For the third time in two months, the head of the University of Arkansas System has picked an internal candidate to replace a chancellor.
Peggy Doss, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, should become the university's next chancellor, system President Donald Bobbitt recommended to trustees Friday.
The appointment, if approved at a special trustees meeting next week, would be for two years at a $255,000 annual salary, system spokesman Nate Hinkel said.
Doss, 66, would take over Jan. 1.
The university announced Monday that current Chancellor Karla Hughes will retire, effective Dec. 31, short of the end of her contract. Hughes, in the university announcement, said she would step down after discussing the university's internal and external problems with Bobbitt.
Doss, who has worked at the university since 1995, earned $161,600 last year.
The Bradley County native and longtime Monticello School District teacher was a first-generation college student herself at the same university. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in elementary education in 1973.
"I know what UAM has done in my life," Doss said. "I know the opportunity we can provide for others."
She said the university's biggest priorities are those of any university: recruitment, retention, students and community engagement.
The university -- the state's only open-enrollment university -- faces a budget shortfall after a worse-than-projected enrollment drop from last fall. The student population contracted 8.8%, from 3,132 to 2,855.
Doss said the exact amount of the shortfall or how the university will adjust its budget hasn't been determined yet. A member of the university board of visitors told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Monday that the shortfall could amount to $1 million to $2 million.
The enrollment drop comes largely because the university cut ties with its online provider of concurrent courses for high school students after 2017, in contrast to state and national trends of increased concurrent enrollment. The university had been concerned about the quality of the courses, which also has been a concern of critics of concurrent enrollment.
In 2017, the university had more than 1,000 concurrently enrolled high school students. It has about 400 this fall.
While UAM is losing students, the southeast Arkansas region around it is also losing residents.
Amid lowering enrollment, the university has improved its retention rate, which measures a school's ability to hold onto students, and Doss wants to continue that work.
That includes doing "degree pathways" to help students find the right degree programs and map out their course requirements. That also includes providing better advising for students and connecting students -- identified as at risk of falling behind -- with advisers. The university has also embedded tutors in many classrooms.
The university also needs to imagine the future workforce and try to prepare students for jobs that may not yet exist, she said.
Beyond the university's campus, Doss wants to improve partnerships with the public schools and other community members.
Next week, system trustees will also consider the promotion of Lisa Willenberg to chancellor of the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton. Willenberg is currently the college's vice chancellor for finance and operations.
She replaces interim Dean Diana Arn, who served since February, after the retirement of nine-year Chancellor Larry Davis.
The third person Bobbitt recommended promoting to chancellor was Christina Drale, whom trustees approved as chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in September. That followed the resignation of three-year Chancellor Andrew Rogerson.
Metro on 10/19/2019