UNLV search panel selects Arizona dean as next president

By Brian Nordli

Monday, Nov. 17, 2014 | 8:35 p.m.

The UNLV President Search Committee has selected University of Arizona Eller College of Management Dean Len Jessup as its candidate for the university’s 10th president.

Board of Regents committee members voted 5-1 to recommend Jessup as their finalist. Regent Cedric Crear was the lone dissenter, and had preferred UNLV Executive Vice President and Provost John Valery White over Jessup.

The regents on the committee praised Jessup for his fundraising ability, which will be crucial as the school works to gain funding for a medical school and to become a top-tier university. The selection will be taken to the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents for a vote on Tuesday to finalize or reject the decision.

“It’s nice to get to this stage of the process,” said Regent Mark Doubrava, committee chairman. “I’m very confident with the choice we made, and I look forward to the vote tomorrow.”

Each of the candidates spent last week conducting interviews and forums with faculty and community members.

The committee then placed each candidate through a 90-minute interview today before coming to a decision. Members asked questions about how the candidate would obtain funding for the university and medical school, their vision for Tier One (a mission to help the school become a top-rated Carnegie Very High Research school), their management style and promoting diversity on campus.

Jessup has held positions as a dean of the Washington State University business school and as faculty at Indiana University before moving to Arizona to become dean in 2011. While in Washington, he helped the school organize a billion-dollar funding campaign, and helped organize a similar fundraising campaign in Arizona.

He said that he managed with a collaborative style and had helped Arizona’s business school become self-sustained entity through funding.

“I think I’m more than a businessman and a business school dean,” Jessup said during his interview.

The regents factored into their votes the opinions of an advisory committee, made up of members from the community, university and alumni. That group was evenly split with 10 votes each for White and Jessup, and only five votes for Georgia Regents University President Ricardo Azziz.

Regent Michael Wixom felt the university needed to approach fundraising and engage the community in a different way, and was confident Jessup could lead the school. Regent James Dean Leavitt thought White would’ve made a great president in the future, but he needed more experience.

“In a perfect world perhaps John White is the president after this president,” Leavitt said. “But we’re making a decision right now. I think Jessup is poised. I like his dynamism, I like his vibrancy. With these things, I think he will succeed.”

Not all agreed that Jessup was the right candidate. Crear said he thought Jessup was untested and needed more experience overseeing a university. He felt White was more experienced and had a proven track record of success and relationships with the community that were necessary to succeed.

“The man has not done it,” Crear said of Jessup’s experience running a university. “It’s not opinion, it’s a fact.”

Meanwhile, the regents felt that Azziz would not be a fit at the university. While at GRU, he was involved in a few controversies.

News stories out of Augusta, Ga., reported that he used a school bus for transportation and campus police for security for his niece’s wedding and attempted to build a $75,000 carport at the president’s home without regent approval. In addition, frustration swirled in Augusta over not including the city’s name in the university.

Leavitt said he thought Azziz had experience, but worried about how he would fit in. While Azziz said they had been misunderstandings and he corrected the issues, others on the advisory committee thought he showed poor judgement.

With the final candidate chosen, NSHE will vote Tuesday afternoon to approve or deny the committee’s decision. Jessup would replace former UNLV President Neal Smatresk, who left in 2013 to become president at North Texas University. Don Snyder has been acting president of UNLV during the search.

There is no timetable yet for when Jessup would take over as the school’s next president.