MAGNOLIA -- The Southern Arkansas University Presidential Search Committee has recommended four potential candidates for the board of trustees to consider as the institution's next president.
The four include a high-level SAU administrator and a southwest Arkansas community college president.
The potential candidates are:
• Trey Berry, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Southern Arkansas University.
• Martin Tadlock, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minn. He is also chief academic officer at Northwest Technical College in Bemidji.
• Phillip Marc Wilson, president of Rich Mountain Community College in Mena.
• D. Cornelius Wooten, vice president for administration and finance at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, Pa.
SAU trustees plan to discuss the recommendation of the search committee -- which is made up of representatives from the SAU faculty, staff, alumni and Magnolia community -- at a meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. Jan. 8.
The 3,541-student university is seeking a replacement for David Rankin, 73, who is retiring as president effective June 30. Rankin has spent about 40 years with the university, including 13 years as president.
Forty-one people applied. Lawmakers set the president's position's maximum annual salary at $196,974 for the fiscal year that ends June 30, but presidents can earn more. Arkansas Code 6-63-309 allows public universities to pay specified employees up to 25 percent above the state-set maximum from public funds, and public salaries are often supplemented with private funding for top administrators and research faculty.
Metro on 12/25/2014