Rogers seeks changes in regents’ mission

Thursday, May 20, 2004 | 9:37 a.m.

Less than two weeks after becoming interim chancellor of the University and Community College System of Nevada, Jim Rogers has three agenda items on the upcoming June Board of Regents meeting designed to help streamline board business.

And his recommendations are already generating a range of responses from the 13 regents who serve as Rogers' bosses -- from praise and encouragement to skepticism and laughter.

According to the agenda, Rogers plans to recommend the temporary hiring of an assistant chancellor to take over the internal workings of the system and the elimination of a handbook requirement that mandates board approval of all of the chancellor's administrative appointees.

And board meetings would only last one day instead of two.

Regents in favor of the changes said they'd propel the board back to its original purpose -- that of a governing board that oversees the budget and sets policy. By streamlining meetings and giving more authority to the chancellor, the board would be able to focus on the big picture rather than on the little details of each institution.

But most of the regents interviewed by the Sun still have questions about the agenda items, and a few said they worried that at least one of the proposed policies was giving too much authority to the chancellor -- making the board itself irrelevant.

Probably the most questioned item on the agenda is the one that sets next year's calendar. Rogers, who has said he hates any meeting that lasts more than 30 minutes, is requesting that regents approve five, one-day meetings throughout the 2005 calendar as opposed to the six, two-day meetings that were originally scheduled for 2004.

Regents were primarily in favor of the streamlining move, but almost all of them were skeptical that it could really happen. A few even laughed out loud and needed a few seconds to compose themselves before being able to comment.

The 13-member board is known for having long debates and has often had to postpone items that come up near the end of their two-day meetings because they run out of time.

Rogers said he knows it will be difficult to trim the meetings down to one-day.

"We'll see, won't we," Rogers said when asked if his mission was possible. "We are going to try to do our best.

"We are going to try to do more in committees, put more on the consent calender, and try to get more information to the Board of Regents way before the meeting so they aren't put in the position where things are handed to them at the last moment," Rogers added.

"That's the way a board should work, it should go into that meeting very aware of what is involved with ample opportunity to review all of the problems before they go into the meeting."

Essentially, the plan moves committee meetings typically scheduled for the first day of board meeting to another day and eliminates an afternoon session.

Board Chairman Stavros Anthony said the plan may also require a longer day, working from 8 a.m. till 7 p.m. if necessary.

"I think it's a good thing," Anthony said. "We can streamline things to save the taxpayers a few dollars and get our work done quicker, I think that is fine," Anthony said.

Longtime Regent Jill Derby, however, was not as positive about the plan, noting that it would involve considerable reoganization and more time in committee meetings.

"One of the challenges is that we are the board not only for the system but for every institution," Derby said. "There is a lot of business that comes before us."

Regents also disagreed about Rogers' request to eliminate board approval of system administrators. Of the nine regents interviewed by the Sun on Wednesday, more than half said they needed more information before they could approve that proposal, and they said they balked at the idea of eliminating the oversight for all administrators.

Regents Tom Kirkpatrick and Howard Rosenberg also worried that the handbook revision would unnecessarily exclude the board from an important part of the process without saving much time.

Other regents thought the change would be good because it would keep the board from micromanaging.

Regents Anthony, Derby, Doug Seastrand, Mark Alden, Jack Lund Schofield all supported that move, many saying that regents should trust the chancellor to select all of his own staff, just like any chief executive would be expected to do in corporate America.

"The system is getting large enough that we certainly don't want to be micromanaging as regents," Seastrand said. "We need to put a lot of faith and trust into a chancellor and let that person do the job."

The one recommendation most regents agreed on was the appointment of an assistant chancellor who would run most of the internal workings of the system office. Rogers' choice, Dr. Trudy Larson of the University of Nevada School of Medicine, was also supported by most of the regents.

Larson, who served as faculty senate chairman at the Univeristy of Nevada, Reno, this past year, would make $165,000 annually for the one-year appointment as assistant chancellor.

The need for someone to aid Rogers on academic issues was something Rogers discussed with regents before coming in, he said.

"In the past the chancellorship has been both an inside and an outside person, and I think that at this point she will do more of the inside things and I will do more of the outside things," Rogers said.

Rogers said he selected Larson because he viewed her as confident, creative and someone who would work well with him.

Regents said the appointment of Larson was a temporary one to fill the gaps in Rogers' experience. Larson will, however, be replacing Nancy Flagg, who resigned as deputy to the chancellor shortly after Jane Nichols resigned as chancellor for health reasons.

"I think this position is needed," Rosenburg said. "Chancellor Rogers' focus will be external. He doesn't pretend to have the expertise to deal with individual campuses on a regular basis."

Other regents agreed that it was best to allow Rogers to focus on his skills as a leader and in promoting the University and Community College System of Nevada externally.

"This gives him an opportunity to free him up to let him do what he does best," Regent Bret Whipple said.

Rosenburg said the only question he had about the proposal was whether Larson was the right person for the assistant chancellor job. He said he wasn't sure that Larson was experienced enough for the position.