Friday, May. 08, 2009

WSU Tri-Cities' Carwein could be headed to Oregon

By Michelle Dupler, Herald staff writer

Vicky Carwein soon may be trading the Eastern Washington desert for a greener climate.

The Washington State University Tri-Cities chancellor is one of three finalists in the running to become president of Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., about 25 miles west of Portland.

Carwein interviewed on campus at the private liberal arts university about a week ago, said Pacific University spokesman Billy Merck.

The other candidates interviewed on campus were Upper Iowa University President Alan Walker and Oregon Health and Science University Provost Lesley Hallick.

"I had an exploratory interview," Carwein said Thursday. "It is the only place I have been invited to visit and the only place I am looking at."

She said she wasn't looking for another job, but that it's typical for senior-level administrators at colleges and universities to be contacted by search firms about openings at other schools. This is the first one that's enticed her to take a look.

"It is an opportunity that, when it presented itself, I felt I should explore it," Carwein said. "I am not unhappy in the Tri-Cities. The community here has been wonderful. It has been a wonderful experience for me here. It is not one of those situations where I am unhappy and looking to bail."

Pacific has about 3,200 undergraduate and graduate students on four campuses in Forest Grove, Hillsboro, Eugene and Portland.

If appointed, Carwein would replace President Phil Creighton, who is leaving after six years on the job, Merck said.

Merck said the university's board of trustees interviewed the three candidates and likely will make a decision within the next couple of weeks. The new president would take up residence sometime this summer before fall semester starts.

Carwein was hired to run WSU Tri-Cities in June 2006, replacing Larry James, who took an administrative job in Pullman.

She previously was president of Westfield College in Massachusetts and campus dean of University of Washington Tacoma from 1998 to 2004.

In her time at WSU Tri-Cities, Carwein has led the college through its transition to a four-year campus admitting freshmen, and has seen the school boast record enrollment for much of her time at the regional branch campus.

She also spearheaded a community effort to raise money to award every student in the first freshman class a $3,000 scholarship as an incentive to draw students to the campus's new four-year degree programs.

Carwein said the main difference between WSU Tri-Cities and Pacific is that she'd be running four campuses if offered the job.

She also said that as a private university Pacific doesn't face some of the same funding challenges as WSU, which is a state-funded school and facing about a 10 percent budget cut over the next two years.

"Privates don't have, at least in this economic climate, the funding challenges that public institutions do," she said. "I think that's a fair statement for many, many private institutions. They are not as dependent on the state government or state legislature."

Budget challenges aside, Carwein said she remains enthusiastic about her work at WSU Tri-Cities as the campus grows. "I am still excited about the goals of what we're trying to do."