Behind the scenes of how R.J. Nemer became University of Akron's new president

From an outsider's perspective, the search for the next University of Akron president took about 30 seconds.

One minute, the board of trustees was accepting the resignation of Gary Miller, the school's 18th president. In the next, Board Chairman Lewis Adkins was announcing College of Business Dean Robert "R.J." Nemer as the 19th president of the University of Akron.

But behind the scenes, a search process had been unfolding for weeks. It was top secret, but in an odd twist, also remarkably inclusive, according to those who were a part of it.

Within two weeks, Provost John Wiencek oversaw a process to choose the next president from within the university, which included seeking nominations, interviews and extensive feedback from a group of faculty.

It stood in stark contrast to the search five years that resulted in hiring Miller. Everyone knew it was happening, but it was a closed process with few participants.

Toni Bisconti, president of the Akron Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), said the irony was not lost on those who got to be in the room this time.

"No one outside of us knows what's going on, but there's more voices in this room than we've ever had," Bisconti said.

Here is how that process unfolded.

Miller tells the trustees he will retire

Adkins said Wednesday that Miller told the trustees within the last several months that he planned to retire to his second home in Texas. Adkins said that was "understandable."

"He had gone through and had helped lead us past a number of different very challenging episodes," Adkins said. "We were very aware that, you know, he has a great life in Texas. And we wanted to support that decision."

That triggered a series of conversations among the board about how to proceed, Adkins said. The board identified two options: conduct a nationwide search, which takes several months and would require appointing an interim president, or finding someone to take the job quickly.

The collective sense, Adkins said, was the board "couldn't afford, based on time, a prolonged national search."

"We thought it was very important to have a seamless transition," he said.

At the beginning of May, they turned to the provost to see if he could lead the search.

Provost leads quick internal search

Wiencek said in an interview this week that the trustees called him into their executive session at the end of their meeting on May 1.

Wiencek said he had no inclination that Miller had planned to retire. He said the board talked about their options moving forward, doing a national search with an interim in place or naming a permanent person immediately. Wiencek said they acknowledged that interim leaders in the past had been left in "very difficult positions." They didn't want to go through that again, he said.

"The board was really interested in keeping that momentum going .... They said, 'We don't want to repeat the situations of the past,'" Wiencek said. They asked him to run a rapid search to find an internal candidate who could succeed Miller.

The first step, Wiencek said, was to reach out to constituent groups as required in contracts like that of the AAUP through a process called shared governance. Those groups included faculty, students and deans. Those contacted to be part of the process had to sign non-disclosure agreements.

"The shared governance groups were a little stunned at the speed with which we needed to move," Wiencek said, but they talked through the options and agreed a short internal search was the best option if it yielded a quality candidate.

"It wasn’t difficult to get people to sort of say, 'Yeah I get it, this does make a lot of sense,'" Wiencek said.

The contract requires a call for nominations, which was limited to those in academic leadership. The list was short: five people, including four deans and Wiencek, who declined to be nominated, citing his desire to stay in his current position.

The only person selected from that list to move ahead in the process was Nemer. He had only been the dean of the College of Business for two years but had won over faculty in his department quickly despite not having an academic background.

"From there the process became, is this someone we are going to endorse? ... If not, what is the alternative plan you recommend?" Wiencek said.

Nemer throws his hat in the ring

Nemer, a 1986 Walsh Jesuit High School graduate and two-time University of Akron alum, said at first, the conversations were "casual," as the board and Wiencek explored how Nemer was feeling about his two years as dean of the College of Business and what his long-term career plans were.

"I'm obviously very devoted to the community and to the University of Akron, which I've never looked at as mutually exclusive," he said. "So I was very open and flattered to be considered for such a wonderful opportunity with such a storied history at the University of Akron."

Adkins said Nemer's strong background in business, especially marketing and communications, made him a "superstar" candidate.

