UI president returns to work, reduces schedule

MOSCOW, Idaho – University of Idaho President Timothy White returned to work Monday after his third heart attack in less than two years.

White, 56, underwent surgery at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane following his heart attack on Friday. Doctors performed an angioplasty, inserting a stent in his right coronary artery to reduce the risk of future heart attacks, university officials said.

Though the heart attack caused some tissue damage, White said it did not affect the function of his heart, according to a University of Idaho press release.

Doctors told White to reduce his work schedule for a week, and he planned to work from home for part of the week, university spokesman Harold Gibson said in the news release.

White attracted attention last week when he announced that the school would teach only evolution in its science classes, and that alternate theories of life’s origins would be reserved for social science courses.

White suffered what was called a mild heart attack in December 2004, about four months after taking over as president.

The former Oregon State University provost underwent quintuple bypass surgery in May 2004, delaying his scheduled July 1 installation as Idaho president until August 2004.