Several candidates seeking the UNR president's job apparently went down to the wire weighing whether they wanted to apply for the job, said search consultant Alberto Pimentel.
"Up until this morning as of 11 o'clock, I couldn't tell you who would be on the list," Pimentel, of A.T. Kearney. told search committee members Friday.
"This is probably one of the most exciting searches I've ever worked on."
Six of the 10 the candidates Pimentel forwarded to the Board of Regents search committee Friday had applications dated within the past five days.
The 11th-hour entries included Stephen Wells, president of the university system's Desert Research Institute; former Nevada hotel and gaming executive Tom Gallagher, who made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2004, and Milton Glick, executive vice president and provost of Arizona State University.
The committee voted to invite Wells and Glick back for interviews Monday and Friday. Committee members also invited Jack Burns, former vice president for academic affairs and research for the University of Colorado System; William Flores, provost and chief academic officer for New Mexico State University; Ira Schwartz, provost for Temple University; and Marlene Strathe, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs of Oklahama State University.
No one on the 26-member committee wanted to bring back Gallagher, the only nonacademic candidate on the list.
While some committee members praised his leadership abilities, his lack of experience working in higher education axed him from the running.
Nevada volunteer chancellor and multimillionaire media mogul Jim Rogers received an international philanthropy award at a banquet Tuesday in Atlanta.
The Association of Fundraising Professionals honored Rogers and his wife, Beverly, with the Paschal Murray Award for Outstanding Philanthropist for their extensive contributions to higher education.
Rogers, owner of KVBC Channel 3 and several other Western television stations, has pledged about $275 million to universities in states where his stations are located. The top recipients are UNLV and Rogers' alma mater, the University of Arizona.
Rogers has been chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education since May 2004.
He receives the state's minimum salary of $23,800 and donates it toward student scholarships.
Rogers stood out from the 100-plus nominees for the award because his major gifts have been to organizations in which he is directly involved, Paulette Maehara, association president, said in a written statement.
"Mega-gifts certainly make a great philanthropist, but a willingness to get involved, the confidence to lead and inspire others and the desire to give back - these are the qualities of an outstanding philanthropist," Maehara said.
Nevada community college leaders later this month will get some tips on how to reach their students in a postmodern world at a statewide conference to improve education.
Sanford Shugart, president of Valencia Community College in Florida, will share his research into how to infuse values and the idea of servant leadership in today's college students.
His lecture, "Recovery of Persons: Serving the First Generation of Postmodern Students," will be the keynote of the April 28 conference at the Community College of Southern Nevada Henderson campus.
Attendees at the sixth annual conference will discuss current trends in two-year education, new innovations and ways that the state's community colleges can improve, CCSN President Richard Carpenter said.
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