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Regents Appoint Jessup UNLV's Next President

Updated: Nov. 19, 2014 at 7:20 a.m. 

Regents with the Nevada System of Higher Education voted overwhelmingly to hire Len Jessup to be the 10th president of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

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The board voted 12-1 Tuesday to hire Jessup, currently the dean of the University of Arizona's Eller School of Management.  Board member Cedric Crear voted against Jessup's appointment.

Len Jessup is looking to Las Vegas for a new job. The dean of the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management was one of three finalists for the UNLV president’s job.

Regent Kevin Page, chair of the 13-member Board of Regents, said Jessup stood out as an academic leader who would help UNLV move toward its goal of becoming a top research and teaching university.

"While the other two candidates were outstanding, Dr. Jessup's experience, drive, and energy are what the board felt was needed in our next president," Page said.  The other candidates were Dr. Ricardo Azziz, president of the Georgia Regents University, and John Valery White, executive vice president and provost of UNLV.

Jessup, who replaces Don Snyder who has been serving as president during the search, will assume the presidency on Jan. 5 and be paid $525,000 a year for five years. Former UNLV president Neal Smatresk left in 2013 to leader the University of North Texas.

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Jessup was dean of the Washington State University business school, vice president of university development, and the university's foundation president, which was responsible for raising money for the Pac-12 school. He was also a tenured faculty member at the Kelly school of Business at Indiana University, before moving to Arizona in 2011.

In an interview with KNPR on Nov. 13, Jessup said if chosen to lead UNLV he would look to increase fundraising, while moving forward on planning for a new medical school and elevating the university into  the Carnegie Foundation's Tier One status. 

GUEST:

Len Jessup, new president of UNLV and former dean of the Eller College of Management, University of Arizona.
Copyright 2015 KNPR-FM. To see more, visit http://www.knpr.org/.

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(Editor's note: Chris Sieroty no longer works for Nevada Public Radio)