Six candidates for Nevada State president will come to campus

There's a 50-50 chance the next president of Nevada State College will already have a personal connection to Nevada.

Half of the six candidates to be invited for on-campus visits later this month have either worked at Nevada State or are from Nevada. The six candidates include a dean, four provosts and the current interim president at NSC.

"This is the most diverse pool I've ever had in 18 years, and I'm talking about any search," said Mark Alden, chairman of the Board of Regents committee tasked with finding the college's next president.

President Fred Maryanski died while in office in 2010. Then-Provost Lesley Di Mare was appointed acting president, but she left and took a similar job at a college in Colorado last year.

Since then, Bart Patterson, a former administrator with the state's higher education system, has been interim president. Patterson is the seventh president in the college's 10-year history. Members of the committee said they wanted the next president to be someone who would serve for several years, at least.

In that vein, committee members chose to interview six of the ten semifinalists chosen by search consultant Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates.

They will be on campus the week of April 23 for meetings with faculty, staff and students. If all goes well, the committee then could recommend a final candidate to the full board that week, which the board could vote on the following week. The six are the following:

■ Pablo Arenaz, provost and vice president for academic affairs, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas. Arenaz is originally from Southern Nevada, and he received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Nevada, Reno.

■ Lois Becker, senior vice president for academic affairs, Jacksonville University, Jacksonville, Fla. Becker worked at NSC from 2002, when it first opened, until 2006, when she left as provost for her current position.

■ John M. Beehler, provost and vice president for academic excellence and student success, University of North Texas at Dallas. Beehler recently has been a finalist for presidency positions at universities in Arkansas and Pennsylvania, according to media reports.

■ Soraya M. Coley, provost and vice president for academic affairs and interim vice president for university development, California State University, Bakersfield, Calif. Coley was a finalist for a presidency position at a university in Arkansas, according to media reports.

■ Donna Price Henry, dean and professor of biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, Fla.

■ Bart Patterson, interim president, Nevada State College.