Could ‘Outsider’ Be Considered As UI President? Regent Wants Consideration Of Non-Academic Candidate

The idea might horrify faculty members, but there’s a chance a non-academic outsider could be considered as the next University of Idaho president.

It’s no more than a possibility, but the idea is under discussion.

All but two members of the 25-person committee that will search for candidates to succeed Elisabeth Zinser as president were announced this past week by state Board of Education President Curtis Eaton.

The panel will meet soon to draw up a job description in a selection process that could take a year.

Cochairman Roy Mosman, the Education Board member from Moscow, said he would like to have someone from outside academia at least considered.

“I would like to have the job description drafted in such a way it would not lock out some special person,” Mosman said. “It would take a special person.”

Mosman said he has no commitments from anyone else about considering an outsider and acknowledges it could be a tough sell.

When the search and screening committee is complete, it will include nine members of the faculty and administration and two from the staff. It’s highly likely they will hold out for tradition, picking somebody with a doctorate and educational administration experience.

And combined with the student body president and an alumni board member, a majority of the selection committee is directly linked to the university.

Mosman concedes it will take someone with outstanding non-academic credentials and a high public profile to overcome that kind of bloc.

“That’s obviously the challenge, to convince the faculty that this person has such unique experiences as well as training that he or she could fill the bill,” he said.

He specifically cited the late President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s move from the military, where he was the Supreme Allied Commander during World War II, to the presidency of Columbia University.

No non-academic person has headed any of Idaho’s three public universities in modern times, Mosman said, but it’s been done before in Idaho and very successfully.

Boise furniture store owner and businessman Robert Hendren had only a bachelor’s degree when he was named president of the College of Idaho, now Albertson’s College of Idaho, nearly nine years ago.

It’s turned out well for the Caldwell school, which was heavily in debt with sparse resources and declining enrollment. Now it has an endowment of nearly $40 million and no debt.

“Enrollment has grown 40 percent and is growing,” Hendren says, and the school has added $21 million in new facilities.

“I think there is a growing interest in those that have backgrounds that would strengthen academic backgrounds,” Hendren said.

But more importantly, Hendren said he had a longtime “intense interest” in the College of Idaho, and that’s a must if someone is to make the transition from businessman to university president.

He served on the college’s board for 16 years and family members attended the school.

“Without that, I’m not sure that business acumen alone would do it,” he said.

But there’s a major difference between being president of a small, private liberal arts college and running the University of Idaho. For one thing, Hendren doesn’t have to go to the Idaho Legislature to battle for state funding.

And for all the other drawbacks, that fact alone could bolster Mosman’s bid to have a non-academic - who can deal with politicians - in the field to succeed Zinser.

One such “outsider” mentioned in the early going is J. Kirk Sullivan, vice president for governmental and environmental affairs for Boise Cascade Corp.

Sources say Sullivan was at Boise’s exclusive Arid Club a week ago, sounding out his prospects. He’d have good support from Republican politicians since Boise Cascade has contributed heavily to many GOP campaigns over the years.

Mosman said he has heard Sullivan’s name mentioned as a possibility.

Sullivan, although from the business world, has a trump card or two. Faculty concern could be assuaged by the fact that he has a doctorate in chemistry. And while his degrees may be from Clemson University in South Carolina, he is a member of the board of governors of the University of Idaho Foundation.