Des Moines Register
04-07-06
UNI finalists begin campus visits
Stephen Lehmkuhle of Missouri is the first of the three candidates to meet with
students.
ERIN JORDAN
REGISTER IOWA CITY BUREAU
About 50 University of Northern Iowa students came to a forum Thursday to meet
the first of three finalists to become the next president.
Stephen Lehmkuhle, senior vice president for academic affairs in the University
of Missouri system, answered student questions during an hour-long talk at Lang
Auditorium.
"I found him to be intelligent and very articulate," said Joe Murphy, the outgoing
UNI student government president.
During his two-day campus visit, Lehmkuhle will also hold open forums with
faculty and staff and meet with the search and screening committee.
Jim O'Connor, associate director for public relations, said Lehmkuhle knew a lot
about UNI and seemed ready to take on presidential duties.
"I got the feeling he's actively moving up and looking for a presidency," O'Connor
said.
The other two finalists, Benjamin Allen, vice president for academic affairs
and provost at Iowa State University, and John Folkins, vice president for
academic affairs and provost at Bowling Green State University, will visit UNI
next week.
The Iowa Board of Regents will select the man who will succeed retiring
President Robert Koob, who led UNI for more than 10 years.
Meanwhile, only one of the finalists said he is on a board of a corporation or
nonprofit organization.
Allen said he receives $1,000 per meeting and $5,000 a year as a member of the
board of directors of the Coralville-based trucking company Heartland Express.
Allen is also paid for being on the board of First American Bank in Ames, he told
The Des Moines Register.
Lehmkuhle and Folkins said they are not on the boards of any corporations or
nonprofit organizations. It is common for senior level college administrators to be
asked to be on boards for corporations and nonprofits, and many corporations
pay board members.
Allen, whose background is in transportation logistics and who has written
numerous articles about the trucking industry, has served on the Heartland
Express board since 1995, according to his resume. Heartland pays for board
members' lodging in Coralville for an annual stockholders meeting, Allen said.
At First American Bank, where Allen has been on the board since 2002, he is
paid $350 per board meeting and an $850 annual retainer, he said.
Allen joined the board of the George Washington Carver Birthplace, a Missouri
nonprofit organization, in 2005. He is not paid for that position. Carver, best
known for his work with peanuts, was ISU's first black student and faculty
member.
Allen's ISU salary is $247,200 a year. Lehmkuhle is paid $194,820 a year.
Folkins' annual salary is $202,184.