Hendrix College announced the coming retirement of the school's president and the naming of a new leader late Thursday.
The Hendrix board of trustees accepted historian William "Bill" Tsutsui's retirement Thursday in a specially called meeting and named vice president W. Ellis Arnold III as the college's 12th president, spokeswoman Amy Forbus said. The reason for Tsutsui's retirement was not released.
Though Tsutsui, 56, has degrees from Harvard, Princeton and Oxford universities, he is best known for his love of Godzilla and Japanese culture, according to previous Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.
Alongside his writings -- including a book -- on Japan's mythic monsters, Tsutsui also has "hundreds" of items in his collection of Godzilla memorabilia.
Hendrix College, founded in 1876 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884, is a private liberal arts college in Conway. It has 1,120 students, according to preliminary enrollment numbers compiled by the Arkansas Division of Higher Education. That preliminary number represents a 7% decrease from fall 2018 and a 17.3% decrease in a five-year period, 2014-19.
Tsutsui's last day will be Dec. 31, Forbus said late Thursday in a news release.
He took the helm of the college in 2013 after four years as dean of Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences at Southern Methodist University in Texas and a 17-year stint at the University of Kansas.
Arnold graduated from Hendrix in 1979 and, after graduating from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's law school, worked as an attorney until 1990, when he was asked to be a vice president for Hendrix, Forbus said. Arnold left Hendrix between 1996 and 2008, when he served as president of Lambuth University in Jackson, Tenn., and later as president of Pulaski Academy, a private elementary, middle and high school in west Little Rock.
Arnold has also served as acting president for Hendrix on two occasions, Forbus said.
She said Tsutsui intended to take a sabbatical in the spring. She said she was not aware of any future plans Tsutsui may have with Hendrix after the sabbatical.
Forbus said neither Tsutsui nor Arnold were available for comment Thursday evening.
Tsutsui moved to Conway in 2014 with his wife, Marjorie Swann, who joined the faculty as professor in the English department.
"I am grateful to the Board of Trustees for the opportunity to serve this remarkable institution and special community," Tsutsui said in the release. "It has been an honor and a privilege to work alongside everyone, from the faculty members who challenge and inspire our students to the folks who keep our students fed, safe, and well-prepared for life after Hendrix."
Metro on 11/22/2019