An ISU student will take his place at the executive director’s desk in the state Board of Regents’ office today.

Gregory Nichols, an ISU doctoral candidate and former policy director and education adviser for Gov. Tom Vilsack, officially begins his appointment today.

Nichols, who will earn an annual salary of $126,176, has worked in Iowa state government for 21 years, mostly as a researcher and administrator for the Legislature.

About five years ago, Nichols said, he decided to do something different. He began pursuing a doctorate degree in educational leadership and policy studies at Iowa State, in addition to his work in the governor’s office.

Nichols, who is from West Des Moines, completed his course work nearly a year ago and is now working on his dissertation concerning the involvement of the executive branch in higher education policy making.

Nichols said he thought he would finish his degree before taking a new step.

“It wasn’t quite the time frame I had imagined, but you never know when an opportunity is going to come along,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to use my skills to help promote education, especially higher education.”

Larry Ebbers, professor of educational leadership and policy studies, has been Nichols’ major professor throughout his doctoral work. Ebbers said Nichols will be “quite an asset to the board.”

“He is very knowledgeable, especially in legislative issues. He has a very broad perspective of higher education at the national level as well,” Ebbers said.

Nichols is very approachable, Ebbers said.

“He is always a student, always reading and listening. He really knows and understands higher education in Iowa,” Ebbers said.

Those qualities will come in handy for Nichols, who said his job as executive director as communication and information focused.

“Really, my job is to support the nine appointed citizen members of the Board of Regents. They are charged with the governance of all five institutions,” Nichols said. “I will be helping them set their agenda to the most important things. I will be working with the university presidents and others, communicating clearly and making sure the best information possible is provided.”

Nichols said he is very excited about the job.

“I think it’s fair to say I’m coming in with what I think is a pretty balanced perspective,” he said. “I’m a consumer of higher education. I was a student pretty recently, I’ve gone through the administrative things students go through. But I’m also very familiar with the legislative and executive branches, and they have a big impact. I have a different prism through which to view things.”

Nichols said he has several goals for the coming months. He hopes to become better acquainted with the personnel in the board office and with board members, and he will continue to develop relations with cabinet, faculty and student leaders at each institution.

A lot will be done in the near future, Nichols said.

The board and the five institutions will review more than a dozen studies that will be conducted as a result of a report on efficiency and effectiveness presented earlier, he said.

In addition, each institution’s strategic plan expires in 2003, so the board and each institution are busy laying the groundwork for the next five years, Nichols said.

The third major project is working with the Legislature about the next fiscal year’s budget. As soon as budget decisions are made in March, work will begin, he said.

The success of higher education and the role of Iowans in higher education is absolutely critical for Iowa’s economy, Nichols said.

“I am going to help the five regent institutions explain to people across the state why it is in their personal best interest to have great universities and high participation in those universities,” he said.

Nichols graduated with a bachelor’s degree in distributed studies from Iowa State in 1979. For his degree, he said he actually had five minors – political science, sociology, economics, education and physical education. He was certified as a secondary school teacher upon graduation. He received a master’s in public policy from Rutgers University in 1980.

Nichols and his wife, Dawn Connet, have two children, Evan and Grace. They live in West Des Moines.