Ex-UA engineering dean is named interim provost

FAYETTEVILLE -- Ashok Saxena, a former engineering dean and leader of a recently created biomedical engineering department, will take over as the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville's top academic officer, the university announced Thursday.

Saxena, 66, will fill the role when Provost Sharon Gaber departs to become president of the University of Toledo after the current academic year.

The provost position will remain uncertain while UA searches for its next top administrator to replace Chancellor G. David Gearhart, who is retiring in July. Dan Ferritor, a former UA chancellor who will take on the role of interim chancellor when Gearhart leaves, appointed Saxena to the position until a new chancellor is hired.

But while UA's next chancellor will be free to make a new appointment, Saxena noted the time it will take to both hire a chancellor and then for a chancellor to decide on a top academic officer -- so he's not fond of the "interim" label.

"We're looking at a timeline that's at least a year-and-a-half, possibly more than that. That's why it was important for me to not be called interim provost," Saxena said from his corner office in a recently remodeled wing of the John A. White Jr. Engineering Hall.

Saxena served as engineering dean at UA from 2003 to 2012, when he left to spend two years in India as the senior leader of Galgotias University, a new research institution he helped get off the ground.

He returned to UA last year to lead the university's biomedical engineering department.

Ferritor said he spoke with faculty leadership and talked to several candidates about the provost position, deciding on Saxena after speaking with him in person and on the phone.

"He has a very, very strong reputation on campus, with those that have worked with him and know him," Ferritor said.

In a 2014 UA statement, engineering dean John English described Saxena as a driving force behind the creation of the biomedical engineering department, which was formed in 2012.

"In the past, most of my involvement -- other than the two years I spent in India -- was within the realm of engineering. This is, of course, going to be much more than engineering, so I expect that I will be learning a lot about the other colleges within the University of Arkansas," Saxena said.

One key role he played beyond engineering involved serving as co-chairman for UA's Destination Graduation Task Force, a group appointed in 2010 to help improve the university's graduation rate.

Last fall, UA reported a record-high six-year graduation rate of 62.3 percent for students entering as freshmen in fall 2008. But the number remains short of university goals to have a 66 percent six-year graduation rate this year and 70 percent in 2021.

Improving the graduation rate "will be a very important focus," Saxena said. "I think improving the graduation rate is our responsibility," Saxena said, adding that "I think it's time to come back" to the 2010 task force recommendations and see "what parts still make sense to do that have not been done."

He will step down as the department head of biomedical engineering, the only such department in the state. The field involves a combination of biology and engineering, and Saxena spoke about his interest in collaboration at the university.

"There are a lot of possibilities of multidisciplinary projects or educational projects or research projects that people can take on. Anytime I go to meet with faculty from other colleges within the University of Arkansas, that is always going to be in the back of my mind," Saxena said with a laugh.

Married for 41 years, he and his wife, Madhu, have two grown children, Anjali and Rahul, he said. Asked if he had interest in staying on as provost under a new chancellor, Saxena said, "Certainly, my plan is to serve Dan Ferritor and serve the new chancellor in the initial year or so, and what happens beyond that, I'm not speculating on."

Saxena said UA "is in an extremely good position."

"It has made a lot of gains, and I think the most important thing is to consolidate those gains and also make sure that the continuous improvement happens," Saxena said.

Metro on 04/18/2015

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