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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — It cost the University of Nebraska nearly $260,000 to find its next president, according to university records.
In January the university's regents selected Hank Bounds, the commissioner of higher education for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning in Jackson, Mississippi. Next month he'll take over in Lincoln, replacing J.B. Milliken, who left in May 2014 to become chancellor of the City University of New York.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports (http://bit.ly/1F8oNbs ) that $130,000 of the total went to an executive search firm, Isaacson, Miller, which was contracted to lead the search and work with two committees. University records show that $14,300 was paid to the firm for indirect expenses, such as communication, postage, printing and research.
NU paid expenses totaling $7,400 for the week in December when then-candidate Bounds and wife, Susie, visited the university's four campuses and Bounds was interviewed by regents. Those costs include $1,443 in travel and lodging reimbursements for Isaacson, Miller search consultant David Bellshaw, who flew to Nebraska from San Francisco, and $1,510 for Bounds and his wife to fly from Mississippi.
Lodging for the Boundses included two nights in Lincoln at the Embassy Suites downtown and two nights at the Courtyard Marriott in Omaha's Aksarben Village, totaling $519.
The three other finalists spent a similar amount of time in Nebraska meeting with university officials and stakeholders late last year.
University spokeswoman Melissa Lee said all the expenses were paid out of the university's general fund.
The Journal Star also reported that the nearly $260,000 search cost was not unusual nationally. The newspaper cited a search that cost the University of Michigan at least $320,000 and resulted in the hiring of Mark Schlissel in early 2014.
The University of Iowa regents have hired Parker Executive Search for $200,000 to lead the process in replacing University of Iowa President Sally Mason.
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com
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