The non-chancellor.

Byline: The Register-Guard

George Pernsteiner will be the Oregon University System's new chancellor next month, but that won't be his title. Last Friday the state Board of Higher Education, at the behest of its non-voting chairman, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, hired Pernsteiner to be the system's executive vice chancellor, chief operating officer and interim chancellor. Fitting all that on a business card won't be easy, but then, neither is describing the responsibilities of a position that is in a state of flux.

Pernsteiner might become chancellor when the board gets around to filling the position being vacated by Richard Jarvis, but the board is in no hurry to make a permanent hire. The office that coordinates Oregon's seven universities and represents higher education before the Legislature will function more or less indefinitely without a titular head.

This curious arrangement is an encouraging sign that while the chancellor's job is being redefined, Kulongoski intends to act as the guiding force and political leader of the Oregon University System. The system has suffered for years in competition with other state agencies; the governor might be able to win budgetary battles that an appointed chancellor could not. In the meantime, the board needs someone to manage the system's day-to-day operations, so it hired Pernsteiner.

Pernsteiner, 55, has been the vice chancellor for administrative services at the University of California at Santa Barbara since 2002. Before that he held administrative positions at Portland State University, at the University of Oregon and in the Oregon University System. He had a low profile in Oregon, and if Kulongoski makes himself the point man for higher education, Pernsteiner might stay out of the spotlight when he returns to the state.

Moves leading to Pernsteiner's appointment began earlier this year, while former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt was chairman of the higher education board. Goldschmidt's desire to revitalize higher education coincided with budget-related cutbacks in the chancellor's office, creating an opportunity for restructuring. Goldschmidt eased Jarvis out and contacted Pernsteiner about serving as interim chancellor. Goldschmidt's public career ended last month with the disclosure that he had had a criminal sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl while serving as mayor of Portland.

Kulongoski stepped into the void, naming himself to succeed Goldschmidt as chairman. Kulongoski completed the Pernsteiner transaction - more heartening evidence that the revitalization of higher education depends more on the governor than on Goldschmidt

Pernsteiner was chosen without any of the hallmarks of a chancellor's hiring - no nationwide search, no interviews, no public process. Kulongoski and the board wanted to move quickly. The Legislature will convene in just six months, and the governor is hoping to create an endowment fund to help finance low-income Oregonians' college educations. In what could prove to be a pivotal time for higher education, the Oregon University System won't have a real chancellor. But if Kulongoski succeeds, that won't matter.