UAMS to keep search private

LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will use a private search firm to help find its next chancellor.

But the University of Arkansas Foundation Inc., not the university, hired the firm to keep applicants' names private, said B. Alan Sugg, president of the University of Arkansas System.

"The firm will be talking to candidates about the possibility of coming here," said Sugg, who will serve as chairman of a search advisory committee that includes faculty, health-care executives and corporate leaders.

"They [the candidates] might not want that information released. We want this to be done quietly. We're in the investigation phase now. We'll release names when we get finalists."

Because the UA Foundation is funded through private donations, it is not subject to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act and the applicants' names don't have to be released, UA System officials said Wednesday.

Applications of people seeking public jobs do not fall under the exemptions in the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

Tom Larimer, executive director of the Arkansas Press Association, said in a telephone interview Wednesday evening that private search firms operate in a "gray area."

"It's not the first time acompany has used a third party to circumvent the Freedom of Information Act," he said. "They say it's legal because they're using private funds, but it doesn't mean it's right. It should be open to the public eye. If any public money is used at all, it will be open."

Peter Emanuel, the director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and a member of the UAMS search advisory committee, said the use of private search firms is typical for medically based academic searches.

"It's abnormal not to use one," he said. "We don't have the time to beat the bushes to search for applicants. The firm makes sure all the applicants are qualified."

He said he also favored keeping applicants' names out of the public eye until finalists for the position are chosen.

"If an institution found out that one of its employees was sniffing around for a new job, that's damaging," he said. "During the initial stages of the search, there are those who don't want the word to get out yet."

In recent years some public institutions in Arkansas have challenged whether applications are public records.

A private firm hired by the Little Rock Housing Authority said it was not subject to the Freedom of Information Act in 2005 in a search for the public agency's executive director.

Later the private search firm admitted it violated the information act because it received public funds through the housing authority.

In 2006, another private executive search firm canceled a $60,000 contract with Arkansas State University at Jonesboro when it was looking for a new chancellor because the firm wanted to keep applicants' names confidential.

In that case, ASU used public funds to hire the company.

The hiring by the UA Foundation is different.

The UA Foundation is a nonprofit organization in Fayetteville funded privately and not supported by public funds, the UA System said Wednesday. The salaries of its staff come from private funds of the foundation. The foundation, which exists to support the University of Arkansas and its separate campuses, divisions and units, leases office space from the university and pays for it with private funds, a UA System spokesman said.

The UA Foundation will pay Witt/Kieffer - a 35-year-old firm with 11 U.S. offices that locates directors, chairmen,chancellors and other positions for health-care and educational venues - more than $150,000 for its search, Sugg said.

Current UAMS Chancellor Dr. I. Dodd Wilson will retire June 30, 2009, the UA System said in a news release. Wilson had announced in 2007 that he planned to retire.

"Dodd Wilson has led an impressive tenure of growth and development at UAMS," Sugg said in the news release. " ... I have no doubt that we will be able to attract top candidates for this position."

Witt/Kieffer will begin accepting applications today, Sugg said. The firm will review and recommend finalists to the UAMS advisory search committee.

"The search firm has experience in conducting national searches," said Ben Beaumont, a spokesman for the UA System. "They probably are already aware of potential candidates for this position. They have a database of candidates. We want the top candidates."

Clay Davis, the executive director of the UA foundation, and James E. Lindsey, chairman of the UA board of trustees, did not return telephone messages Wednesday.

It's one of the first times the UA System has used a privatesearch firm, Sugg said.

In the past the UA System has hired chancellors without using private search firms. Committees made up of faculty, administrative and corporate leaders helped find applicants by direct recruitment or by choosing from those who apply by answering advertisements in such trade journals as The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Sometimes chancellors were recruited without a formal search committee.

All applications were open for public inspection.

Wilson, the former dean of the medical school, was named the UAMS chancellor in 1989 after Dr. Harry Ward retired. No search firm participated then, Sugg said.

He said the decision to use a private firm stems primarily from the need to attract a "quality" chancellor.

"They'll [Witt/Kieffer] will do all the work," Sugg said. "They will identify candidates for this position. When we get finalists, we'll release that information.

"We want to expand this search nationwide," he said. "We need that extra help in identifying outstanding people. It's important for UAMS and for the state of Arkansas."