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The Courier-Journal
December 18, 2002
Finalists named for top education post
State officials will interview pair, make decision tomorrow
A university chancellor from Nebraska and Mississippi's retiring higher-education
commissioner are finalists for the presidency of Kentucky's Council on Postsecondary
Education.
Nancy Belck, who oversees the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and Thomas Layzell,
director of Mississippi's eightuniversity system, were selected yesterday from
a field of 34 candidates considered for Kentucky's top higher-education post.
''They're both outstanding candidates,'' said Walter Baker, a council member
and chairman of the eight-member selection committee. ''Both have the ability
to deal effectively with people, work well with legislators (and promote) academic
excellence.''
The pair will interview today with state legislative leaders, university presidents,
Gov. Paul Patton and others. The 15member council is set to interview the candidates
tomorrow and then announce a final decision.
The search came because the Council on Postsecondary Education in June refused
to renew the contract of Gordon Davies, who was hired in 1998 as its first president.
The council was created under the state's 1997 higher education reform act to
better coordinate state policy, increase enrollment and improve the eight public
universities.
Gov. Paul Patton recommended the leadership change earlier this year after
rifts developed between Davies, university presidents and legislators over funding
and other issues. Davies was paid $273,000 a year.
His replacement will face several challenges, including strained relationships,
regional turf battles and a $500 million state revenue shortfall that threatens
college funding.
Belck could not be reached for comment yesterday. Council officials said she
was en route to Kentucky.
Layzell, however, released a statement saying he was honored to be considered
for the position and that Kentucky had ''made a strong commitment to postsecondary
education reform.''
Layzell, 64, is a lawyer who has spent decades in higher education, including
more than 10 years as chancellor of Illinois' Board of Governors of State Colleges
and Universities.
In 1995, he was appointed commissioner for higher education in Mississippi,
acting as the chief executive for an eight-university system of more than 67,000
students.
Mississippi education leaders said Layzell is a well-respected consensus-builder
with a low-key style. He helped smooth tensions with lawmakers and university
presidents that had lingered from a more aggressive predecessor, said Bryce
Griffis, president of the Mississippi board of trustees.
Griffis said Layzell has grappled with -- and done his best to minimize --
the fallout from recurring budget woes that have left the system $98 million
short in the last few years. The system might face another $48 million in cuts
next year.
Bill Crawford, a past president and current member of the Mississippi board,
credited Layzell with recently helping negotiate a settlement in a 20year-old
college desegregation case and strengthening the unity of the state higher education
system, including bolstering strategic planning and coordination in matters
ranging from finances to academic procedures.
''He was able to get (the system) functioning as a team,'' Crawford said. ''Not
that all turf battles went away completely.''
In October, Layzell said he would step down by summer and planned to return
to his native Illinois.
Mark Musick, president of the Southern Regional Education Board in Atlanta,
said yesterday that while Layzell has experience leading a university system,
Belck has worked her way up the academic ladder and brings ''a perspective in
line with university presidents.''
Belck has been chancellor at Omaha since September 1997. The commuter university
with more than 14,000 students is in the state's largest city.
Belck held a similar position at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
before going to Omaha. She has held teaching and administrative positions at
Central Michigan University and Louisiana State University at Shreveport.
According to information provided by the Kentucky council, Belck, while in
Omaha, helped enrollment climb 23 percent since 1998 after years of decline.
She helped bring housing to the largely commuter college that next year will
accommodate 1,200 beds. And she helped raise funds for projects, including a
science, technology and engineering facility.
''Nancy has been a very dynamic leader for the university,'' said Charles Wilson,
a member of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. ''She's aggressively
pressed issues that were important to her institution, and she is well received
by faculty and students.''
Baker said he hopes to get someone in place by the start of next year's legislative
session. Layzell has told education officials in Mississippi that he would stay
on until summer, when a replacement is expected to be named.
Herald-Leader
December 18, 2002
Education Notes
En route to England
Mary Burzlaff and Neely McLaughlin, two former Elizabethtown Community College
students who now attend Georgetown College, will study at Regent's Park College
at Oxford in England, during the spring semester. They will be the first students
to benefit from a Kentucky Community and Technical College System and British
Experience in Learning and Living partnership that allows students, staff and
faculty to study at a college of the University of Oxford in England.
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