Candidates pull out of contention for college chief

Thursday, Oct. 28, 2004 | 10:51 a.m.

Uncertainties surrounding Nevada State College's future funding and concerns about system leadership have led several potential presidential candidates to pull their names from consideration, an outside consultant told a Board of Regents search committee today.

Regents began a search for a new president several months ago after President Kerry Romesburg resigned for a new position in Florida.

The reasons the candidates gave reflected the past several months of headlines about the higher education system as Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers has traded barbs with the Board of Regents through memos and media coverage.

Topping the list of concerns was the announcement that the board had moved forward in the search for a permanent chancellor, which began in earnest after Rogers said he would like to leave next June, Alberto Pimentel, vice president of the nonprofit educational search firm ATKearney, said. The firm is being paid at least $60,000 and as much as $75,000 to conduct the presidential search.

Several candidates, mostly presidents at other colleges, said they didn't want to take the risk of accepting a new position without knowing who their future boss would be, Pimentel said. Some said they would rather apply for the chancellor position than for president of the state college.

Candidates also had concerns that the members of Nevada Board of Regents are elected rather than appointed, that the college had already been through four presidents since it was founded in 2000, and that funding for the first liberal arts building was still uncertain, Pimentel said.

"If it was just one of those issues it would be OK, but it was a convergence of issues," Pimentel said.

This is the latest in the troubles for the Nevada State College, which has faced controversy since its inception five years ago. The college has been through four presidents -- two interim and two permanent. The first, Richard Moore, resigned under pressure before the college opened. The second, Kerry Romesburg, resigned after 22 months to go to a bigger college.

The college, which has been under scrutiny by many skeptical legislators, has had difficulty getting enough money from the state Legislature and has yet to reach fundraising goals that were tied to state allocations.

But the college also has exceeded its growth projections, registering the equivalent of 754 full-time students for the current semester, despite its funding for only 500. It graduated its first class in May.

Pimentel advised the joint search committee of regents and Nevada State College stakeholders to postpone the search process until some of those issues were resolved in order to get a better pool of candidates. Most of the people who had pulled out were the more experienced, sitting presidents, Pimentel said, leaving an array of provosts and deans vying for the position.

There are still strong candidates, Pimentel said, as a provost or dean of a major university may be a great fit for the small state college, but many of the "A-list players" are now out of contention.

After more than an hour of discussion, however, the committee decided that the need for a permanent president made it worthwhile to at least look at the candidates who had stayed in the selection pool now. If none of them is a good fit, the committee will renew the search process.

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, one of the legislators who has been critical of the state college, said she is not surprised that it may be having difficulty in attracting candidates. She said there was the issue of supporters of the college pledging $10 million to construct the first building and then not fulfilling the promise.

The Legislature is being asked this session to put up the whole cost of the building.

Giunchigliani suggested the college be co-located on the campuses of Community College of Southern Nevada, eliminating the need for separate administrations. She said the students could take community college courses and then continue on the same campus with the state college in getting a bachelor's degree.

UNLV wants to be more of a research institution, she said. Some of its bachelor degree programs could be transferred to the state college, she said.

However, the college's faculty and administrators said they yearned to move forward and continue their accelerated growth, but we're being held back by not having a permanent president. Interim President Patricia Miltenberger has also said she only wanted to stay on until January.

"Just as these candidates would like to know who their boss is, so would we," Lois Becker, vice president for academic affairs, said. "We are in a holding pattern."

Several representatives from Nevada State College also questioned whether they wanted a candidate who would pull out because of possible risks.

Most of the college's faculty left secure, long-term jobs at other universities in order to be part of founding a brand new institution, several faculty and administrators said.

"We are all risk-takers," Erica Beck, director of liberal arts and sciences and psychology professor, said. "We want another risk-taker."

Regent Thalia Dondero had the same initial reaction.

"I would just say they have no guts if they couldn't stick with it," Dondero said.

Several also believed that some of the deans and provosts in the pool, for whom assuming the presidency of a college would be a promotion, might be a better fit for the startup college.

Rene Cantu, assistant vice president for student services, said he would prefer "rising stars who want to make their mark," to well-established sitting presidents who might be interested in the college as a place to retire.

Cantu and others also questioned if they would want candidates more interested in the chancellor position than the college presidency.

Regents said they usually prefer systemwide experience for the chancellor position, but would be defining the qualifications for that role in meetings next week.

Regent Mark Alden, chairman of the committee, went along with the unanimous decision to move forward with the current pool, but he warned members not to get so caught up with the intent to hire someone that the "intent becomes more important than the skill sets needed in that person."

Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers agreed, saying that it might be good to take a look at the current pool but that the committee should be sure not to hire someone just to hire someone.

"You've got to have a superstar in there and if you have anything less it (the college) won't make it," Rogers said.

The committee is scheduled to review candidates' resumes on Nov. 16.

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