STARR OF PEPPERDINE : UNIVERSITY SAYS WHITEWATER INVESTIGATOR WILL JOIN LAW SCHOOL AUG. 1.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Confident he will complete his work as the independent counsel in the Whitewater probe by this summer, Kenneth Starr has agreed to begin a new job Aug. 1 as dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, officials said Monday.

For 2-1/2 years, Starr has been overseeing an investigation headquartered in Little Rock, Ark., into whether President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton played improper roles in the failed Whitewater real estate deal.

The probe has so far yielded convictions of 12 people, including two of the Clintons' partners in the Whitewater deal.

Pepperdine officials said that in accepting the dean's appointment, Starr has indicated to them that he expects to be through with his work on the Whitewater probe by Aug. 1.

``He has led us to believe that as far as laying down his responsibilities there and joining us, that is the target date,'' said Pepperdine provost Steven Lemley.

Lemley said Starr's agreement to take a school position starting Aug. 1 would not likely allow him to play an active role in any further prosecution that might result from the Whitewater investigation.

``This (dean's post) is a full-time position,'' Lemley said.

Starr, 50, could not be reached for comment on the surprising announcement.

A lawyer familiar with the Whitewater probe cautioned against reading too much into Starr's stepping down from the investigation.

Starr will decide what, if any, action to take against the Clintons and ``he will have ample time to consider all matters,'' said the lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Associated Press reported.

The lawyer said the question of precisely when Starr will leave the Whitewater prosecutor's office has yet to be decided.

Starr was appointed independent counsel by a panel of federal judges in August 1994 to replace former independent counsel Robert B. Fiske.

If the work is not completed by the time Starr leaves the position, the federal judges could appoint a new head of the investigation.

However, the Associated Press reported two weeks ago that Starr's office appears close to deciding whether to seek criminal charges against the Clintons and has prepared for the decision-making process by compiling a memo of several hundred pages that summarizes the evidence collected in the probe.

In addition to becoming dean of the Pepperdine law school, Starr will head the university's new School of Public Policy as its founding dean, said university President David Davenport.

``This is a momentous event in the histories of Pepperdine's School of Law and the university,'' Davenport said. ``Kenneth Starr brings a breadth of experience and knowledge that is virtually unmatched; he has been a judge, a prosecutor, an attorney involved in private practice and he has taught at our law school.''

A native of Vernon, Texas, Starr began his political career in the Reagan administration as a protege of Attorney General William French Smith.

In 1983, at age 37, Starr became the youngest person ever appointed to the federal appeals court in Washington.

He left the court in 1989, and served as solicitor general during the Bush administration, arguing 25 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court as the government's chief advocate.

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PHOTO (color) Kenneth Starr

Accepts dean's appointment