Richard Lariviere

The recently concluded University of Oregon president search that ended with the hiring of Kansas University Provost Richard Lariviere could provide insight into the KU chancellor search.

Both searches have similarities: both KU and Oregon are members of the Association of American Universities, which consists of 62 research universities in the United States and Canada.

And Oregon hired the same search firm that KU is using to assist with its search, Dallas-based R. William Funk and Associates. KU is looking for a new chancellor after current Chancellor Robert Hemenway announced he would step down effective in July.

John von Schlegell is a member of the Oregon State Board of Education who chaired the search committee that targeted Lariviere.

The search committee sifted through a number of different candidates, including deans, provosts and presidents at other universities, von Schlegell said in an interview shortly after Lariviere’s candidacy for the position was announced this month.

The Oregon committee received about 80 quality resumes for the position, von Schlegell said — a number that was winnowed down to about a dozen for interviews conducted last January.

He said their search committee made the decision to have only one finalist, and not a small handful that would have been publicly vetted before the university. That decision protected individuals who would not want the fact that they were applying for another job publicly known, he said.

Drue Jennings, the KU search committee chairman, has voiced desire to protect the identity of candidates, but the committee has been tasked with delivering three to five finalists to the Board of Regents, who would make the ultimate determination on whether to release the candidates’ names to the public.

Lariviere’s experience with budget cuts, his energy and his intelligence impressed the committee, and made him stand out among the other candidates, von Schlegell said.

“I was just really taken with his passion for higher education and the willingness to keep pressing it,” he said. “We’ve got economic challenges and revenue problems. Richard just remains very committed.”

Lariviere will make $540,000 in his new job, $245,700 of that from public funds and the rest from the university’s private foundation. Of the private money, $180,000 will be given annually, and $114,300 will be deferred to a later date.

In previous meetings of KU’s search committee, the committee has acknowledged the current market rate for a top-level university administrative position has increased in recent years.

Hemenway’s salary is $340,352, of which $267,177 is provided by state funds, with the remainder coming from $73,175 in private funds. Lariviere’s current salary is $302,089.