GRAND FORKS, N.D. - University of Wyoming health sciences Dean Robert Kelley has been offered the job of president of the University of North Dakota in a unanimous vote by the state Board of Higher Education.

The board on Monday selected Kelley, 63, as UND's 11th president. Chancellor Bill Goetz said Kelley was offered a three-year contract worth $300,000 per year.

Kelley said after the meeting he was grateful for the opportunity and said he would give the offer "due diligence."

"I think this is a remarkable community," he said. "I have really enjoyed the opportunity to learn as much as I could."

Kelley has two days to accept the job, board President John Q. Paulsen said.

"Dr. Kelley is a wise, experienced and visionary leader," Paulsen said. "He is a person of absolute integrity. He is fair and decent in everything he does and everything he says.

"Simply stated, people like him. They like to be with him, they like to work with him."

Kelley would succeed Charles Kupchella, who plans to retire in July.

In his interview earlier with board members, Kelley said he would be a hands-on leader and would not be afraid to trade his suit and tie for jeans and tour the campus to chat with students and staff.

"I tend to like people," Kelley said. "I tend to like interaction with people."

Kelley was the lone finalist selected by a UND search committee, even though the board had asked the committee to name three finalists for consideration. A motion by board member Pam Kostelecky to interview two other candidates was defeated 6-2.

Kostelecky said she was disappointed the search committee members "felt they could and should make the decision without the input of the full board."

Board members said they were impressed with Kelley's responses to questions about faculty salaries, the school's jump to Division I athletics, collaboration among the other state universities and communication among students, staff, board members and lawmakers.

"And it's not necessarily the answers you have given to the questions … but how I've seen you and your wife, Marsha, interact with the community," said board member Grant Shaft of Grand Forks.

Kelley told North Dakota State University professor Thomas Barnhart, the board's faculty representative, that he would work with state leaders and others to improve North Dakota's last-place standing in teacher salaries.

"Chancellor (Bill) Goetz and I have talked in the last week, and I told him my highest priority would be to address the issue of staff compensation," Kelley said.

Kelley has been the dean of health sciences at Wyoming since 1999. Earlier, he was a professor and department head at the University of New Mexico, where he worked with tribal colleges and minority groups, and athletic boards.

Former higher education board member Marijo Loomis Shide, of Larimore, was one of two UND supporters who asked the board to add interviews with University of North Dakota Dean Bruce Smith and University of Florida Nursing Dean Kathleen Long. Kelley, Smith and Long were the committee's only majority vote-getters.

"Accepting only one candidate instead of the requested three sets a bad precedent that does not reflect well on either the search committee nor the North Dakota Board of Higher Education," Shide said.

Paul LeBel, the UND law school dean who headed the UND search committee, told the board that five semifinalists had the chance to show they were qualified to be president.

"One candidate, Dr. Robert Kelley, met that challenge," he said.