Time to exit, UA System’s Sugg decides

After 20 years at helm, he sets June 2011 retirement

System president B. Alan Sugg makes a comment Friday during a University of Arkansas Board of Trustees meeting in Little Rock.
System president B. Alan Sugg makes a comment Friday during a University of Arkansas Board of Trustees meeting in Little Rock.

— After serving 20 years as president of the University of Arkansas System, B. Alan Sugg announced his retirement Wednesday, effective June 30, 2011.

The 72-year-old Sugg, who has held the job since 1990, has had the longest tenure of any president since the modern system was formed in 1969.

Sugg, who has been thinking about retirement for years, said Wednesday that he has “mixed emotions” about his pending departure.

He said he still enjoys his work, but he’s “not a young man anymore.”

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007, though it has been in remission.

“I just think it’s time,” Sugg said. “I’ve got some grandchildren I’d like to know better.”

John E. Anthony, chairman of the UA board of trustees, said the group will discuss the process for finding Sugg’s replacement at its regularly scheduled meeting Friday at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

Anthony, a trustee from Hot Springs, said a successor will not be hired at Friday’s meeting.

“Alan doesn’t retire for over a year from now, so we have time,” Anthony said. “I do know Alan is going to be a tough guy to follow.”

Trustee Ben Hyneman of Jonesboro said Wednesday that there should be discussion about hiring a firm to conduct a national search.

Sugg is head of a university system that includes 17 campuses and units with more than 18,000 employees and 60,000 students.

The schools include the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the state’s only medical school.

The head of each unit within the system answers directly to Sugg. His recommendations, including matters related to the hiring and firing of personnel, carry great sway with the board of trustees.

The system under its current structure was formed in 1969 when the former Little Rock University joined the system to become UALR. Previously, UA-Fayetteville was the only member of the UA System.

Sugg is the second-longest tenured system president ever.

Of the 20 presidents who preceded Sugg since the system’s inception in 1871, only John C. Futrall served longer.

Futrall was head of the system from 1913-39.

Simmons First National Bank Chief Executive Officer Thomas May, who served as UA System trustee from 1993 to 2003, called Sugg the “best university system president in America.”

“I think Dr. Sugg’s handprint on the University of Arkansas System will be something we will be discovering for many years,” May said. “I wish he would never retire.”

One of the great achievements of Sugg’s tenure is the expansion of the system itself, officials said.

Between 1996 and 2001, community colleges in Hope, Batesville, Morrilton and De Queen joined the UA System.

In 2002, Westark College joined and became the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

In 2004, the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service and the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts came into the fold.

Campus construction has also been a hallmark of Sugg’s era.

The UA System office put the value of systemwide construction during Sugg’s tenure at more than $2 billion.

Two highlights include more than $400 million in construction at UAMS since 2004, and the $110 million expansion of the Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium at UA-Fayetteville in 2001.

There’s also been work done at the UA System’s smaller schools.

The University of Arkansas Community College at Hope is building the $10 million Hempstead Hall, which will include a 1,500-seat auditorium and a 700-seat conference center.

Sugg also succeeded in attracting quality chancellors.

He called that his “most important” job.

Sugg’s hiring of former UA-Fayetteville Chancellor John A. White was a particular coup, Anthony said.

White came to Arkansas after serving on the faculty at Georgia Tech for 22 years.White had no interest in the job at first, Anthony said, but Sugg sold him on it.

“John had his heels in the dirt the whole time ... but Alan persevered,” Anthony said. “He has a knack for hiring good people into the system.”

White went on to serve as UA-Fayetteville chancellor from 1997 to 2008.

During White’s tenure, incoming freshmen grade point averages went up, annual university research expenditures increased and the school received a $300 million gift from the Walton Family Foundation.

Hyneman said Sugg has also been remarkably successful in lobbying the Arkansas General Assembly for funding for the system.

That is impressive given shrinking state budgets for higher education in other states, officials said.

“I think Alan has the great respect of the members of the Legislature,” Hyneman said. “So he was very effective in taking the story of the university system and its needs to legislators and getting them to recognize the importance of the system, and in difficult times, to obtain funding.”

May said Sugg’s trustworthiness also helped him build private donations and political support for the system.

“If he picks up the telephone and calls me and says ‘I need your help to do something on behalf of higher education, I’m not going to even think about it,’” May said. “I believe that to be the case with most political and business leaders in Arkansas.”

A SUCCESSOR

Sugg announced his retirement early to give the board time to identify his replacement.

He said he’s probably more interested in finding out who that person will be than anyone else is.

Sugg said he hopes his replacement works well with the chancellors, interacts well with lawmakers and “can keep the momentum of the University of Arkansas System going.”

“I believe we’ve made a lot of progress over the last number of years,” he said. “I love all our institutions, and I just want the best for them.”

The trustees talked previously about the possibility of appointing UA-Fayetteville Chancellor G. David Gearhart as Sugg’s replacement.

The idea that trustees floated would have asked Gearhart to serve temporarily in dual roles as chancellor in Fayetteville and as system president before moving into the president’s post permanently.

The idea attracted significant criticism.

Trustees wouldn’t comment Wednesday on Gearhart’s status as a candidate. Gearhart was out of state Wednesday and couldn’t be reached for comment.

UA Trustee Sam Hilburn of Little Rock said he wants the replacement to be a bridge-builder like Sugg.

“You’ve got to be a consensus-maker,” Hilburn said. “There always is a compromise that has to be done, particularly when you have as many institutions as we have.”

Gov. Mike Beebe said Wednesday that he had confidence that the trustees would find a successor who will continue Sugg’s tradition of strong leadership.

“Alan has been a visionary leader for the U of A System, a man with the drive to see that vision through to fruition over the past two decades,” Beebe said in a statement. “I wish him a relaxing and satisfying retirement.”

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 05/20/2010

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