JONESBORO -- The former president of Eastern Kentucky University will become interim chancellor of Arkansas State University-Jonesboro, officials announced Thursday.
Doug Whitlock, who retired in 2013 after serving six years as Eastern Kentucky's president, will begin work on the Jonesboro campus Sept. 12. He is an associate with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities-Penson Center for Professional Development, a Washington, D.C., a higher education consulting firm made up of university presidents and chancellors.
Whitlock, 73, replaces ASU-Jonesboro interim Chancellor Lynita Cooksey who was named to the position on a short-term basis after Tim Hudson resigned on Aug. 2. Hudson tendered his resignation after an internal audit revealed a study-abroad program run by Hudson's wife, Deidra Hudson, on a part-time basis was mismanaged.
Hudson advocated to make the program director's position full time with an annual salary of $50,000. When university officials told Hudson he was forbidden from hiring his wife because he was in charge of the agency to which she applied, Hudson asked Cooksey to cancel the study-abroad program director's position, even though ASU drew 14 other applicants.
Whitlock will earn $305,000 while he serves as the interim chancellor through June 30.
ASU System President Charles Welch said earlier this month he intends to begin a national search for a full-time chancellor in the spring.
Whitlock, contacted at his Richmond, Ky., home on Thursday afternoon, said he would not comment. He said he would talk about his plans for the job when he takes over later this month.
"I've nothing more to say now," Whitlock said. "I'll be glad to talk after Sept. 12."
Whitlock said he attended a I-AA playoff football game between ASU and Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 13, 1986, the only time he's been to the Jonesboro campus.
Welch did not return a telephone message Thursday afternoon.
ASU board of trustees Chairman Howard Slinkard also did not return a telephone message.
"[Whitlock] has all the experience and character traits that I was hoping to find when I began this search," Welch said in an ASU System news release. "His academic and administrative background comes from an institution very comparable to Arkansas State. I spoke to faculty, staff and regents at EKU who praised his work in shared governance, his commitment to collaboration and consensus building, and described him as very approachable."
According to the ASU announcement, Whitlock began his educational career at Eastern Kentucky University in 1968 as the director of publications. Earlier, he served as a captain in the U.S. Army from 1966-68.
Whitlock was the executive assistant to the president at Eastern Kentucky from 1976 to 1998 and the vice president for administrative affairs from 1998 to 2003. In 2007, he was named the president of the university, which has an enrollment of 16,500 students and an annual operating budget of over $350 million.
He earned his doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Kentucky in 1981 and a master's degree in education from Eastern Kentucky in 1966.
He and his wife, Joanne, will live in the chancellor's residence in Jonesboro.
Welch said in the news release that Whitlock will not be a candidate for the permanent chancellor's position.
State Desk on 09/02/2016