Tuesday, June 22, 2004 | 9:46 a.m.
Some members of a committee charged with finding a new leader for Nevada State College fear that the search for a new president will drag on too long and hurt the Henderson school when it comes time to lobby state lawmakers for money.
The search began Monday as a joint committee of university regents and college stakeholders voted to hire a search consultant to make the process easier and faster.
It was a step forward but a sprint is needed, some members of the committee said.
"We need to speed things up," Nevada State College Foundation Chairman William Martin, president and chief executive officer of Nevada State Bank, said as he exited the system administration building. "I need a president in there now."
At the current pace, the earliest the college could have a permanent president is January, Regent Mark Alden said, and it's likely the best candidates will not want to switch institutions mid-year. That may mean that the college will be left in the hands of an interim president for a full year.
Faculty and staff at the college are concerned about entering the Legislative session next January without a permanent president, said Rene Cantu, assistant vice president for student services at the college. Lawmakers concerned about state budget shortages have repeatedly threatened to cut the college's budget or deny the college needed construction money for the first liberal arts building.
Alden said he understood those concerns but told the college's faculty and staff who are on the committee that they "will be well represented" by University and Community College System of Nevada Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers and by the expected interim president, Pat Miltenberger, who is currently a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.
The Board of Regents is slated to approve Rogers' recommendation of Miltenberger at a meeting next week. Miltenberger has helped with Nevada State College's accreditation process since its inception and knows the college's needs, regents said.
If approved, Miltenberger will be filling in as president until a permanent replacement for former President Kerry Romesburg is found. Romesburg left the college on Friday to take over the presidency of Jacksonville University in Florida.
The committee authorized Suzanne Ernst, chief administrative officer to the Board of Regents, to send out proposal requests to the nation's top college and university search consultants. The consultants, so-called head hunters, will be asked to present a proposal to the committee at its July 19 meeting.
The consultant selection, along with the budget for the search process, is to be voted upon by the full Board of Regents during its Aug. 19-20 meeting at Truckee Meadow Community College in Reno.
That shoves the search process into September and October, meaning the earliest regents could vote on the committee's recommended candidate would be the Dec. 2-3 meeting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Once a candidate is approved, it usually takes two to three months to bring that person on board, Alden said, and it's likely longer in the middle of the semester.
"Good presidents or good leaders will not leave the campus they are at in a bad situation," Alden said.
The search for Romesburg took about four months after founding president Richard Moore resigned.
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