6
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2009
ADMINISTRATION
Hemenway prepares office for new chancellor
Rvan McGeenev/KANSAN
Chancellor Robert Hemenway announces he will step down from his position on June 30 at a press conference in Strong Hall Dec. 8, 2008. Hemenway, the University's 16th chancellor, has held the position since 1995. Hemenway said that he wished to dedicate more time to writing and teaching.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Chancellor Hemenway waves to the crowd at the 1998 commencement. Hemenway became well know for wearing his straw hat to commencement and outdoor activities throughout the years.
Chancellor expresses confidence in Gray-Little's fall arrival
BY JUSTIN HILLEY
jhilley@kansan.com
Chancellor Robert Hemenway's office is crowded with boxes of books in preparation for his June 30 departure, but he still has books that need to be packed before the new chancellor takes over.
On May 29, Bernadette Gray-Little, executive vice chancellor and provost for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was named as Hemenway's replacement and Hemenway has been working to make the transition go smoothly. When he announced that he would step down, Hemenway said he would work on the budget during his final seven months as chancellor. Since then, he has been responding to the Board of Regents' requests for information in its attempt to manage the impact of the state's financial crisis on higher education institutions.
The University's budget will be one of Gray-Little's first challenges. She recently told the Daily Tar Heel that the last five months at UNC presented budget problems that prepared her for the budgetary challenges she will face this fall at the University.
"Gray-Little has a very distinguished record so there's no question in my mind that she'll be able to help the University make major moves forward," Hemenway said. "I'm just happy that we've been able to hire an absolutely first-rate person."
In 2005, Hemenway said the University's number one priority was to achieve the National Cancer Institute's designation as a comprehensive cancer center. Since then, the University of Kansas Cancer Center has created new research programs, recruited international cancer experts and opened a new outpatient facility. The University will submit the application for NCI designation on Sept. 25, 2011.
One of Gray-Little's top priorities as chancellor is to help complete the University's campaign to obtain the NCI designation. At the May 30 welcome ceremony held for her in the Kansan Union, Gray-Little said the NCI designation was a sign of the maturity, progressiveness and size of a university's research program.
"It would attract researchers, it would attract more funding and it also has the potential to make substantial contributions to the quality of life. So it has many benefits that would be useful to the University and to the world," she said.
Michael O'Malley, associate director for the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, said Gray-Little was a fabulous provost and a good friend to the cancer center. He said she helped guide the cancer center's effort to reach out to different schools and departments across the UNC campus.
"Getting someone who has worked with a cancer center before and understands how to help build those bridges and to appreciate having a cancer center can help build the whole biomedical research enterprise," OMalley said.
He also said he thought Gray-Little would benefit the University in other ways.
"There been a trade: We got Coach Williams, KU gets Dr. Gray.
Little," O'Malley said. "Let's call it even, and I think it is even. He's a great coach and I think he's going to be a great chancellor for KU."
At the welcome ceremony, Donna Shank, chair of the Kansas Board of Regents, said she agreed with Gray-Little's feeling that a university should treat the importance of having a top-ranked athletics program the same as the importance of having top faculty and researchers. Hemenway said he was confident this would happen under Gray-Little's leadership.
"I think that it's appropriate to have that balance between the academic life of a university, which is always number one, and the athletic part of the university, which is supporting of academics," Hemenway said.
Although he said he had no specific recommendations for Gray-Little. Hemenway said he was sure she would figure out the best way to create an equilibrium.
Hemenway said that he thought every University chancellor would say working with students was the most enjoyable part of the job and that he always hoped he was doing the best for students.
"I've loved every minute of the fourteen years that I've been chancellor, and I just want to thank everyone for the support that they gave me and the success for the future that came out of my experience. I love KU, and I think KU is the kind of place that you can spend a lot of time feeling good about."
— Edited by Hannah DeClerk
ADMINISTRATION
Board of Regents offers Gray-Little larger salary than outgoing chancellor
BY JESSE RANGEL jrangel@kansan.com
The Board of Regents announced the salary of incoming chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little this week, and it is nearly an $85,000 jump from the salary of the outgoing chancellor.
According to information compiled by Kip Peterson, director of government relations & communications for the Regents, Gray-Little will earn a maximum of $425,000
per year, up from $340,352 for Chancellor Robert Hemenway. The state contribution of $267,177 will remain the same. The extra $84,648 will be made up in money from private donations.
Gray-Little also has a deferred compensation clause in her agreement. Of the $425,000 per year,
$25,000 per year will be set aside and will not be paid until she finishes her service as chancellor.
Other university leaders across
the country that the Regents said Gray-Little trails in compensation include Sally Mason, University of Iowa president and Holden Thorp, the chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Richard Lariviere, former provost for the University, now makes $425,700 per year as president of the University of Oregon, although private money picks up $180,000 of that amount.
The extra private funds for Gray
Little's salary will come from sources such as the University Leadership Professorship at the Kansas University Endowment Association, a fund started in 2002 with a $1 million gift to support the chancellor's position. Dale Seuferling, president of the Endowment Association said the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees had approved an allocation of unrestricted funds.
The need for more private funds to help support a new cancellor's
salary was identified early on in the chancellor's search processes by the Regents, and they contacted the Endowment Association, which agreed to make the extra funding available.
"Part of the mission at KU Endowment is to provide resources to recruit a highly talented chancellor, similar to providing support to recruit top faculty and meritorious students," Seuferling said.
— Edited by Derek Zarda