NITZSCHKE PUSHED TO ENLARGE ROLE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

As president of the University of New Hampshire at Durham, Dale F. Nitzschke expanded the school's educational, research and service roles.

But after four years as president of the state university in New Hampshire, Nitzschke resigned in August 1994 over funding differences with the board of trustees.

Nitzschke, 58, is one of three finalists for president of Southeast Missouri State University.

He currently is an educational consultant in Milford, Ohio, a Cincinnati suburb.

He and his wife, Linda, will visit Southeast this week.

Dale Nitzschke will meet with the Board of Regents, faculty, staff, students and the general public at a series of meetings on campus Tuesday and Wednesday.

A public reception for Nitzschke will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the University Center.

In his tenure as president at New Hampshire, Nitzschke dealt with everything from state budget cuts to collective bargaining. He managed the school during a severe regional recession.

He survived a faculty no-confidence vote over salary issues, and tackled matters ranging from racial diversity to campus drinking.

Nitzschke characterized himself as a builder whose priorities clashed with a board that had to cope with budget constraints.

Nitzschke announced his resignation in late July 1994.

Donald O'Brien chaired the board at the time. He told the Manchester Union Leader newspaper that Nitzschke's desire to expand the university's educational, research and service roles conflicted with the board's belief that the state's colleges had to limit options, avoid duplications and reallocate resources in tough economic times.

The University of New Hampshire has an enrollment of 14,000.

The school is in Durham, population 5,000, situated about 10 miles from the Atlantic coast and 60 miles north of Boston.

The university and three state colleges make up the New Hampshire University system, whose total enrollment today is about 20,000.

A single board of trustees governs all four institutions.

Dr. Raelene Shippee-Rice was chairman of the University of New Hampshire's Academic Senate when Nitzschke resigned.

"There was a lot of anger on the part of faculty that it happened over the summer, that there wasn't any warning, that there was never any discussion about it," she said.

Since Nitzschke's departure, the school has had two interim presidents and only recently named a permanent president.

After he left, faculty learned that Nitzschke privately had pushed for better pay for faculty.

"He was pushing pretty hard for faculty salaries and that was an unpopular position with the board," Shippee-Rice said.

Faculty, unhappy with their salaries, had just unionized as a chapter of the American Association of University Professors when Nitzschke took over as school president in August 1990.

Collective bargaining created tensions on campus.

"Initially, there was considerable hostility between the president and the union leadership," recalled Chris Balling, a physics professor and one of the union's leaders.

Faculty salaries were frozen for two years. In December 1992, the faculty gave Nitzschke a vote of no confidence. A labor agreement was finally reached in 1993 that provided for pay raises.

Those who worked with Nitzschke described him as personable.

"A large portion of a president's job is public relations and I think he did an excellent job on that," Balling said.

Balling and others gave him high marks in dealing with business and state government leaders.

"I think he had a good relationship with students," he added.

Manchester lawyer James Yakovakis chaired the board of trustees when it hired Nitzschke in 1990.

"He came very highly recommended and served us well," Yakovakis said. Nitzschke came to New Hampshire from West Virginia, where he was president of Marshall University from 1984 to 1990.

During that time, annual giving at Marshall increased nearly 300 percent and the university built a $30 million, 30,000-seat football stadium and a $13.5 million arts center.

Yakovakis said Nitzschke resigned as president at New Hampshire because he objected to budget cuts he thought would hamper the school.

Since then, the university has suffered through more funding cuts. "The university is now struggling to cut an additional $7 million in the next two years," Yakovakis said.

As president, Nitzschke worked to hire more minority faculty and enroll more minority students. That put him at odds with some trustees, Yakovakis said.

Nitzschke was an asset to the university, Yakovakis said.

Nitzschke helped New Hampshire university's fund-raising foundation grow. The foundation was in its infancy when Nitzschke arrived.

He promoted the university statewide, touring the rural state of about 1 million people to publicize the university's mission.

He secured funding for new campus buildings and forged economic partnerships between the university and businesses.

When a nearby Air Force base closed, taking with it 5,500 jobs, Nitzschke helped turn it into a business park and proposed establishment of a research and development center.

"He was able to turn what was a minus into a plus," said Peter Meade, president of the Boston-based New England Council, the nation's oldest regional business organization. Nitzschke served on the council's board.

"He was straightforward, upbeat, a real leader," Meade said.