Rogers, regents agree to disagree once again

Monday, March 12, 2007 | 7:37 a.m.

Chancellor Jim Rogers and the Board of Regents are again feeling strains in their relationship.

Two weeks ago, Rogers advocated changing the board from an elected body to an appointed one, irking many sitting regents. The chancellor said that an appointed board would be less inclined to engage in what he sees as political grandstanding and would not interfere as much in day-to-day operations of the chancellor's office.

Then last week, the executive search firm hired to find a vice chancellor to supervise the university system's health science program withdrew from the process after a disagreement with Rogers, according to five higher education officials interviewed by the Sun .

That change also upset some regents, none of whom would speak on the record because they want to keep the system running as smoothly as possible.

The vice chancellor supervising the health science program would oversee operations at all eight of the state's higher education institutions. The pay is expected to be in the six figures.

The disagreement between Rogers and the search firm Spencer Stuart arose as the chancellor expressed displeasure over the quality of candidates, the five education officials told the Sun. Most of those officials, who refused to be identified, did not know the details firsthand.

A member of the system's health science committee said that Rogers yelled at Spencer Stuart executive Jack Schlosser, calling him and his staff incompetent. The committee member said he learned of the incident from an executive with another search firm.

Schlosser specializes in placing health care executives and has 100 searches under his belt, according to Spencer Stuart's Web site. Schlosser's Los Angeles office referred the Sun to Jim Horton, a public relations specialist with Robert Marston and Associates Public Relations firm in New York. Horton said the company has a policy of not commenting on searches.

Rogers denied that there had been any disagreement, or that he had yelled. He said he canceled the search because he was refining the job description.

The chancellor had originally envisioned someone with both an M.D. and a Ph.D in public health, who understood the "whole spectrum" of health science. Rogers said he was no longer sure those were the right qualifications for the job.

Spencer Stuart's executives "may have been frustrated by the indecision and delays," Rogers said.

An internal memo obtained by the Sun from system human resources director Carla Henson to 19 members of the health science search committee indicated that "Chancellor Rogers had much different expectations with respect to the overall makeup of the pool of candidates, and he communicated that strongly to the search firm. After various discussions between system officials and the search firm, it was apparent that neither the search firm nor the chancellor's office wanted to proceed further with the search."

Henson could not be reached for comment.

Members of the search committee said they never got to see the full list of candidates.

Rogers' personality has been a concern in university system job searches ever since he ousted the presidents of Nevada's two largest universities within months of each other.

Those fears were exacerbated in January after Rogers resigned and then rescinded his resignation after a public spat with two regents.

Higher education officials speculated that those concerns may have had an effect on the candidate pool for the health science job, and Spencer Stuart executives could no longer sell the position after experiencing Rogers' temper firsthand.

The system office had paid Spencer Stuart $75,000 on a $150,000 contract plus $16,000 in expenses.

The system office is looking at other firms should the search resume that would cost about $80,000, so the total cost should be about the same, system lawyer Bart Patterson said.

Rogers wrote regents last week to tell them that he was borrowing Jim Lenhart, vice dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine and a family practitioner, as a special adviser on the health science system project for at least the next six months.

Rogers said they needed someone with more health science expertise working on the project on a daily basis.

Lenhart will advise Rogers and health science system personnel on the project in addition to his duties for the medical school.