Welcome mat laid out for new UALR leader

Members of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's alumni board, foundation board and members of the Donaghey Foundation board clamored to meet the school's new chancellor, Andrew Rogerson, and his wife, Janessa, during a reception Sept. 22 at the Edgewood home of Dora Jane and Greg Flesher.

Dora Jane Flesher is on the university's foundation board and attends classes there; Greg Flesher was on the steering committee pegged to find a replacement for longtime chancellor Joel Anderson, who retired earlier this year. Of dozens of applicants, Flesher said, many expressed a strong desire to run a university in a capital city. There are only 50 or so such institutions in the country.

When the committee narrowed the field to three, Rogerson already stood out, Flesher said. Rogerson told the committee his goal in life "is to be head of a college" and that when he landed that job "it will be his last."

"That sold us," Flesher said. The new chancellor was most recently provost and vice president of academic affairs at Sonoma State University, part of the California State University system.

Rogerson, in his Scottish accent, called Arkansas "the best kept secret in the U.S.," then jokingly added, "I happen to think catfish is better than haddock or cod."

The university is a place, he said, "whose time has come to shine."

-- Story and photos by Cyd King

High Profile on 10/02/2016

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