Arizona State official top choice for UNR post

Sunday, April 23, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

UNR presidential search committee members know exactly which of the final three candidates they want to hire for the university's top job.

All three are qualified. But committee members said Milton Glick, provost for Arizona State University, would win the job hands down.

The other candidates are fighting to be next in line if Glick pulls out. Steve Wells, president of Nevada's Desert Research Institute, was the clear runner-up for the search committee, but they decided to bring in a third candidate to be safe.

But the choice between candidates three and four was a close one - between Jack Burns, former vice president for academic affairs and research for the University of Colorado System, and Marlene Strathe, provost and senior vice president of Oklahoma State University.

So how did search committee members choose the third candidate?

Given that in the end they really wanted Glick for the job, they decided to show their commitment to diversity and bring in the woman candidate.

University regents will have a chance to meet with all three UNR presidential candidates at public meetings Monday and Wednesday in Las Vegas.

In the past, regents have had private social hours to get to know them on a more personal basis before publicly casting their votes. But this is a new Board of Regents, which, under executive vice chancellor and general counsel Dan Klaich, is not allowed to have a cup of coffee with a candidate unless it is in the public eye.

So Klaich scheduled open meetings in the Nevada System of Higher Education office, at 5550 W. Flamingo Road, for regents to greet the candidates. Regents will meet with Strathe at 8:30 a.m. Monday, Wells at 10 a.m. and Glick Wednesday at 10 a.m.

State lawmakers in 2005 made all presidential evaluations open to the public, so Klaich said he wanted to err on the side of keeping everything open. Candidates are in the process of visiting UNR's campuses in Reno and Las Vegas.

UNLV's presidential search committee will get its first look at the resumes of candidates applying for the job Friday.

Apparently the job rush to India is slowing up.

Microsoft and other technology companies were on UNLV's campus Friday to try to convince freshman and sophomores to take information technology classes no matter what their major is.

There's such a high demand in the technology fields, and no matter what industry a student goes into, the computer and multi-media skills they'll learn in IT classes will pay off, said Ranel Erickson, management information systems professor.

"We're always looking for new recruits," said Microsoft specialist Jim Bonnell, one of the presenters at Friday's seminar. "... I would say finding the right people with the type of intellectual horsepower we are looking for is tough."

UNLV and the Clark County School District will celebrate a 10-year partnership on Wednesday to develop school administrators. UNLV works with School District officials to offer a master's degree to teachers who show leadership potential and want to move up the ladder to be principals.

Wednesday afternoon's reception at Tam Alumni Center on UNLV's campus will pair alumni of the program with current students and professors.