CCSN chief doing the Texas two-step

By Christina Littlefield

Friday, May 18, 2007 | 7:20 a.m.

The search committee that unanimously recommended Richard Carpenter for the presidency at the Community College of Southern Nevada in 2004 had two major qualms:

They thought Carpenter was too long-winded. And they were worried he wouldn't stay long at the helm, given that he had been at his previous job only two years.

Their worries may have been well-founded.

Carpenter is doing a lot of talking this week, as the North Harris Montgomery Community College District in Texas tries to entice him from CCSN after less than three years here.

Most of the talk, however, is Carpenter explaining how the North Harris Board of Trustees picked him for its chancellor position - even as he continues to tell his boss in Nevada that he has no intention of leaving.

The Houston Chronicle on Thursday quoted Carpenter: "I am indeed honored the board has expressed this kind of confidence. I'm excited at the prospect. There's a lot of opportunity there."

The article paraphrased him saying that although some contractual issues had to be worked out, he felt fortunate to be joining the district.

But Carpenter told the Sun on Thursday that he had faxed North Harris a letter declining a job offer on Monday. Despite that, he said, it still identified him Wednesday evening as the only finalist for the job, and has assembled a committee to persuade him to take the position.

"I'm absolutely going to talk to them," Carpenter said. "If someone offers to buy your car for $100 and you say no, that doesn't mean you don't want to sell. Just that you won't sell for $100."

Carpenter said most of his hesitancy in accepting the first offer was not financial, but he would not elaborate. He insists he is not looking for a new job. This is the second time since October that Carpenter has been a finalist for a chancellor position.

The initial offer from North Harris, a 47,000-student, five-campus college, came with a $320,000 annual salary, about $40,000 more than what he makes in Nevada, including perks.

University system Chancellor Jim Rogers says that he "practically has a memorandum of agreement" with Carpenter to keep him at CCSN and that Carpenter told him the media reports were "absurd."

"I take him at his word," Rogers said.

That agreement, Rogers said Thursday, includes recommending to regents in June that they give Carpenter a new four-year contract, give him a raise and allow the college's private foundation to provide a greater pay supplement. Rogers would not elaborate on what the salary increases would be.

Carpenter makes $223,463 from the state, has a $12,000 housing allowance and an $8,000 car allowance, and receives about $43,000 from the CCSN Foundation.

Carpenter said he was not trying to leverage either state for more money.

"That's not a game I could play and like myself," Carpenter said.

Although pitting employers against one another is common in corporate America, it is much rarer and more frowned on in academia, said Alberto Pimentel, vice president of the executive recruitment firm AT Kearney. Higher education is a closed circuit of people, and trying to exploit one employer at the expense of another more than once can lead to a "wonderfully negative reputation."

It is more likely that Carpenter was torn between his current position and the Texas offer than that he was trying to leverage a higher paycheck, Pimentel said. College presidents have no choice but to deny they are candidates for a position, because to be seen as looking can hurt their effectiveness in their current job. And it is hard to tell whether they are really interested until they tour the campus, Pimentel said.

There was genuine confusion Thursday, however, about whether Carpenter had accepted the job. The North Harris Web site touted Carpenter as the sole finalist, saying only that he needed to be formally confirmed at a June meeting. Texas officials did not return many calls for comment.

Houston Chronicle reporter Kimberly Stauffer said Carpenter gave every indication in an interview that he was taking the job and talked only about how excited and honored he was.

She quoted Carpenter as saying he'll start his duties in Texas by getting to know the system better.

"I want to be on all the campuses and meeting as many people and hearing from as many people as I can," Stauffer said Carpenter told her. "I want to get a sense of where people envision the district going, and how I can help get it here."

"If he has turned down Houston's offer, it's news to them," Stauffer said.

Carpenter said everything he told Stauffer was with the caveat " if I take the job."

Despite allowing himself to be considered as a finalist, first for a job in Louisiana and then in Texas, Carpenter has always told officials in Nevada he was married to CCSN.

"I'm talking about where we want to be three years from now. That speaks for itself about where my heart is," Carpenter said at a public evaluation May 4.

Two job searches in little more than half a year, however, indicate someone who is looking to jump ship, higher education officials said, and Carpenter has a history of short tenures.

He stayed 2 1/2 years at his last job, as head of the Wisconsin Technical College System. And although he spent nearly 10 years as president of the Calhoun Community College in Alabama, the previous 10 were spent as president of three community colleges in California, Minnesota and Kentucky.

Carpenter's wife still works and lives in Wisconsin.

Higher education experts said there are four major reasons why campus administrators frequently change jobs: restlessness and desire for a change of scene, the hunt for a bigger paycheck, love of being pursued or emerging problems at their current job.

Regent Chairman Bret Whipple gave Texas' recruitment of Carpenter a positive spin, saying it showed Nevada presidents were in demand.

As to the salary issues, "that's the way economics work," Whipple said.

Meanwhile, late Thursday, Carpenter said he still hadn't heard from North Harris.