UALR selects 4 finalists for provost

Campus visits scheduled for candidates after list whittled down from 27 applicants

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock chose four finalists Friday for its executive vice chancellor and provost, all of whom will visit the campus within the next two weeks.

The finalists were among 27 who applied for the second-in-command position. They are vying to replace the interim provost, Deborah Baldwin, who was an associate provost of collections and archives and the director of the Center for Arkansas History and Culture. Baldwin was appointed as interim after the former provost, Zulma Toro, left to lead Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Conn.

The winning candidate will take over the job at a time when higher-education institutions in the state are on the verge of switching the method by which they are funded by the state, one based less on enrollment and more on student success. The new funding model, which starts July 1, 2018, will reward Arkansas' public colleges and universities in which students progress to graduation and then graduate.

The 11,665-student university is also on a mission to become a top community-engaged research school among the 16 member states of the Southern Regional Education Board, and the person ultimately chosen will help UALR get on track with that mission, said Steve McClellan, the university's vice chancellor for finance and administration and chairman of the provost search committee.

The new provost also will be in charge of connecting the university more with Little Rock, he said.

"We're not just trying to be a university in Little Rock," McClellan said. "We want to be Little Rock's university."

The finalists and their visiting dates are:

• Michael Henson, Sunday to Tuesday, with a meet-and-greet session from 3 to 3:15 p.m. and a public forum from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m. Monday.

• Steven Berberich, Monday to Wednesday, with a meet-and-greet session from 3:15 to 3:30 p.m. and a public forum from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. Tuesday.

• Velmer Burton, April 23 to April 25, with a meet-and-greet session from 3 to 3:15 p.m. and a public forum from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m. April 24

• DoVeanna Fulton, April 24 to April 26, with a meet-and-greet session from 3:15 to 3:30 p.m. and a public forum from 3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. April 25.

Henson is currently a professor, an associate vice president for research and dean of the graduate school at Morehead State University in Kentucky. He received his doctorate in animal sciences/physiology from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in 1985.

Berberich works as an associate provost for faculty and staff affairs at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. An alumnus -- undergraduate and graduate -- of Wright State, Berberich also has chaired the biochemistry and molecular biology department at the university.

Burton is dean of the School of Applied Sciences and a professor at the University of Mississippi. Before going to Ole Miss, Burton worked as special assistant to the senior vice president for system academic administration at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus and as chancellor and professor at the University of Minnesota-Crookston campus.

Fulton serves as dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Houston-Downtown. Before that, she was the founding chairman of the Department of Gender and Race Studies, the director of graduate studies and the director of the African American Studies Program at the University of Alabama.

The candidates also will be visiting as UALR Chancellor Andrew Rogerson, who started Sept. 1, begins to fill out his Cabinet. Rogerson, who will ultimately decide whom to hire, has said he would like to fill the position by July 1.

UALR contracted with Miramar Beach, Fla.-based Greenwood/Asher & Associates Inc. for up to $105,000 to help find a replacement for Toro, who earned $239,527 annually in that position. A search committee also helped to interview more than a dozen candidates for the position at an off-site location in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, McClellan said.

Metro on 04/15/2017

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