Monday, May 22, 2006 | 7:18 a.m.
Incoming UNLV President David Ashley will be required to put his construction engineering skills to immediate use when he arrives July 1.
He'll need to build a new executive cabinet.
UNLV's second in command, Executive Vice President and Provost Ray Alden, announced this week that he is moving to the same post at Northern Illinois University, effective July 1. Another key administrator, Vice President Paul Ferguson, is also jumping ship come July to take a provost position at Southern Illinois University.
It is not unusual in higher education or large companies for leadership changes to trigger turnover among the lieutenants. Outgoing President Carol Harter, for instance, completely revamped her cabinet within the first two years of taking office.
Alden had been nominated for other provost jobs a year ago, but actively started looking for another job when Harter announced her resignation. It's an open secret that Chancellor Jim Rogers disliked Harter's management style, or more particularly, her managers.
Alden said he's quitting so Ashley can select his own No. 2.
"I think the university has gone through very positive changes, and I think it has gained a lot of momentum," Alden said. "I think that momentum will continue."
Northern Illinois, while a much older campus, is on a similar trajectory as UNLV in moving from a regional, teaching-focused institution to a research university.
Ashley said filling the provost and vice president for research positions will be two of his top priorities.
If anything comes of the muck the Board of Regents waded through in the last week - with their three-star pick for UNLV president, West Point's Lt. Gen. William Lennox, pulling out at the last minute - it will be that Ashley gets red carpet treatment coming into the job.
Regents, faculty and community members agreed Thursday that for the next search, candidates should spend more time on campus, and committee members should spend more time deliberating.
But more than anything, this search showed the regents and the Nevada System of Higher Education "how important it is for all constituencies of the university to support the new president," Regent Michael Wixom said.
Regent Linda Howard is saying so long to higher education, or at least the Board of Regents, when her term ends this year.
Instead of filing for re-election, Howard will seek election to become Clark County public administrator, a job that pays more than the $80-per-meeting that regents earn, and which will enable her to tap into her new degree in public administration.
The county's public administrator oversees funeral arrangements and handles estates for people who are unable to handle their own affairs. The job pays $91,000 a year.
A longtime advocate for minority rights - and particularly access to higher education - Howard said she saw the public administrator position as a way to do something different but "still help people."
Jumping into the 12-candidate field, Howard said, had nothing to do with the stiff competition she would have faced against Cedric Crear to keep her regent seat. Crear beat Howard in the Democratic primary for state Senate in 2004, and had financial backing from Perry Rogers, the chancellor's son.
"I love challenges, and I'm not afraid of controversy," Howard said.
In other regent races, Mark Alden is battling for re-election against former Nevada Test Site manager Troy Wade, and Wixom and Stavros Anthony are running unopposed. Four people have applied up north for the seat being vacated by Regent Jill Derby in her run for Congress.
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