LINCOLN, Neb.- Commissioner of higher education for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, Hank Bounds, is heading to Nebraska as the University of Nebraska’s next president.
The university made that announcement Monday. Bounds was one of four finalists for the job to replace J.B. Milliken.
Bounds will be required to oversee campuses in Lincoln, Omaha and Kearney, as well as, the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis.
Bounds has led Mississippi’s eight public universities since 2009. He was the state’s superintendent of K-12 schools from 2005 to 2009 and was superintendent of the Pascagoula school system from 2001 to 2005. Earlier, he worked as a high school principal.
Bounds will begin as president on April 13 with a base salary of $480,000.
Bounds has reached 25 years in Mississippi’s pension system, meaning he can retire and draw a pension while working in Nebraska.