One of Texas Tech's top administrators soon will be resigning his position to take a job in his native state before the end of the summer.
Thomas Anderes, Tech's executive vice president of administration and finance, will be leaving Lubbock to work for the University of Wisconsin System.
Anderes was selected to be the senior vice president for administration and fiscal affairs for the UW system. After a nationwide search narrowed the pool of candidates to four people, he was selected for the position. His basic role will be to work with the individual financial officers at more than 12 campuses within the university's system.
"I'll have to meet a new staff and board," Anderes said, "but I'm excited and feel very prepared."
Anderes will leave Lubbock before the 2008-09 school year starts because he is expected to fill his new position no later than Aug. 1.
Anderes said the date of his departure depends on how quickly Tech brings in his replacement.
"It's probably going to be more like July 26 or 27," he said. "Things still have to be worked out here."
The resignation of Tech's former president, Jon Whitmore, factored into Anderes' decision to leave the university. Anderes was hired by Whitmore and will not have tenure with Tech after the president leaves.
After hearing about Whitmore's resignation, Anderes said he started thinking about leaving Tech at the end of February.
"Once the president says he is going to leave," Anderes said, "then I don't have a long-term contract."
Anderes said a new vice president of administration and finance likely will be chosen after a new president is found, and that he is not involved in the search process.
"They don't want to hire this position before the new president gets in," he said, "because this person will be on their cabinet."
He said his proudest accomplishment while working at Tech was hiring a strong, new staff and all of the assistant vice presidents.
Anderes said he had never been to Texas before working at Tech. The main thing he learned while being here is that he likes Texas much more than he thought, and he credits that to the people in West Texas.
Elmo Cavin, executive vice president of finance and administration in the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, said he has worked with Anderes since August 2004 and was surprised to hear about Anderes leaving Tech. Anderes' consideration of and decision to fill a position in another system came without warning.
Anderes is successful because he is always willing to be a part of a team for the bigger solution, Cavin said, which is why he will miss working with him.
"I'll miss Tom," Cavin said. "I've enjoyed my short association with him."
Cavin said he is not concerned that Tech will not be able to find a replacement for Anderes quickly, because Tech is an attractive university for someone who seeks to be a chief financial officer in higher education.
"The institution," he said, "will continue to survive and thrive."
Jim Brunjes, Tech's vice chancellor and chief financial officer of the Tech system, also has worked closely with Anderes throughout his time at Tech.
Brunjes said it has not been decided yet who will take care of Anderes' responsibilities until a new person is hired for his position. He said he expects there to be some additional tasks that he personally will pay closer attention to.
Students and faculty should not be concerned about two top administrators leaving campus at similar times, Brunjes said, because situations such as this are becoming more common at other schools.
"I think they should realize they just happen to be here at the time when the change was occurring," he said. "Most universities in today's environment change administrators probably more often than they used to, but, at least, at the same time, the big policies continue on."
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