Ex-UA chancellor to retire

Ferritor oversaw $120M in capital projects over 11 years

Dan Ferritor -- a former chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville -- will retire from his UA System post, UA System President Donald Bobbitt said Wednesday.

Ferritor, 75, has worked as the system's vice president for learning technologies after an 11-year stint as the chancellor of the system's largest campus. After leading the Fayetteville campus from 1986-97, Ferritor returned to teaching sociology at the university and to begin the Family and Community Institute, a sociology research organization.

His last day at the system is set for March 31, said Nate Hinkel, interim director of communications for the UA System. Ferritor makes $87,872 annually.

He is known for his guidance during the renovation of Old Main, the oldest building on the Fayetteville campus. The project garnered more than $13 million in private and state funding and was rededicated to future students in 1991.

During his chancellorship, Ferritor also headed $120 million of capital improvement projects, which included the addition of 2 million square feet of classroom, laboratory and library space. He also raised the bar for annual fundraising from $3 million a year to $20 million, according to his biography on the UA-Fayetteville website.

Under former UA System President B. Alan Sugg, Ferritor led searches for the heads of campuses in Hope, Morrilton and Fort Smith, Hinkel said. He also was instrumental in the search for a chancellor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, he added.

In 2000, he received the Chancellor's Medal. The year after, UA officials dedicated the Daniel E. Ferritor Hall for the man who was "one of the university's best advocates," the biography says.

After his tenure as chancellor, the Kansas City, Mo., native became the UA System's vice president for academic affairs, a post he held until 2013, when Michael Moore joined Bobbitt's administration. He then transitioned to the learning technologies position, a part-time role.

He has helped to get eVersity, the system's planned online-only university, off the ground and moving forward, Hinkel said.

Metro on 01/22/2015

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