Idaho Examiner: University of Idaho President Timothy White Accepts Appointment as California University Chancellor "My Idaho...My Planet Rocks!"

MOSCOW, Idaho – Today, the Board of Regents of the University of California announced its selection of Timothy P. White, president of the University of Idaho, to become the new chancellor of the University of California, Riverside. White will depart the University of Idaho on June 30 and assume his new chancellorship duties in the fall.

“It has been a great honor to lead Idaho’s flagship public research university for the past four years,” White said. “I will forever be humbled and honored to have had the special privilege of being part of this enduring and noble institution. My wife, Karen, and I always will have a fond place in our hearts for the University of Idaho, and its inspiring students, faculty, staff and alumni.”

In announcing the appointment, University of California President Robert C. Dynes praised White as being “extremely well-suited to lead UC Riverside,” Dynes said. “He has a unique grasp of the mission of land-grant universities and a passion for that mission. His multicultural roots and personal experience with higher education have given him a deep commitment to diversity and inclusiveness. And he has solid experience moving public universities forward by managing them effectively, building trust and cooperation, and forging successful ties and a sense of shared purpose with the external communities they serve. I am delighted to welcome him to UC.”

In conducting the search for the new chancellor, Dynes was advised by a committee of Regents, faculty, staff, students, alumni and community representatives. White was one prospect among a pool of 106 individuals who were evaluated by the Regents.

White arrived at the University of Idaho in 2004 and identified the establishment of a strategic vision and strategic planning as priorities. “The people of the University of Idaho have undergone a tremendous, transformative renewal, returning integrity, transparency, trust and optimism to a place that deserves no less,” White said.

White led the university to:

· develop and implement a strategic action plan;

· create stable, transparent, and innovative finance and budget systems;

· stabilize and begin to grow enrollment;

· address compensation for faculty and staff;

· invest in multi-disciplinary academic programs;

· create Operation Education as a national model to provide access to higher education for military service personnel injured in the line of duty since Sept. 11, 2001;

· establish capital improvement plans and commitments, including specific project plans, such as renovation and expansion of the ASUI-Kibbie Activity Center, creation of the Center for Advanced Energy Studies and the concept for the Idaho Center for Livestock and Environmental Studies;

· increase diversity through several avenues, including establishment of a diversity infrastructure on campus;

· reignite the university’s research engine; increase efforts to raise private dollars to support many key initiatives – $72 million in gifts were received from 2005 to 2008; and

· identify and emphasize the institution’s unique attributes as key elements in helping recruit and retain highly qualified students, faculty and staff.

In late 2007, the university’s Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival became the first public higher education entity in history to earn the prestigious National Medal of Arts.

“I have every confidence that the stunning, positive momentum of the University of Idaho will continue unabated as it goes through a presidential transition,” White said. “But while the university community has achieved so much, there still is much to accomplish. The New Era of the University of Idaho is firmly established, with a solid foundation on which to build, but it is important to continue to educate the public and Idaho’s political system of the vital nature of our work.”

White informed Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and the University of Idaho Board of Regents of his decision to resign. “Tim White has brought the University of Idaho to a point where it is poised for the next level of success,” said Milford Terrell, president of the State Board of Education and University of Idaho Board of Regents. “We are grateful for all that he has accomplished and wish him the very best in his new role as chancellor at Riverside.” The Board of Regents will outline the next steps concerning appointment of an interim president and the process by which a search for the University of Idaho’s next president will take place.

Immediately prior to joining the University of Idaho, White served as dean, provost and executive vice president, and interim president at Oregon State University. At the University of Michigan, he served as professor and chair of the movement science department in the Division of Kinesiology, and Research Scientist in the Institute of Gerontology before joining the University of California, Berkeley, as professor and chair of human biodynamics in the College of Letters and Science. He earned his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, and spent two years as a post-doctoral scholar in physiology at the University of Michigan before starting his academic career in Ann Arbor.

The University of California, Riverside, is one of 10 institutions that comprise the UC system. The century-old land-grant research institution has a current enrollment of approximately 17,000 and is projected to grow to 21,000 students by 2010.