Panel picks 4 North Dakota chancellor finalists

BISMARCK, N.D. — University presidents in Missouri and California, a Nebraska education administrator and a North Dakota state senator were chosen Thursday as finalists for the job of chancellor of North Dakota's university system.

The new chancellor will succeed William Goetz, who is retiring in August. Goetz himself is a former state lawmaker and administrator at Dickinson State University.

The committee interviewed five semifinalists Thursday via video in a Bismarck State College conference room — Marshall Hill, director of the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education; Hamid Shirvani, president of California State University-Stanislaus in Turlock, Calif.; Warren Wray, the interim chancellor of the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla; Tim Flakoll, a Republican state senator from Fargo who is provost of the Tri-College University of Fargo and Moorhead, Minn.; and Loren Anderson, president of Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash.

A search committee agreed to bring everyone but Anderson to North Dakota at the end of the month for another round of interviews. The panel will suggest a group of finalists to the Board of Higher Education, which hopes to make its choice in March. All four names could be forwarded.

Shirvani, an architect who has worked in five university systems, appeared to generate the most enthusiasm among the 15 members of the search committee. Only member Dean Bresciani, North Dakota State University's president, voted against bringing him in again.

Shirvani said he would respect the individual roles of North Dakota's 11 public colleges, which include five two-year schools, and rely on the expertise of their presidents.

"The worst thing for the chancellor of the system is to start micromanaging the campuses," he said. "I have worked in the systems that they try to treat the campuses like bank branches, and that's not correct."

Shirvani was quizzed about a faculty vote of no confidence in his administration three years ago, which he described as a reaction from the school's unionized faculty against budget cuts and a request for additional work. He said the situation has improved since then.

"I do the right things even if it's costing me," Shirvani said.

Shaft described Shirvani — an Iranian immigrant and American citizen who grew up in London — as "one of the great surprises" of the five interviews.