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CORVALLIS - Tim White, Oregon State University's provost and executive vice president, on Wednesday was named the president of the University of Idaho following a national search. He assumes his new position at the Moscow, Idaho, campus in July.

White, who had been at Oregon State since 1996, said he regrets leaving OSU but couldn't pass up the opportunity at Idaho.

"I'm leaving one wonderful university for another," said White. "Oregon State is in exceptionally good hands under the leadership team headed by President Ed Ray. I'll miss the university, particularly the people of OSU, who accomplish so much on a daily basis and who have such high aspirations. At the same time, I look forward to developing new relationships and meeting new challenges at the University of Idaho."

OSU President Ray praised White as a talented leader who has gained valuable experience through his career as a faculty member, department head, dean, provost and interim president.

"Tim is a wonderful colleague, who has contributed so much to OSU," Ray said. "He is a true leader and Oregon State's loss is Idaho's gain. In Tim, they will find a person of great personal and professional integrity, who cares about the people he works with and who work for him. They will find he is committed to students and to the institution, and no one will work harder to make the university a success."

Ray said OSU will begin a process to replace White, adding that the university likely will appoint an interim provost before July.

White came to OSU as dean of the College of Health and Human Performance (now Health and Human Sciences) in January of 1996, after serving for five years as professor and chair of the Department of Human Biodynamics at the University of California-Berkeley. He previously was on the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he spent 13 years, including stints as chair of the Department of Movement Science, and research scientist in the Institute of Gerontology.

He was named OSU's interim provost and executive vice president by then-OSU President Paul Risser in January of 2000, and six months later was appointed to the position on a full-time basis following a national search. As provost, he was instrumental in helping launch OSU 2007, a campus-wide self-evaluation process that led to a new strategic plan for the university.

White also played a key role in helping Oregon State begin the state's first branch campus with the 2001 opening of the OSU-Cascades Campus in Bend.

In November of 2002, White was appointed president of the university for an interim period while a national search was conducted. He remained in that post through the end of July, when Ray arrived on campus. Ray previously was executive vice president and provost at The Ohio State University.

Joining White in Idaho will be his wife, Karen White, who is a faculty member in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science, specializing in bone health and the prevention of falls by the elderly.

Tim White is a nationally known researcher in the field of exercise science. His research career has focused on skeletal muscle plasticity, with a particular interest in investigating the adaptive responses of aging and regenerating muscle to physical activity.