FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas System likely will select its next president from a pool of candidates determined by a recruiter rather than applicants who responded to public advertising for the position, the leader of its board said Thursday.
John Ed Anthony, chairman of the University of Arkansas board of trustees, has had four telephone conversations with current academic leaders, including the director of a “major university system” in another state, encouraging them to apply, he said.
“It’s not unusual for positions of this nature to fail to attract applicants out of the general public,” Anthony said. “I would have to think the person we’re looking for has a job, and probably a pretty good job.”
He would not disclosethe names of potential applicants.
By Friday, days before today’s application deadline, just four candidates had applied to be considered, all of them responding to advertising. Search consultant Bill Funk set the “soft deadline” on advertisements for the position in national highereducation publications.
The board is seeking a replacement for UA System President B. Alan Sugg, who is to retire effective June 30.
The UA System president supervises 17 campuses and units, which have more than 18,000 employees and 60,000 students. The system includes the flagship campus in Fayetteville, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, which is the state’s only medical school.
Chancellors of individualcampuses report to the system president. The board hired Funk’s Dallas firm July 14 to recruit a new leader. The search is expected to cost about $125,000, paid through private funds from the University of Arkansas Foundation.
In past meetings, Funk told the UA System board of trustees that people who replied directly to the ad would not likely be strong candidates. Most higher-education executives are referred by university supporters or approached by board members, he said.
Applicants who had submitted resumes by Friday included Joe Delap, the vice president of academic affairs at Jacksonville State University in Alabama. Delap later withdrew his application. Other applicants are Frank Miceli, a business owner from Austin, Texas; Dr. John Bald-win, the former president of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center; and Anthony Bland, a library technician at the Little Rock School District.
The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, which protects public access to records, is stronger than similar laws in other states, Funk has said, giving the media and the public the right to view any applications submitted by candidates.
Because of that policy, many academic leaders will be hesitant to apply for fear of creating problems with their current employers, he said.
Even so, Arkansas boards have hired higher-education leaders through an open-application process. Higher-education officials who were hired through a public application process include Sugg in 1990; Jim Purcell, director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, who started in his position in January 2008 after applying in late 2007; and Dr. Daniel Rahn, chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, in 2009.
All of them held positions out of state and applied publicly.
Board members in September agreed to allow Anthony to call potential applicants from a pool gathered by Funk to discuss the position informally.
If any apply, their applications would be public underthe state’s Freedom of Information Act.
Ben Beaumont, spokesman for the UA System, said the board does not intend to take any action on the presidential search at its next regular meeting, which is scheduled for Nov. 12 at UA-Fayetteville.
Funk and Anthony plan to submit recommendations to the board in early 2011. It’s unlikely that the board will have to appoint an interim president to fill Sugg’s position until a permanent replacement can be found, Anthony said.
Anthony would not say if he intended to consider internal candidates for the position.
Funk’s list consists of about 10 names compiled from recommendations and his own recruitment list, said Anthony.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 17 on 10/31/2010