Nearly a year after it started looking for a new director for the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, a state board hopes to have a candidate selected for the job by the fall, its chairman said Friday.
Members of the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board will review materials from 13 applicants who responded to advertisements before they meet in July, when they will decide if they will interview some or seek new applications, Chairman Olin Cook said.
“Anything is open,” he said. “It will depend on the evaluations. We would all hope to hire somebody.”
The new director will replace Jim Purcell, who left the department in February 2011 to lead higher-education efforts in Louisiana.
Former lawmaker and deputy director Shane Broadway, once Gov. Mike Beebe’s pick for the job, has filled the position on an interim basis.
The board, prepared to appoint Broadway, backtracked in August 2011 after a non-binding attorney general’s opinion said he did not meet statutory requirements for the position.
Arkansas Code Annotated 6-61-203 directs the board to appoint a director “through a search and selection process that includes substantial input, review and recommendation” from college and university leaders and subject to confirmation from the governor. The director serves at the governor’s pleasure.
The law also says the Higher Education Department director “shall be an experienced educator in the field of higher education who demonstrates competence in the field of institutional management and finance. The director and key staff must have relevant experience on a campus of higher education.”
Broadway has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Arkansas State University at Jonesboro. He worked as a consultant for the Saline County Economic Development Corp.
While a state senatorand representative, he was a member of the legislative bodies’ education committees.
After determining that it would not hire Broadway, the board assembled a search committee that included college and university leaders and board members.
That committee’s leader, board member Kaneaster Hodges of Newport, has said the search may be difficult because Arkansas’ Higher Education Department has less authority than those in other states because Beebe is in the middle of his last term, and because the director’s salary is relatively low compared with those inother states. Purcell’s starting salary in Louisiana was $275,000, which is $86,000 more than he earned in Arkansas.
The 13 applicants, who responded to advertisements in national and local publications, do not include any higher education directors from other states.
They include three Arkansas instructors or professors, one current Higher Education Department employee and four out-of-state administrators, according to their resumes. A 14th applicant withdrew his application days after submitting it online.
Cook said board members will critique the candidates using a rubric including legal requirements for the job.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 15 on 06/24/2012