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Indiana U. Administrator Is Front Runner at Tennessee State

By Kamaria Mack
Black College Wire

2003 Photo by Tyagan Miller/Indiana University Charlie Nelms, Indiana University vice president for student development and diversity, welcomes visitors to his campus.

Charlie Nelms of Indiana University has emerged as the front runner to succeed President James A. Hefner at Tennessee State University.

Nelms, vice president for institutional development and student affairs, enjoys wide support among members of the presidential search committee, the Tennessee State community and his current employer.

The six candidates for the top university post are to be on campus from Jan. 23 to 27.

Nelms received 19 votes from 20 committee members at the Dec. 1 presidential search committee meeting, compared with 10 to 16 votes for the five other candidates.

�Although the committee did not talk about why he received the most votes, it was all probably because he has the most experience,� said Gloria C. Johnson, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Nelms� academic recognition includes being a Ford fellow at Columbia University (1972-73); Lilly Endowment intern in higher education (1976-77); fellow at the American Council on Education (1981-82); and Charles Johnson Foundation fellow, Liberal Arts in Higher Education Seminar, 1999.

He began his career as an assistant professor of education teaching in 1977 at the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff, and in 1978 moved to Indiana University, Northwest, as a tenured professor of education. He left IU for four years in 1994 to serve as a tenured professor of education at the University of Michigan at Flint, and returned to Indiana in 1998 in his current position.

Not only did Nelms receive the most votes at the last search committee meeting, he was nominated for the Tennessee State University presidency by three people, more than any other candidate.

The nominators were Dr. F.C. Richardson, chancellor emeritus; Dr. William B. Harvey, vice president and director for the American Council on Education at the Center for Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Equity; and Frank Motley, an administrator at the Academic Support Program at Bloomington campus of IU.

�Dr. Nelms is exceptionally well qualified to be the next president of TSU,� Richardson wrote in his nomination letter. �I do not believe you could find a better president for Tennessee State.�

Indiana University faculty, staff and students spoke highly of improvements Nelms made since he returned in 1998.

�He oversees the eight IU campuses,� said Edwardo Rhodes, interim associate vice president for student development and diversity. �He has increased the growth in so many areas.�

As vice president for institutional development and student affairs, Nelms is responsible for overseeing institutional research, policy, analysis, accountability, effectiveness and continuous improvement.

�He has a vision,� Rhodes said. �His ability to get others to buy into his vision is powerful and effective. . . . I know that Charlie is talented and it is no surprise that others are interested."

Motley said in his nomination letter that, �Nelms was the man for the job but the hard part will be persuading (Nelms) to leave his beloved Indiana.�

�I am honored to be one of the people they are talking with and I look forward to the opportunity to speak with the members of the search committee next week," Nelms said to a reporter at the Indiana Daily Student newspaper.

Rick Newark, managing editor for the Indiana Daily Student, said Nelms �is very approachable, accessible and well-respected.�

Mary Morgan, director of communications for the Tennessee Board of Regents, said the presidential search advisory committee was not to meet again as a group or take any further votes. Instead, the chancellor is to encourage and solicit the views of students, faculty, administrators, alumni and community leaders regarding each candidate.

After that, the chancellor is to take that information into consideration and recommend one candidate to the Board of Regents at its March 17-18 meeting.

The application period began in July after Hefner announced his retirement in May and admitted he wrongly gave an Aramark employee $200 in cash in an effort to hide his acceptance of Super Bowl tickets.

A state audit also found that the Tennessee State foundation was $2.6 million in the red, saying Hefner awarded scholarships to too many students, some unqualified. The application process officially ended in November and the search committee narrowed the pool to 11 semifinalists.

Kamaria Mack, a student at Tennessee State University, is campus editor of The Meter. She can be reached at [email protected]. Eddie R. Cole Jr. and Dairanetta Spain contributed to this report.

Posted Jan. 24, 2005