New chancellor approved by UA trustees to lead Batesville campus

The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees approved the hiring of Brian K. Shonk as chancellor of the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville on Wednesday afternoon. The vote was unanimous.

University of Arkansas System President Donald Bobbitt recommended Shonk for the job. The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees, the governing body for the state's largest higher education system, acted on the recommendation during a regularly scheduled two-day meeting in Pine Bluff. That meeting began today.

Shonk, 58, replaces Deborah Frazier, who retired May 31. Zachary Perrine has been interim chancellor since June 1. The college has about 1,233 students.

Bobbitt and Chris Thomason, who is the vice president for planning and development at the UA System, led the national search, with advice from a committee.

In October, Bobbitt announced four finalists. Besides Shonk, they were Scott Cook, provost at Madisonville Community College in Madisonville, Ky.; Jeff Jochems, retired president and vice chancellor of the Richwood Valley Campus of Ozarks Technical Community College in Missouri; and Randy L. Smith, director of program development, director of emergency management and special adviser to the chief for the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.

“The impressive group of finalists identified by our committee brought unique and desired characteristics for the position, but in the end Dr. Shonk’s institutional knowledge and his eagerness to keep the campus working toward many of the goals he’s already very familiar with proved to be the best fit for UACCB at this time,” Bobbitt said in a statement. “He’s been on that campus for nearly a decade and has earned a great deal of respect from faculty, staff and students, as well as the entire Batesville community, and I feel that he is equipped to be the right chancellor at the right time to keep UACCB poised to continue its upward trajectory.”

Shonk came to Arkansas from Florida. He started out in criminal justice, working in the Okaloosa County sheriff's office in Shalimar, Fla., which is near the cities of Destin and Fort Walton Beach, before focusing his career in higher education administration at Northwest Florida State College in the town of Niceville, Fla.

He came to Arkansas in 2013, joining UA-Batesville as vice chancellor of academic affairs.

Shonk has two associate degrees — one in criminal justice, the other in electronics technology — from Northwest Florida State College; a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Troy University in Troy, Ala.; and a Master of Public Administration degree and a doctorate in education, curriculum and instruction from the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Fla.

In a statement, Shonk said: “I’m truly honored to have been chosen to help lead the campus that I’ve grown to love and respect during the last decade of my time here. We have very unique campus and civic communities here and great momentum heading into the future, and I’m very excited about continuing that mission and working to find impactful ways to improve students’ and graduates’ lives and the communities they live in.” 

Shonk will start Jan. 1. His salary will be $175,000.

This story has been updated.