its share of controversy. Since plans for the college began in 2000, it suffered a number of setbacks in its search of state funding and a permanent site.

But Romesburg said he would be worried if the state college didn't have opposition.

"When there are limited dollars and you have one more institution at the trough, I would be amazed if that weren't controversial," Romesburg said.

The decision to choose Romesburg was based on his experience in constructing new buildings, raising funds and working with legislators -- and it didn't hurt that he already likes the desert, one advisory member said at Tuesday's meeting at the university system offices.

"I just don't believe this is happening so fast," said Regent Mark Alden, committee chairman. "I've never in a search seen such consensus, ever."

The board had originally planned to bring three names forward for a second round of interviews, but changed that plan after the 21-member advisory committee overwhelmingly picked Romesburg in a poll vote.

Romesburg drew 11 votes from the advisory committee, while candidates Thomas Michael Stauffer, an adviser for Higher Education Advisory International in San Francisco, and Les Wong, vice president of academic affairs at Valley City State University in Valley City, N.D., got five votes each.

"I don't think it's fair to bring two candidates forward who don't have the votes," said Regent Dorothy Gallagher, who sat on the committee. "When there's this big of a gap in what people think about the candidate, I think we should just go for it."

The decision came after two days of interviewing five candidates and two hours of discussion on Tuesday.

Board members said they were most impressed by Romesburg's inclusive leadership style and his ability to make the board feel comfortable.

Romesburg also showed regents another side of his personality -- his ability to be direct. He admitted to the board that he was overwhelmed by the state mandate to raise $10 million for construction of the Nevada State College. And he expressed his dislike for the public interview, calling it "ugly and uncomfortable."

One colleague described Romesburg as someone who will tell you how he feels without causing people to be uncomfortable.

"He's direct but approachable," said Wilford Clyde, a business owner and chairman of the Board of Trustees at Utah Valley State. "He gives you your distance but is always on top of what is going on."

That ability to gain allies worked for Romesburg in the predominantly Mormon community of Orem, Clyde said. Romesburg, who is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, underplayed those obstacles.

"Utah is the best place I can think of on a Sunday," Romesburg said. "I play golf and no one is out on the course."

Besides, he quipped, "When people ask me about diversity at our institution, I say I am the diversity."

Before coming to Utah, Romesburg served as executive director of the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education. Romesburg began his career as a high school mathematics teacher in Arizona in 1967 before jumping to higher education in 1972.

Longtime friend and Community College of Southern Nevada President Ron Remington said he had nothing but praise for the committee's decision to choose Romesburg.

"I just think the world of him," Remington said. "Kerry really understands the distinction between the state college and the university. You're looking at a person who never lets a lot of grass grow under his feet."