Ronnie Green’s plan to step down at the end of June 2023 will put the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in a relatively unfamiliar position.
The search for Green’s replacement as chancellor — the person responsible for the 23,805 students enrolled at UNL and 5,884 faculty and staff employed there — will be just the second performed for that position since 2001.
While the average tenure for university leaders was a little more than nine years on average in the 1970s, the American Council on Education found that presidents and chancellors now typically hold their positions for fewer than seven years.
Chancellor Harvey Perlman, Green’s predecessor, was named to the top spot after serving as interim chancellor for a year, ultimately leading UNL for 14 years.
Green, the former vice chancellor and vice president of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, was selected over three external candidates by former NU President Hank Bounds in 2016.
He’ll ultimately serve as chancellor for more than seven years before he steps down — longer than the average of his peers on the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors, where Green is one of the longest-serving members.
The average tenure among Big Ten leaders has dropped to roughly five years on average, Green said earlier this year during his annual state of the university address.
NU President Ted Carter, who under the university system’s structure has the responsibility for hiring the campus chancellors, said he is planning a “rigorous national search†to find Green’s replacement.
In a statement, Carter said finding the right leader for UNL after Green was important not only to the university but also to Nebraska at large.
“The chancellorship of Nebraska’s flagship university is one of the most important leadership positions in our state,†he said. “UNL is home to remarkable talent and is in a position to expand its impact even further on the workforce, economy and quality of life in Nebraska and beyond.â€
A spokeswoman for NU said Carter would likely hire a search firm to aid in the hunt for a new leader, as the university has done for each of its recent top leadership searches.
Under the Board of Regents’ bylaws, Carter will also be required to “promptly appoint an advisory committee to assist in the search for all suitable candidates to fill the position.â€
The size, composition of, and representation on the committee will be up to Carter, under the bylaws, but it must include representatives of “the principal constituencies with which the position in question interacts.â€
Carter said he envisions a search “informed by diverse stakeholder feedback†and plans to identify next steps as the process gets underway early next year.
The landscape for higher education executive searches has also changed, both in Nebraska and across the country, since the last time a new UNL leader was sought.
During the yearlong search that led to Green’s hiring, NU was required to identify four finalists.
Green and three others — administrators from the University of Iowa, Kansas State University and Oregon State University — met with stakeholder groups in public meetings to share their vision for UNL before a decision was ultimately made.
A change in Nebraska’s public records statutes that went into law after Green’s hiring changed that process, however.
Now, Carter will be able to name a single “priority candidate†from the field of applicants, who will then be subjected to a 30-day vetting period before their hire can be finalized.
The first attempt to hire a campus leader under the new rules failed in 2017, when no candidates emerged in the search for a new chancellor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
But Carter was named the priority candidate for university system president under the new search procedures in 2019. Joanne Li was later named UNO’s chancellor in 2021.
NU will also closely monitor the pool of candidates attracted to the job, particularly as retirements among higher education leaders continue at higher rates in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leaders are confident they will be able to attract the right person for the job, however.
NU Regent Tim Clare of Lincoln, who will chair the board in 2023, said he believes the next chancellor will see “a great opportunity†at UNL, as well as in directing the future of the state.
“We need someone who really understands the importance and priority the state has on growing the state and the state’s economy,†Clare said. “I want to look at somebody that looks beyond the university itself, and sees how we can help retain talented students and faculty, keep them here and capitalize on that expertise.â€
Clare said the new chancellor will also have the chance to build relationships with newly elected state senators — about one-third of the body will be new beginning in 2023 — as well as with Governor-elect Jim Pillen, who served on the Board of Regents before winning election to the state’s highest office.
“That’s a great opportunity for us,†Clare said. “The new chancellor is going to be someone that recognizes the partnership with the state and is willing to work with that legislative body.â€
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Ronnie Green (left) and NU President Ted Carter speak about the hiring of Trev Alberts as athletic director at a 2021 news conference.