NSHE chancellor talks about UNLV’S future, alleged attacks on Jessup
UNLV President Len Jessup’s announcement Tuesday that he had accepted an offer to lead Claremont Graduate University in California triggered a number of questions about what will come next for Nevada’s largest university.
Hours after Jessup’s announcement, Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Thom Reilly answered some of those questions during a telephone interview with the Sun. Edited excerpts of the conversation follow:
Given the high turnover in the UNLV presidency and reports that donors have withdrawn gifts amid accusations of meddling by regents, how concerned are you that the NSHE will be able to attract high-quality applicants for this position?
I think the stability and the focus on the students is the most important. One statement I’ll make is, we (NSHE) have eight institutions and let’s look at the stability that we’ve had with all those institutions that work under the same governance.
For example, at (College of Southern Nevada), we’re recruiting a new president now. That was after a 10-year stint with President (Michael) Richards, who retired. If you look at the past president at Desert Research Institute, (he was) a long-standing, long-term president that was just replaced after retiring.
The issue of turnover with any organization is a concern. But just by looking at the applicants that we’ve had with CSN, we’re interviewing for the Western Nevada College because I tapped their president to be the CFO. We had over 100 applicants.
So I think we’ll have great interest (at UNLV). Why? Because I think that Las Vegas is a dynamic area. We have a new medical school that is critically needed