Committee makes final pitch for University of Northern Iowa presidency

CEDAR FALLS - The 21 members of a committee heading a search for the next University of Northern Iowa president met Monday morning in closed session to discuss the three finalists - all of whom visited campus last week and took questions during a public forum.

Committee members shared their own opinions, discussed feedback collected through a campus and community survey, and mulled anecdotal comments they've heard from colleagues. After Monday morning's three-hour meeting, the committee in the afternoon met with the full Board of Regents in closed session to give a final report.

That final step is important to many on the UNI campus, as controversy erupted during last year's University of Iowa presidential search when the committee was disbanded after identifying the finalists - never getting to share its collective thoughts on the finalists after the campus visits.

The Board of Regents is to consider the search committee's report, feedback collected through the campus and community survey, and other input before interviewing the finalists on Tuesday. The board is expected to choose a new president after the interviews Tuesday.

Some of the campus and community feedback discussed Monday was collected through a survey administered by AGB Search - the firm hired to facilitate the UNI hunt. That survey closed Saturday, and Board of Regent President Pro Tem Katie Mulholland said committee members received its results after midnight that day.

Mulholland, who is co-chairing the search, said the survey asked closed- and open-ended questions - providing both quantifiable data on how each candidate measures up to qualification requirements and space for additional comments.

The committee won't rank the candidates in its presentation to the Board of Regents, according to Mulholland.

UNI's faculty union - United Faculty - also administered an independent survey of the candidates in hopes of providing quantifiable data allowing the candidates to be ranked. Results of that survey have not been made public.

The three finalists - former Temple University President Neil Theobald, interim UNI President Jim Wohlpart, and Montana State University Billings Chancellor Mark Nook - will be interviewed in that order on Tuesday.

Goals the board and campus members have laid out for UNI's new leader include increasing the roughly 11,905-student enrollment, diversifying the school's budget and broadening its outreach.

Mulholland said the search committee has received positive feedback about all three finalists. Some, however, have criticized the trio's lack of diversity. In fact, Mulholland confirmed, all six of the semifinalists for the UNI job were men and appeared to be white.

The four finalists for the UI presidency last year were white men. Still, Mulholland said, she believes AGB Search met its affirmative action and equal employment opportunity charge through diverse recruiting efforts and in the results of its larger 46-person applicant pool.

Whoever lands the job will replace former UNI President Bill Ruud, who left over the summer to become president of the small, private Marietta College in Ohio.

When Iowa's Board of Regents hired Ruud in 2013, it approved a three-year contract and subsequent annual raises - including a 2.5 percent salary bump in August 2015 to $357,110. But the board didn't extend his contract, which expired June 1.

Ruud said his contract had nothing to do with his decision to leave.

Theobald - the first named finalist for the UNI job - left Temple earlier this year under a cloud of controversy. The school's board of trustees issued a vote of no confidence in him for a $22 million deficit in the university's financial aid budget and for his decision to dismiss the school's provost.

The board was planning to dismiss him when Theobald resigned Aug. 1. As part of his resignation agreement, Theobald is receiving a year's sabbatical at full salary - $725,000, including base pay and deferred compensation - plus benefits like health insurance, according to media reports.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the payout would be reduced if he gets another job.

Wohlpart, who came to UNI for the provost position in 2015, assumed the interim president role July 3. In that position, he's making an annual salary of $357,110.

When Nook in 2014 was hired at Montana State University Billings, a campus with an enrollment of about 4,300, that system's Board of Regents approved an annual salary of $198,000.