July 31, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Suzanne Ernst
(702) 889-8426

RENO -- Regent Douglas Hill of Reno will chair tomorrow a joint committee composed of Regents and campus community representatives who will begin the search for a new president for the University of Nevada, Reno.

"Our main job at the organizational meeting is to discuss the process of finding a replacement for President Joe Crowley," said Hill who heads the ad hoc UNR Presidential Search Committee.

"We have a challenge ahead of us," added Hill. "It is this committee's role to ensure that UNR's next president will continue to build upon the incredible legacy Joe Crowley is leaving behind. It will be no small task."

The joint committee, which includes a Regents' committee and an institutional advisory committee, will meet tomorrow at 9 a.m. in the Clark Room in Morrill Hall at the University of Nevada, Reno.

UCCSN General Counsel Tom Ray will give a presentation on the Nevada Open Meeting Law and President Joe Crowley will provide an overview on the university's leadership profile. The committee will also discuss the option of hiring a professional search consultant versus the committee undertaking the entire search process itself.

In addition to Hill, members of the Regents' committee include Dr. Jill Derby, Thalia Dondero (Board Chair), Dorothy Gallagher and Howard Rosenberg (Board Vice Chair).

Dr. Joe Crowley, who has lead UNR for the past 22 years, announced in May that he will retire on December 31 to return to the classroom.

Comprised of two doctoral-granting universities, four comprehensive community colleges and one environmental research institution, the University and Community College System of Nevada serves the educational and job training needs of the nation's fastest growing state. As Nevada's only system of higher education, the UCCSN provides educational opportunities to more than 90,000 students.