Huckleberries Online

Nellis Named New UI Prez

Posted by DFO

April 22, 2009 11:15 a.m. • 17 comments

Duane Nellis (seen speaking at a public forum on the UI campus Feb. 3), a native of the Northwest and Kansas State University provost, has been named president of the University of Idaho. The state Board of Education made the announcement Wednesday during a meeting in Moscow. Nellis, 54, was hired despite turning down the job last month over differences in salary. But the board approved a salary for Nellis of $335,000, making him the highest paid president at Idaho’s four public universities/AP. More here. Nellis bio.

Question: Obviously, the state Board of Education had to come up with more money to land Duane Nellis. Do you think the state of Idaho did the right thing by doing so?

17 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

moscow_minidoka on April 22 at 10:20 a.m.
This is good news for the UI and the state of Idaho - a ray of sunshine during dark days for the university community.
jazzyvandal on April 22 at 10:23 a.m.
Amen to that, MM. UI really needed some good news. This is a step in the right direction for the university.
moscow_minidoka on April 22 at 10:54 a.m.
Both the Idaho Statesman and the Lewiston Tribune scooped the SR on this, by the way.
jazzyvandal on April 22 at 10:59 a.m.
Welcome Video: http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/newpresident/video.html
GaryIngram on April 22 at 11:41 a.m.
I hope this will be a good fit for Idaho for all the angst the U of I has had with previous picks. I would like to know what “regional connections” he has and how that relates to his being successful. Also how does experience with being invloved with “land grant institutions” make leading the U of I any more challenging or am I just reading a lot of rethoric?
GaryIngram on April 22 at 11:43 a.m.
That’s rhetoric, for the record.
nidahodave on April 22 at 12:15 p.m.
Regional connections: raised in Eastern Washington, Oregon State grad. In theory that will give him a better understanding/appreciation of the nature of politics in a conservative state versus someone raised in the northeast and educated say in the Ivy league.

Land Grant universities have responsibility, specific funding, and a focus on resource (agriculture, forest resources, and until recently mining) education and research. Having an understanding of those programs and their constituency (farmers, ranchers, loggers, miners) can help in maintaining those programs and their political support. Like or not the agriculture industry In Idaho is still a major political player and keeping them on your side is worth the effort.
idawa on April 22 at 12:34 p.m.
I posted similar thoughts on the wild card yesterday, but I’ll repeat myself. I think he might turn out to be a good hire (lord, I hope so…). He comes from another rural state (Kansas) with primarily an ag economy and should learn how Idaho works fairly quickly. And I think his experience at OSU and Montana State should allow him to adjust to they ‘type’ of student we recruit.

While I don’t know that managing a land-grant institution is “challenging” than running another educational institution, land grants do have certain legal obligations under the Morrill Act to fulfill and they have similar research portfolios. When hiring a manger, it usually better to hire one with experience in similar portfolio, no? That is why I think they play up KSU’s land grand status (in addition to being a very well respected state school). He’s is also used to a situation where there are two big fish in a little pond, KU and KSU, which is similar to our state’s education environment at this point (ISU at this point is just an “also ran” school at this point, sad, but honest…sorry).

In the market for leaders of major research institutions, I think 335K is a steal (the WSU guy is over 600 and the UW guy is over 1M)… And yes, I think it is fair that Idaho’s president makes more than BSU’s does just as I think it is fair that the BSU’s football coach makes more than Idaho’s. BSU plays on a different level of football - they are a national name now (if not a national contender) and have to pay the market rates. Idaho, similarly, is a much different educational institution with a markedly different academic and research mix that justifies the premium.
Pecky on April 22 at 1:20 p.m.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/priestlaker/3455814991/sizes/l/in/set-72157617050736350/

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.