Higher Ed Board gets new president

The Board of Higher Education unanimously voted for a new president on Friday to fill the position left vacant in the Oregon University System when former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt resigned in May.

Henry Lorenzen, a Pendleton attorney and farmer, will be president until 2007.

Governor Kulongoski served as interim president after Goldschmidt’s resignation, but wanted a permanent president.

Lorenzen has been on the OUS board since August 2003, the longest tenure served out of the twelve board members. His childhood friend and law partner, Steve Corey, says that Lorenzen is serious about making changes in OUS.

“He’s very bright,” Corey said of Lorenzon. “He listens to people before he makes decisions, he’s methodical and he’s spent his entire life in Oregon.”

A graduate of Oregon State University, Corey said Lorenzon will be also be a valuable asset as president of OUS because of his Oregon background and experience as a student of the Oregon education system.

Di Saunders, director of communication for OUS at PSU, says Lorenzon has shown incredible leadership on the state board.

Lorenzen has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, a member and chair of the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission and member of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission and the Oregon Law Commission. Saunders says that because of his experience with these groups, and because of his Pendleton background, Lorenzen understands the rural and urban divide in Oregon, which is beneficial to understanding the differing needs of the seven public universities OUS serves.

The plans OUS has for the future, and the plans that Lorenzen will now be heading, include making a college education affordable for students and families, recruiting and retaining the best faculty and raising faculty services, and addressing the rising costs of healthcare costs and shortages across Oregon.

For more information on OUS go to www.ous.edu