UA names 3 finalists for provost

Campus presentations start Thursday, go into next week

FAYETTEVILLE -- Three finalists have been named for the chief academic officer position at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette

James Coleman, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette

Mike Sherman, vice president for innovation and economic development at Ohio’s University of Akron and chief operating officer of the school’s research foundation.

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette

Sheryl Tucker, associate provost for academic affairs and dean of the graduate college at Oklahoma State University at Stillwater.

The No. 2 administrator will help set enrollment targets at a campus that has added about 5,800 students since fall 2010, UA officials have said.

The provost finalists are James Coleman, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff; Mike Sherman, vice president for innovation and economic development at Ohio's University of Akron and chief operating officer of the school's research foundation; and Sheryl Tucker, associate provost for academic affairs and dean of the graduate college at Oklahoma State University at Stillwater.

Each will visit the campus, UA announced Monday. Sherman will give a public presentation Thursday, followed by Coleman on Oct. 18 and Tucker on Oct. 21.

Peter Ungar, chairman of a 16-person search committee, has said that Chancellor Joe Steinmetz, UA's top administrator since Jan. 1, will make the hiring decision.

Laura Jacobs, chief of staff for Steinmetz, has said the new provost will have "a significant and ongoing duty of enrollment planning."

The new hire will have the title of executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost, and will replace Ashok Saxena, appointed last year by interim Chancellor Dan Ferritor.

The former provost, Sharon Gaber, left UA last year to become president at the University of Toledo.

Coleman, a biology professor, joined Northern Arizona University as provost in August of last year.

But he will step down in "a mutual decision" between Coleman and university President Rita Cheng, a spokesman told the Arizona Daily Sun last week. The spokesman said Coleman would stay on as a faculty member, the Daily Sun reported.

Coleman's first faculty job came at Syracuse University in 1990. Since 2000, Coleman has also worked as a vice president at the Desert Research Institute in Nevada, a vice provost at Rice University and a dean at Virginia Commonwealth University.

He earned a bachelor's degree in forestry from the University of Maine and earned advanced degrees, including a doctorate, from Yale.

Sherman, 61, first worked as a professor in 1985 at Texas A&M University. After less than a year, he moved to Ohio.

He worked for 25 years at Ohio State University before joining the University of Akron in 2010 as provost.

This year, he began a role that includes leading the school's research foundation. Sherman's time in Akron coincided with faculty and student criticism of the school's top leader, Scott Scarborough, who was hired in 2014 and stepped down as president in May in a "mutually agreed" decision, according to an announcement from the chair of the school's board of trustees.

Sherman last month was named one of four finalists for the president's job at the University of West Florida, but he did not get the job.

He earned a bachelor's degree in health education from Ohio University, a master's degree in biology from Ball State University and a doctorate in physical and health education from the University of Texas at Austin.

Tucker's academic career began in 1996 at the University of Missouri at Columbia. She worked as a program director at the National Science Foundation from 2009-11 before joining Oklahoma State University.

Last month, Tucker was named one of four finalists for an executive vice chancellor position at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The university has yet to fill the position, with the last visit from a finalist scheduled for this week.

Tucker earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Kent State University and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of North Texas.

Metro on 10/11/2016

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