CCSN president decides to leave, take post at Houston institution

After weeks of uncertainty, it's official: Community College of Southern Nevada President Richard Carpenter will leave for Houston on Aug. 1.

Carpenter said Thursday that he agreed on a contract with the North Harris Montgomery Community College District in Houston at midnight Wednesday that would make him chancellor of the district.

Carpenter was chosen as the "sole finalist" two weeks ago to become chancellor even after he formally turned down the offer.

Since then, Carpenter, 53, has balanced negotiating a contract with officials in Houston and agreeing in concept to a contract with university system Chancellor Jim Rogers that would have raised his roughly $280,000 salary by $50,000.

The board of trustees at North Harris originally offered Carpenter a $320,000 salary before he turned it down. Carpenter said that the trustees increased the salary "a little bit more," but that the increase was not the reason he accepted the job.

He said that the increased salary at CCSN was agreed upon before North Harris Montgomery made any offers and that he was not trying to leverage a higher salary between the two institutions.

Carpenter said there were other selling points in the Houston contract that he could not talk about until next week, when the board is expected to ratify his deal.

Rogers said he was not going to pursue any action against Carpenter or the Houston community college district for recruiting him away from CCSN though Carpenter has another year left on his contract.

"I'm not happy that he's leaving, but at the same time, it was never a question of whether he was going to leave, it was a question of when," Rogers said.

"I'm sad about it, but he did a hell of a job for us," Rogers added. "He's a very ambitious sort of person ... but I don't think he's designed to stay in any single place for too long."

Regents had scheduled a special meeting for today to evaluate Carpenter and possibly renew his contract. But the meeting, which originally was scheduled for later this month, was canceled upon the news of the resignation.

Regent Steve Sisolak said several regents were opposed to renewing Carpenter's contract, and the motion might not have passed. The concern, he said, was over the amount of the contract.

Carpenter turned in his letter of resignation to Rogers on Thursday.

"I guess I have mixed feelings," Sisolak said. "On the one hand, I'm happy for him that he's doing what's best for his family ... But when I talked to him about the first of this week, he said he was going to stay. He gave me his word he was going to stay."

Carpenter said that he did not make such a promise and that he regretted if he gave anyone the impression his mind was made up either way.

He said he was disappointed that his departure might interrupt or cancel plans for several projects, such as the upcoming campus in northwest Las Vegas and the plan to build an apartment complex on its Henderson complex.

He said he would be willing to help those projects through to fruition after he leaves.

Carpenter is a native of Louisiana and has family there.

North Harris Montgomery is larger than CCSN, with five campuses and more than 47,000 students.

CCSN is the largest institution in the Nevada System of Higher Education, with three campuses and more than 35,000 students.