BEMIDJI — Rodney Hanley touted his work for the environment and his ability to get things done when money is tight and opinions are abundant — in the first of three public forums introducing Bemidji to the finalists for the presidency at BSU and Northwest Technical College.
Hanley, the current provost and vice president for academic affairs at Fisk University in Nashville, took questions from about two dozen campus and community members Monday over a breakfast that will be repeated Tuesday and Wednesday when the two other candidates make their visits.
“The opportunity at Bemidji State and Northwest Technical College is an important one for me,” said Hanley, who has also worked at the University of North Dakota, the University of Winnipeg and Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont. “I think both institutions are poised to set the standard for the future of higher education.”
Hanley holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Eastern Illinois University, a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge in England and a doctorate from the University of Kansas.
As a student and professor he researched biodiversity, focusing on insects.
As an administrator the past several years he has worked to repair budget problems, led funding campaigns for new facilities and negotiated student exchange agreements with countries including China, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.
“If I’m lucky enough to be named chief executive at Bemidji State and Northwest Technical College, I will have an open-door policy as much as I can,” said Hanley, who came to historically black Fisk University in 2014. “People need a voice with the chief executive … so the chief executive doesn’t live in a bubble off the ground.”
The candidate talked for about five minutes before opening for questions, which ranged from how he would help preserve the area’s natural resources, to what book he was reading at the moment.
Hanley said he was a Boy Scout, that he loves the outdoors, and that he wants to advance BSU’s reputation as a school with strong ties to nature.
“Here in northern Minnesota I know the environment is so important to all of us,” Hanley said. “Students should think about the campus as a wide area around us, hundreds of miles around us.”
Hanley and his wife, who is from Moorhead, have two children.
“I would like to introduce my son to hunting and fishing,” he said.
Hanley said the career achievement of which he’s most proud is the push for and the construction of a $70 million science building at the University of Winnipeg around 2008, when the world teetered on the edge of financial crisis.
“The climate at the time could not have been worse,” said Hanley, who said he isn’t a huge golfer, but purchased a membership at a country club there so he could talk with potential donors.
“You have to give an engaging vision that they will be a partner,” he said about campus projects. “You have to build friendships and partnerships.”
If he were to get this job, Hanley said maintaining and strengthening the university’s relationship with the city would be essential. He said encouraging students and faculty to attend community events, and opening the campus to visitors in turn, would hopefully do that.
“They may not have graduated from here,” he said, describing the impression he wants to give area residents. “But they’ve been on campus, and they feel some ownership.”
Hanley is being considered alongside Al Thompson, vice chancellor for student affairs and chief diversity officer at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, and Faith Hensrud, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin Superior.
Thompson will meet with the public at 7 a.m. today in the Beaux Arts Ballroom on campus.
Hensrud’s forum will be Wednesday at the same time and place.
The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees is expected to make a selection April 20. The next BSU/NTC president is expected to start the job July 1.