Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

looking in on: higher education :

Chancellor’s departure in June will come at tough time

Barring a sudden change in the state’s financial fortunes, the next leader of Nevada’s public higher education system will face immediate, daunting challenges.

With Chancellor Jim Rogers planning to step down in June, his successor will take over supervision of the state’s seven public colleges and universities and Desert Research Institute as they are struggling to absorb deep budget cuts.

Who the new chief will be remains a mystery.

Michael Wixom, chairman of the Board of Regents, which governs public higher education in Nevada, said he is loath to hold a search with the 2009 legislative session approaching.

“A search process is a time-intensive process ... Jim and the board need the system resources focused on the Legislature and not focused on the search,” Wixom said.

He expects regents will appoint an interim chancellor when Rogers, 70, leaves. After that, the board would conduct a national search for a permanent replacement.

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Rogers, a television mogul who has pledged more than $50 million to the higher education system, said he’ll be an advocate for education even after his contract with the system ends in June.

He said that after he steps down he’ll talk about the importance of education in brief editorials on KVBC Channel 3 in Las Vegas and KRNV Channel 4 in Reno that are scheduled to air twice a week.

Beyond that, Rogers plans to continue hosting monthly luncheons that bring community leaders together to talk about diversity in higher education.

“We’ll call them the ex-chancellor’s diversity luncheon or something like that,” he said.

Rogers will also keep an eye on the progress of the health sciences system, an effort to better coordinate health sciences programs at state colleges and the Desert Research Institute in part by finding ways for them to share resources such as laboratories and teachers.

But the outspoken Rogers said he won’t try to influence the system’s daily operations or direction. His attitude, he said, will be, “If you call me I’ll be happy to help, but I don’t want to intrude.”

Rogers said he will step down after five years on the job because, he thinks, “after a period of time, you run out of new ideas and you run out of energy.”

“I think (the system) needs somebody new that can come in and say, ‘Jim did 80 percent right and the 20 percent he did wrong, we need to straighten out,’ ” Rogers said.

Still, in one way, Rogers could be irreplaceable. He has been unrestrained in opposing state budget cuts, calling for new taxes to increase revenue.

A new chancellor might be reluctant to be so brash, and it’s unclear whether other higher education officials would be willing to fill the void that Rogers will leave.

At UNLV, for example, many faculty members have criticized President David Ashley for failing to be more vocal in protesting budget cuts. Ashley, who has worked behind the scenes to lobby for more money for his university, has largely stayed quiet on the issue in the public sphere.

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Regents are taking a couple of small steps to help the system slash spending — reducing the number of regents’ committees and eliminating the printing and mailing of regents’ newsletters in conjunction with each regular regents meeting.

The publications are already available online, and eliminating their distribution in paper will save more than $10,000 annually, system spokesman John Kuhlman said.

Wixom hopes decreasing the number of standing regents’ committees from eight to six will help the system “save significant time and resources.”

“In addition to the Regents’ time, each committee meeting requires considerable time and attention of all eight institutional presidents and their staff, system administration staff, and Board staff,” states a committee-reduction proposal that regents will review at their meeting next week.

The two standing committees that would be disbanded under the plan are the board development and the research and economic committee. The full board and other committees would take on tasks that fell under the purview of these two groups.

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