Chancellor withdraws from Ky. job search

By Nathan Walls
Editor

Despite being one of two finalists, Chancellor Allen Meadors withdrew his name from a Kentucky job search two weeks ago, saying that he never wanted to leave UNCP in the first place.

Anne Federlein, formerly president of Ohio State University at Newark and Central Ohio Technical College, was named the first female president of Kentucky Wesleyan College, a school of about 600 students.

“I went to visit because the search firm which had recruited me for UNCP had been asking me to look at various positions over the last year and I hadn’t taken them up on any of their suggestions,” Meadors said. “I had never interviewed with a private college before and thought it would be an interesting diversion from the public universities that I have worked at over the last 30 years.”

Meadors said he was contacted by a Kentucky Wesleyan search team around the beginning of the year and visited with them in early January before touring the campus Feb. 10.

The team had their eyes on Meadors because the enrollment at UNCP has grown by nearly 45 percent since he became chancellor in 1999. Kentucky Wesleyan’s enrollment has dropped from 1,000 students to 548 in the last two decades.

Part of Meadors interest was based on a 35 percent higher salary at Kentucky Wesleyan and better benefits. Meadors makes $152,900 annually but hasn’t received a raise since July 2000. He will receive a one-time bonus of $13,763 this year.

Two chancellors at other UNC institutions, of which UNCP is grouped with, are making as much as $35,000 more than Meadors.

“It matters not if you make $20,000 or a million, if your peers are being paid 30 to 35 percent more, it will concern you,” Meadors said. “It isn’t so much about getting a raise as fairness.”

Meadors was CEO and dean of Penn State Altoona for five years before coming to UNCP in 1999.

When he was hired, Meadors said he would stay at UNCP for at least five years.

He said he is not looking to leave UNCP.