FAYETTEVILLE -- Bill Kincaid, a campus attorney, has been named acting chancellor at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville but more time is needed to decide who should lead in the upcoming academic year, UA System President Donald Bobbitt said Monday.
Kincaid takes over from Joe Steinmetz, 66, who announced his resignation Thursday within hours of a board of trustees meeting held to discuss an unspecified personnel matter.
"While I know the decision by Chancellor Steinmetz to resign from his position last week came as a surprise to many, the University of Arkansas remains in a strong position and prepared for a bright future," Bobbitt said in a statement Monday.
Kincaid, a Fayetteville native and professor's son, is expected to hold the title of acting chancellor for "a few weeks," Bobbitt said in his statement.
"I will take some time to visit with university stakeholders to identify the best person to lead the campus through the next academic year and beyond," Bobbitt said in a letter addressed to the "UofA community."
Jon McNaughtan, a Texas Tech University researcher who studies higher education leadership, on Monday described how a top administrator's sudden departure affects decisions about selecting the next-in-line leader.
He contrasted the role of an acting administrator, working on a short-term basis, with that of an interim leader, who he said often has significant experience in a role like that of vice president and "is a leader that can kind of get the campus back."
"Usually you get a little more time leading up to select an interim, which is why they're having to select an acting" chancellor, McNaughtan said, adding that this "is rare" in higher education.
Steinmetz took over as chancellor on Jan. 1, 2016, and was hired after a national search, arriving from Ohio State University. Bobbitt's letter Monday made no mention of plans for such a search, nor did it give a clear timeline for the next decision about campus leadership.
McNaughtan suggested that circumstances like that at UA might lead to some reflection.
"The board [of trustees] probably wants a little bit of time as well to think about the direction they want the university to go," said McNaughtan, an assistant professor of educational psychology and leadership.
Steinmetz's emailed message Thursday to students, faculty and staff announcing his departure was "signifying his immediate resignation," the UA System stated Monday. But the resignation wasn't effective until Friday, after Bobbitt's acceptance of an official resignation letter.
The departure of Steinmetz came after the appearance of photos online purported to be of Steinmetz that a state senator said he has seen. State Sen. Bob Ballinger, R-Ozark, has said that a legislator was told of a Twitter handle supposedly linked to the chancellor. The Twitter account is now deleted.
"It appears that he was involved in some things that are pretty embarrassing for the university if they turn out to be legitimate," Ballinger said Friday.
Last week, UA spokesman Mark Rushing said in a statement: "Dr. Steinmetz has stated that it's not him in the posted photos, that they were Photoshopped."
Kincaid in 2018 became managing associate general counsel for the Fayetteville campus.
He first became an attorney for the university in 2000 and is the son of a longtime UA professor, Diane Blair. The university in 2001 established the Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics & Society in honor of Blair, who died a year earlier from lung cancer at age 61 after teaching at UA for three decades.
Kincaid is married to Missy Darwin Kincaid. He has two children enrolled at the university, according to Monday's announcement, and earned a degree from Yale before going to law school at the University of Virginia. Kincaid also earned a master's degree in public affairs via a joint program from Princeton University, the announcement said.
"Mr. Kincaid has more than two decades of high-level experience at the University of Arkansas being involved in an array of campus-wide issues and is a great fit to meet this immediate need on campus," Bobbitt said in his statement. "I appreciate his willingness to take on this temporary role and I'm extremely confident that the university's daily operations and relations are in extremely capable hands."
Steinmetz earned a base salary of $464,000 and yearly deferred compensation of $250,000, according to Department of Education records.
Nate Hinkel, a UA System spokesman, said Kincaid is not getting a pay boost with his new role. Kincaid's annual salary of $153,000 will increase as previously scheduled July 1 to $163,000, but Hinkel said the increase is unrelated to his temporary role as acting chancellor.
McNaughtan said that a recent survey found that about 6.5 years is the average length of time on the job as top campus leader for a four-year research institution like UA, so Steinmetz, with his nearly 5.5 years on the job, "was pretty close to that."
When he announced his resignation, Steinmetz had a longer time in his job than a majority of other top campus administrators in the Southeastern Conference, the 14-member group of universities that includes UA. Only the top leaders at the University of Alabama, University of Kentucky, University of Florida, University of Georgia and Mississippi State University had been in their positions longer than Steinmetz.