Oregon Public Broadcasting

The University of Oregon is celebrating a new president Friday. The state Board of Higher Education named University of Kansas provost, Richard Lariviere, this morning to succeed long-time president, Dave Frohnmayer.

Rob Manning met the new U of O president this morning, and has this report.

Ryan Hageman: “Kelly?”

Paul Kelly: “aye.”

Ryan Hageman: “Dyess?”

Kirby Dyess: “yes.”

Virtually without comment, state board members voted one by one to offer the job of U of O president to Richard Lariviere.

Ryan Hageman: “Van Vliet?”

Tony Van Vliet: “yes.”

George Pernsteiner: “OK, we clearly have an approved motion, and the new president of the University of Oregon.” 

That's higher ed chancellor George Pernsteiner. The selection of Richard Lariviere was not as easy as it sounded. 

The Oregon University System drew controversy by not revealing any candidate names, until the very end, when Lariviere was announced as the only finalist. But chancellor George Pernsteiner says top candidates shy away from public processes.

George Pernsteiner: “Because I asked each of the final several candidates - would they be willing to go public, and some of them cited donor issues as the reason they wouldn’t. And that’s important to me - they don’t want to jeopardize the opportunity for their current institution.”

A 25-member search committee, and a group of faculty advisors used specific criteria to screen the candidates. U of O student body president, Sam Dotters-Katz, was on the search committee.

Sam Dotters-Katz: “I think that our decision couldn’t be validated until this week, when people got to meet, and hear from Richard Lariviere, and I think that absolutely, the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Richard Lariviere was at the University of Kansas for three years, and the University of Texas for years before that. But his passion for public education dates back to his youth. 

Richard Lariviere: “Well, I came from a working class background, my father had an 8th grade education, no money, and I was really lucky.”

Lucky to be able to afford college. Lariviere says college students today aren’t as fortunate - and he wants to address that. But Lariviere also wants to spend more on teachers - to get U of O salaries closer to the national average.

In a time of budget crisis, Lariviere says he’s impressed that Oregon leaders are willing to ask broad questions about how colleges are structured, and where money comes from.

Richard Lariviere: “There’s great enthusiasm to engage this question here in Oregon, and that’s why I think they’re going to be a little ahead of the rest of the country. If we can come up with a model that works for Oregon, it could well turn into a model for the rest of the country, and what a terrific service that would be."

The Larivieres are not strangers to building “national models.”

Richard Lariviere’s wife, Jan, is also an education professor. She set a national standard with an innovative program, she started at University of Texas. It’s called “U-Teach” and it turns science and math undergrads into classroom teachers.

Janice Lariviere: “There was a non-profit that started called the National Science and Math Initiative, that started after U-Teach was mature, and they chose U-Teach as the program to replicate across the nation.”

A recent article in a Kansas newspaper laments the imminent loss of Jan Lariviere, along with the departure of her husband.

The Larivieres, for their part, are eager to head west.

Jan Lariviere: “First trip to Oregon ever was in February, and I just fell in love with the mountains, and the Willamette Valley, and the rivers - I like to fly-fish. When I am free, I’ll be getting my fly rod out.”

Richard Lariviere: “I also like to fly-fish.”

Again, U of O president-designate, Richard Lariviere.

Richard Lariviere: “And I’m actually a much better fly fisherman than she is. She unfortunately, is much luckier than I am.” 

University of Oregon officials say they're the ones feeling lucky today.

Lariviere had at least two other universities interested him. The next U of O president says Eugene was his top choice - because of the faculty, community, and service mission and maybe the fly-fishing, too.

Lariviere will take the helm at U of O July 1st.