The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville will promote its vice provost for diversity affairs to a newly created vice chancellor position, it announced Monday.
Effective July 1, Charles F. Robinson, 47, will become vice chancellor for diversity and community, UA said in a news release, bringing the number of vice chancellors advising Chancellor G. David Gearhart to six.
Robinson’s vice provost position will not be filled, UA spokesman Steve Voorhies said Monday.
According to newspaper archives, Robinson stepped into the vice provost position July 1, 2009.
The Elm Springs resident joined UA in 1999. He later became a full professor of history and served as director of its African-American studies program.
The move comes because of Robinson’s leadership “as well as the centrality of his office’s work to the university’s goals and objectives,” Gearhart said in the release.
“This promotion reflects a redoubling of our commitment to further expand U of A’s inclusive and diverse community of scholars,” the chancellor said.
Robinson said in an interview Monday: “It signals that we are even more committed and the recent success hasn’t diminished our enthusiasm and our commitment.”
UA officials have long spoken of diversity not just in terms of race or ethnicity but also as covering other “underrepresented” students. The categories can include disability, age and sexual orientation, as well as low-income or first-generation college students, and students whose sex is underrepresented in a particular field of study, such as men studying nursing orwomen majoring in engineering.
UA also targets geographical diversity, which has meant recruiting in areas such as the Arkansas Delta as well as the state’s central and southern regions.
Robinson’s current vice provost salary of $171,974 will grow to $201,000 when he takes on his new role, Voorhies said, adding that Robinson is paid entirely from public funds.
Robinson will join five other vice chancellors who report directly to the chancellor. Sharon Gaber holds the dual titles of provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. The other vice chancellors are: Don Pederson in finance and administration; Richard Hudson in government and community relations; Chris Wyrick in university advancement; and Jeff Long in intercollegiate athletics.
Last fall, UA’s enrollment of 24,537 students was a 5.8 percent increase from fall 2011, but its percentage increase in students from racial and ethnic minority groups was nearly double that - 10.4 percent. Altogether, the minority groups represented 17.2 percent of the student population.
At the time, Robinson said this positioned the university well with regard to its 2021 sesquicentennial goal of 20 percent representation for all “underrepresented” groups.
“We’ve got nine years to grow diversity by 2.8 percent,” Robinson said then. He said he was pleased that Hispanic growth was mirroring national trends, reaching 21.8 percent growth at UA, but was disappointed that black student enrollment grew only 2.6 percent.
The enrollment breakouts included only racial and ethnic numbers as defined by the U.S. census and not the university’s broader diversity definition reflected in its scholarship programs and goals.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 04/23/2013