Hank Bounds/University of Nebraska photo
University of Nebraska Board of Regents chairman Howard Hawks says the board chose Hank Bounds as the new university president in part because of his vision for Nebraska.
Bounds, who has led Mississippi’s eight public universities since 2009, has been chosen to lead the four-campus University of Nebraska system.
Hawks says Bounds demonstrated a vision for Nebraska’s potential.
“He kept describing the University of Nebraska as becoming the giant it has the opportunity to be,” Bounds tells Nebraska Radio Network affiliate KLIN.
The board voted unanimously to approve Bounds as the new president.
Hawks calls Bounds a highly respected educator who has focused his career on helping to change lives in the same way that education changed his.
Hawks says Bounds excelled in the areas important to Nebraskans.
“So, you can look at research dollars, you can look at interactions with legislative bodies and leaders, you can look at the importance of agriculture, you can look at a person who came from very meager and poor backgrounds and was focused on making sure that we had affordable education to all students,” according to Hawks.
Bound was one of four finalists to succeed J. B. Milliken, who left the position to become the new chancellor at the City University of New York, the country’s third largest public university system.