Nelms chooses IU over top post

Charlie Nelms wants to take the helm of a historically black college or university -- just not quite yet.\nEarlier this week the IU vice president for institutional development and student affairs turned down an offer to become the next president at Tennessee State University.\n"I went through an exploratory process with TSU, but in order to get a job done, there are some pieces that are not quite in place," Nelms said. "So I'll continue to do what I do at IU."\nNelms said he was concerned about the "governance system of Tennessee's higher education system."\nOne board of regents controls 19 public colleges and universities in Tennessee, including Austin Peay, Memphis, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech; only the University of Tennessee is governed by its own board of trustees. Of those 19 public schools, Tennessee State is the only HBCU.\nTennessee Board of Regents Director of Communications Mary Morgan said she had no knowledge Nelms had been offered TSU's presidency.\n"We are still reviewing the candidates and hope to have a decision made in a couple weeks," Morgan said.\nThe Nashville chapter of TSU's Alumni Association recently urged the board of regents to hire Nelms, according to an article in the Nashville Tennessean.\n"Nelms is someone who can unite the campus and its supporters and successfully reach out to the broader Nashville community," Dwight Beard, the chapter's president, is quoted as saying in the article.\nOther than Nelms, the board of regents is considering four finalists: A. Toy Caldwell-Colbert of Howard University; Melvin Johnson of Winston-Salem State University; Cynthia McIntyre of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and Handy Williamson of the University of Missouri-Columbia.\nIU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis said Nelms told him he had turned down the post earlier this week.\n"He really is devoted to HBCUs," Gros Louis said. "But I think he loves IU."\nNelms graduated from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, a historically black college. He was also a finalist for the president's post at Florida A&M in 2001 until he withdrew his candidacy days before the position was filled. Despite the two failed starts, Nelms said his ultimate goal is to lead an HBCU.\n"I certainly know the impact these institutions have on individuals who have not had an opportunity of higher education," he said. \nSpecifically, Nelms said historically black colleges and universities offer a "critical mass" of minority students to make those students feel welcome.\n"When you walk into a classroom and you're the only person who's a man or who's a person of color, you're aware," he said. "That's not to say anyone is doing it to you, but it's there."\nNelms also said his experience at an HBCU gave him more intense mentoring than he might have received at a historically white university and "instilled in me the belief that I could be successful."\n"They didn't start from the premise of 'Charlie, this may be difficult for you,'" he said. \nHe said HBCUs also engage students more personally than historically white universities, and that he "never felt as though I were a guest."\n"Part of an African-American culture is an oral tradition," he said. "We tend to talk more. African American cultures tend to be a bit more expressive. That's been my experience."\nBut when asked if the right HBCU position awaited him, Nelms hesitated.\n"I would take a look at it, but I'm getting a lot older every year," he said.\n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.