It was clear, however, that Nemer not having an academic background was going to be an obstacle, particularly for faculty. Miller had been more of a traditional pick for a president, an academic in biology with a strong research background. Nemer had only been in academia two years and had never been a faculty member. He had, however, picked up two classes to teach in sports marketing to try to gain that experience to better relate to the faculty.

Still, there was work to be done to get faculty on board ahead of the announcement.

Faculty union vets Nemer, gives stamp of approval

The faculty, in particular the union, have come a long way in their relationship with the president's office over the last three years, Bisconti said.

In 2020, facing dire finances due to the pandemic but also years of declining enrollment, Miller invoked a part of the faculty union contract called "force mejure," which allowed for layoffs without consideration for tenure or rank. Dozens of people lost their jobs, and Miller reorganized the university and consolidated from 11 colleges to five, downgrading colleges to schools in a controversial move.

An arbitrator later agreed the layoffs and process were warranted, despite strong union objection. The remaining faculty and the administration had to find a way forward.

"We had to somehow forge ahead, and we had to do it together," Bisconti said. "At the end of the day, I believe we all do want the best for the university."

From then on, she said, the administration worked to be more inclusive, and faculty found themselves at the table in more conversations than before.

Miller's five years turned out to be "one of the longer presidents," Bisconti noted, and they found a groove working together. So when she heard Miller was leaving, Bisconti said she realized how much she had gotten used to him being here.

Once they were let in on the news, Bisconti said her first thought was, "We can't be without a president."

"So I think the reality of the situation is, the University of Akron needs some stability, or needs the continued stability," she said.

National searches take significant time, she said, and then the first year of a presidency of a newcomer is often spent meeting stakeholders and learning the community.

"I definitely felt like we didn't have time for that," Bisconti said.

Ideally, she said, there would have been a search that was public and included more stakeholder feedback — but only if Miller had been willing to stay on while that took place. In lieu of that, Nemer's name emerging as a candidate felt like the next best option.

"We needed someone to lead," she said. "And I think R.J., because of his community ties, because of his commitment to the University of Akron on a personal level, because of his success as a fundraising dean, an outward facing dean, I definitely feel like he was a really good choice in an expedited situation."

But it wasn't automatic, she said. The shared governance leaders told the board they believed there should be an interview process, and they agreed.

"This is the most open to outside voices the board has ever been," Bisconti said. "It was a really interesting process and I was really thankful that they didn't seem to blink an eye at anything we wanted, to be able to get on board in this process."

Bisconti said each group was able to bring their entire executive committee, "which has never been done," for an interview with Nemer. On May 6, about 50 people, all sworn to secrecy, met in a room with Nemer at 7 a.m. to ask him questions and hear his vision for the job and the university.

Bisconti said he told his story of career twists and turns, going from sports agent to a college dean, and addressed their biggest concern: that he's not an academic. But she said he wasn't afraid to say "I don't know," and was willing to listen and learn. He is a storyteller, she said, and connects well with people on an individual level.

"I just think he's pretty down-to-earth, transparent, and I think that won us over," she said.

But there will continue to be skeptics, she said.

"I think he knows it's an uphill battle to win faculty over when you're not an academic," Bisconti said. "And I've tried to be very transparent with him about that. There's going to be some faculty that are absolutely against this appointment no matter what."

As the news spread that Miller was out and Nemer was in, Bisconti said she immediately received text messages from faculty questioning how this happened behind closed doors.

She said she understands that reaction, but hopes they and the broader community will come to see it as a positive story for the university of a process that included faculty and student voices at the table. It's a decision that will move the university forward, she said, especially in the face of continued looming financial challenges.

"I think he knows exactly the right people in Akron, the right way to talk to people in Akron, and I think he is a great listener," she said. "If anything is going to get us out of the red, it’s going to be people listening and getting people to invest in us again."

Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @JenPignolet.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: How University of Akron went from one president to the next in seconds