The makeup of the University’s governing body, the Board of Regents, could be changed at their June meetings because of a list of nominees forwarded Monday for some of the board’s top positions.
The Nominating Committee, composed of three regents, voted unanimously to pass on three names for the position of chair and four for the position of vice chair. The positions will be voted on by the full board at its June 12 meeting.
Nominees for the position of chair include Regent Julie Bleyhl, Regent William Hogan and Regent Tom Reagan, the current chairman.
For vice chair, the nominees include Bleyhl, Hogan, Regent Patricia Spence and Regent H. Bryan Neel, the current vice chairman.
“We felt all of them were qualified, and we didn’t want to make the decision without the input from the whole board, so we decided to send them all on,” said Regent Jessica Phillips, who serves on the committee.
In recent years, the committee has usually forwarded only one nominee for each position. Reagan and Neel were the only nominees for their respective posts in 1995.
Phillips said that one reason for the larger pool could have been a lack of communication among regents about the position. “It’s possible that the others didn’t know that Reagan was still interested,” she said.
But Phillips and administrators also said the larger pool of candidates was a positive sign.
“It’s good to see that there are people interested in the position,” said Steve Bosacker, the board’s executive director and corporate secretary.
At the June meeting, regents will also accept nominations from the floor. After all nominations are made, they will take a roll call vote.
Regents will also vote to approve the committee’s recommendation that Bosacker remain the board’s secretary, and that Senior Vice President for Finance JoAnne Jackson remain the board’s treasurer.