Scott Green took on his first day of his three-year contract as the 19th president of the University of Idaho Monday. The Idaho State Board Education named the Moscow native as outgoing President Chuck Staben’s successor on April 11.
UI’s next president is being welcomed home with open arms.
Green graduated from UI in 1984 with a B.S. in Accounting. During his time as a student, he served as student body president and was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity.
He went on to earn an MBA in general management from Harvard Business School in 1989. Green currently serves as the global chief operating and financial officer for Hogan Lovells, one of the largest law firms in the world,.Holly Wichman, a university distinguished professor in the biological sciences department, said she is excited Green has accepted the Board’s offer to become UI’s next president.
Liz Brandt | Courtesy
“There was a great deal of enthusiasm at his open interview and it is echoed in conversations I have heard across campus since the announcement,” she said.
Wichamn said she thinks the most important thing for Green to do as incoming president is take a “listening tour” of the UI community in Moscow and around the state of Idaho.
At a press conference April 11, Green said he wants to eventually travel to each county in Idaho to “meet all the right people as well as spend time with faculty here on campus.”
In his welcome letter Monday, Green said he “plans to travel to our statewide locations to listen and learn from our Vandals and others.”
Liz Brandt, retiring James E. Wilson distinguished professor of law, said she is looking forward to Green’s presidency.
Zachary Turpin | Courtesy
“I look forward to the fresh ideas and perspective he will bring as a president from a non-academic background,” Brandt said. “Having a Vandal as our president is an added plus. I think his passion for the university will bring great benefits to UI.”
Assistant Professor of American Literature, Zachary Turpin, said UI presidency is a complex responsibility and Green will need support and input from the get-go.
“Heading into this position, he already seems to have the makings of a good president given his financial acumen, management acumen and sunny demeanor,” Turpin said. “Now he begins the process of becoming a president in full — which will mean cultivating skills that no job interview can test for: teambuilding, long term planning, developing a real and rich relationship with faculty and staff and embodying idealism without setting impossible goals.”
To Turpin, impossible goals include moving UI to a R1 University within five years, a Carnegie classification reserved for doctoral universities with the highest level of research activity, and obtaining budget surplus within three years.
“And through it all, the steward of Idaho’s best university will need to be an open and transparent leader at all times,” Turpin said. “As Green wrote in 2004, ‘simply implementing new governance processes means nothing if there is not a culture of transparency and openness.’ I agree with him.”
Ellamae Burnell can be reached at [email protected]