The State Board of Education announced Wednesday the names of the top five finalists for the University of Idaho presidency, who will tour campus next week.
According to the news release, the finalists are as follows:
- Christopher Callahan, founding dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University
- Diane Z. Chase, executive vice president and provost of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
- Scott Green, global chief operating and financial officer for Hogan Lovells, an international law firm
- Elizabeth Spiller, dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Davis
- Paul Tikalsky, dean of the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology at Oklahoma State University
Christopher Callahan
Callahan also serves as ASU’s vice-provost and as chief executive officer of Arizona Public Broadcasting System. According to the board’s news release, the college is among the top-ranked schools of journalism in the country.
Diane Z. Chase
Chase, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, handles a $448 million budget, 30,457 students and 1,121 faculty members, according to the release. UNLV, during Chase’s tenure, was recently moved from R2 to R1 research status by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, according to the release.
Scott Green
Green, an alumnus of the University of Idaho and a fourth generation Idaho, works for a law firm which has 45 offices globally and over $2 billion in total revenue. The Financial Times recognized the firm as the 2nd most innovative law firm in North America and Europe, according to the release.
Elizabeth Spiller
Spiller’s college within UC Davis is the largest at the university, as well as the University of California System. It serves 14,300 undergraduate students, 1,600 graduate students and has over 900 full-time faculty.
Paul Tikalsky
Under Tikalsky’s leadership at Oklahoma State University, the college raised $110 million from donors, foundations and corporations. The land-grant university also, according to the release, has advanced 23 positions in U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings.
The candidates are set to visit the UI campus in Moscow and the UI Boise Center next week, according to the release.
Open forums with students, faculty, staff and the public are also set for next week. According to the search website, those forum schedules are as follows:
- For the university community, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. PST each day in a location to be determined.
- For the Moscow community, from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. PST each day in Moscow City Hall’s council chambers.
- For the Boise campus, from 12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. MT in the Boise Center.
The board said more information on the search can be found on the search website.
“By engaging with dedicated staff, creative faculty, vibrant alumni, and others, these candidates will no doubt understand the unlimited upside potential of being our next president,”wrote Aaron Johnson, chair of Faculty Senate; Kathy Barnard, executive director of the UI Alumni Association; and ASUI President Nicole Skinner in a joint news release.
Kyle Pfannenstiel can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @pfannyy