FRONT AND CENTER: Larry Davis

Former ASU-Newport vice chancellor takes over at UACCM

Larry Davis enjoys the campus of the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton during his first day on the job. Davis took over the chancellor position from Nathan Crook, who retired after more than 30 years with the college.
Larry Davis enjoys the campus of the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton during his first day on the job. Davis took over the chancellor position from Nathan Crook, who retired after more than 30 years with the college.

— My brother and I had polio,” Larry Davis began.

Polio? you think, eyebrows raised. Wasn’t a polio vaccine developed back in the 1950s?

“Yeah,” Davis said, acknowledging the reaction on his visitor’s face. “I’m old.”

Davis is 61, but he doesn’t look a day past 45. And this man had polio?

“A lot of it is just attitude.”

You might understand better if you let him finish the story …

Davis’ brother never regained the ability to walk after the disease.

“I complained to my mom about having to take him places and throw the wheelchair in the back of the trunk,” Davis said. “She said, ‘Do you want to trade places with him?’”

Davis said he replied “no,” and that was the end of the conversation.

“He never complained,” Davis said of his brother.

And those are the types of people Davis chooses to surround himself with now. A close friend, a funeral director, told him, “Every day above ground is a good day.”

“I’ve taken that on,” Davis said. “I just like being alive, and all the rest of it is a bonus.”

Lately, Davis’ bonus is his new job: chancellor of the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton, especially considering that he fell into the education field by accident.

Davis was working on a master’s degree at the University of Oklahoma when he took a position as a teaching assistant.

“I decided I had found my calling,” Davis said.

He finished a master’s and doctorate program at Oklahoma State University and spent a year teaching in public schools before accepting a position a community college branch of OSU.

From there, Davis headed east to Arkansas State University-Newport as vice chancellor for academics.

“I made some of the best friends that I’ve got on the whole planet in Newport,” Davis said.

He said it was easy to make friends after feeling instantly at ease.

“The people here almost adopt you,” he said. “Arkansas is like this huge family. People make jokes about it, but it’s true.”

Davis said he will miss his friends in Newport, and ASU-Newport Chancellor Larry Williams feels the same.

“We were thrilled to have Dr. Davis as part of our ASU-Newport family while he was here, but likewise are very pleased with the opportunity he had to step up into the chancellor’s position,” Williams said. “We know he will work diligently to be as successful at Morrilton as he was here at Newport.”

While the idea of an Arkansas family is nice, and Davis is excited about being close enough to visit his daughter in Oklahoma for an upcoming weekend, he considers himself a free spirit.

It’s a self-image reflected in the shiny blue paint of Davis’ car — a 2006 Mustang.

“It’s the only car I ever bought brand new,” he said. “It’s my baby. There’s nothing like top-down, just mindless cruising.”

Davis plans to drive the car to plenty of community events in Morrilton soon.

“I need to be supportive of the community, so that means I need to be at the events,” he said. “I just think that’s what you do.”

His short-term goals including getting to know as many people in and around Morrilton as possible.

“I anticipate doing a lot of listening in the next few months,” Davis said. “I don’t anticipate a lot of changes. What we do will be a combination of what I think and what everybody else thinks.”

Davis is especially impressed with the petroleum technology program at UACCM and hopes other technical programs will become as successful.

Williams said Davis has an excellent understanding of programs and program development.

“I think it’s important to have an individual who understands the processes and procedures,” Williams said. “I think [Davis] has excellent experience in the academic arena as far as academic oversight as it relates to program development.”

Former UACCM Chancellor Nathan Crook retired after 25 years in the position, and Davis believes the school is doing many things right.

After a long and intensive interview process, he is happy to have landed in what he calls a dream job while he’s still “above ground.”

“I decided while I was at OU that I wanted to be a chancellor or a president of a university or a college, and I love community colleges,” Davis said. “I believe in what we do.”

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