White leaving UI for job in California
BOISE – University of Idaho President Tim White, who helped lead the Moscow campus through one of its most turbulent periods, has been named the new chancellor of the University of California-Riverside.
The University of California Board of Regents voted to hire White on Thursday and approved a compensation package that will pay him an annual base salary of $325,000, up from the $291,912 he is being paid in his fourth year leading Idaho’s oldest public university.
The University of Idaho confirmed White’s resignation will take effect June 30. State Board of Education officials say they will meet next week in Moscow to name an interim president and begin a national search for his replacement.
“I’m deeply thrilled by this opportunity, this privilege,” White told the California regents after his appointment was announced.
White is to begin his duties at UC-Riverside Sept. 1.
The campus is about 55 miles east of Los Angeles and has an enrollment of about 17,000 students.
California regents voted to approve White as chancellor in a closed meeting in Los Angeles on Thursday. After announcing their decision, regents said they liked White’s commitment to diversity, his understanding of land-grant institutions and his entrepreneurial spirit.
In addition to his salary, White will receive university housing, an $8,900 annual vehicle allowance and $25,000 for relocation expenses.
His package at Idaho also included a vehicle stipend and housing.
White was named Idaho’s president in 2004 after the school endured budget cuts, faculty turnover, and a financial scandal from a failed expansion project in Boise.
He is one of four men who have served as president of the university since 2002.
Former President Robert Hoover resigned that year amid aborted plans to develop a satellite campus in Boise, a project the university’s private foundation said resulted in losses of $26 million.
Former university Provost Brian Pitcher and former Albertsons Chairman Gary Michael took temporary turns as president before White was appointed.
White suffered three heart attacks in less than two years before and during his tenure with the university.
He announced in late April he had been contacted by another university about a job.
“When you hire good people, there’s always a risk they’ll be hired away,” Idaho board member Blake Hall said after White disclosed the interest from another school.
White replaces France Cordova, who left last summer to become president at Purdue University.