Interim chancellor says colleges must prepare for new era

By Ian Whitaker

Published Friday, May 27, 2016 | 10:12 a.m.

Updated Friday, May 27, 2016 | 10:46 a.m.

Former UNLV Provost John White will temporarily replace Dan Klaich as chancellor of the state’s higher education system until a permanent replacement is found.

Regents voted unanimously this morning to make White interim chancellor starting in July. He will receive a base salary of $303,000 for the year he will hold the position.

Earlier this month, regents approved a retirement deal for Klaich worth $309,000.

White, also a former dean of the Boyd School of Law, made an unsuccessful bid to become president of UNLV in 2014.

He lost the job to Len Jessup, a business school dean from the University of Arizona, and has since worked as an adviser to Jessup and a law professor.

Board of Regents Chairman Rick Trachok, who has indicated he will push for a national search for Klaich’s permanent replacement, called the decision the start of “a new chapter” for the Nevada System of Higher Education.

The system faced criticism after a series of Las Vegas Review-Journal articles suggested Klaich may have exerted too much influence over an outside consultant as an interim legislative committee was meeting to discuss funding reform.

Klaich rebuffed those claims, as did many of the board’s members, but the damage was already done.

Lawmakers have called for reform of the system during next year’s Legislature, which White will be in the position to address as interim chancellor.

“I’m very honored, but I’d also like everyone to remember this is an interim appointment,” White said. “We need to be positioning for a new era. Part of what I will be taking on is doing some of that positioning.”