FAYETTEVILLE -- Sharon Gaber, the top academic officer at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, will leave UA to be the next president at the University of Toledo.
Gaber appeared in Ohio for the school's announcement Thursday, where at a news conference Joseph H. Zerbey IV -- chairman of the University of Toledo's board of trustees -- handed her a jersey showing the school colors and her name.
The Ohio public university, which has about 21,000 students and a medical center and school, has a "critical leadership role" to play in the region, Gaber said at the news conference. "I'm excited about the future we will create."
Along with Gaber's departure, UA is looking to fill its top leadership position after Chancellor G. David Gearhart announced in January that he plans to retire in July.
John Rupe, chairman of UA's faculty senate, said there is some sense of disquiet among faculty members about the changes.
"We have a campus that runs very well, that's been very successful, and I'm hoping we find an administrative team that will build on that," Rupe said. "But it does make people nervous about what the future is going to be like."
Gaber's cover letter in applying for the Toledo job was dated Nov. 10. Asked about applying for Gearhart's position, she said, "I would, I think, have loved the opportunity, but I also couldn't pass up on this when they asked." The University of Toledo on Jan. 22 announced that Gaber, 51, was one of three finalists for the school's presidency.
Details on the search process to replace Gaber have not been finalized. UA spokesman Laura Jacobs wrote in an email that it is "very possible" the next chancellor will have a role in the search. The UA System will not become involved with the provost search, said UA System spokesman Nate Hinkel.
Gearhart, away at the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament, in a written statement praised Gaber, UA's provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.
"While her departure is a tremendous loss for our students and faculty, it's impossible not to wish her well as she pursues her dream of leading a major university. She's earned this opportunity, and I'm sure she'll do an outstanding job," Gearhart said in the statement.
In an interview, Gaber called it a coincidence that UA is undergoing a period of change in its leadership positions. In addition to Gaber and Gearhart departing, the university announced this week that UA's business school dean, Eli Jones, is leaving to accept a similar role at his alma mater, Texas A&M University.
Another top administrator, Danny Pugh, UA's vice provost for student affairs, is a finalist for a similar role at Texas A&M.
Last year Gaber was a finalist for president at the University of Memphis, but she later pulled out of consideration.
"We have been very fortunate with good stable leadership, and there will be some change. But I've said to the deans and others, we have made just great progress," said Gaber, who has appointed 11 deans during her time as provost.
She will remain at UA at least through the end of the current academic year. Her start date at Toledo has not been finalized.
She joined UA in 2009, when the university had an enrollment of about 16,000 undergraduate students. That number increased by 38 percent to nearly 22,000 undergraduate students by fall 2014.
"And we've grown our graduation rate at the same time," Gaber said. "Sometimes those are difficult or conflicting things to do." UA's graduation rate, announced in the fall, was 62.3 percent, up from 59.1 percent five years earlier.
Jon Strunk, a spokesman for the University of Toledo, said Gaber's contract remains under negotiation. She earned $315,113 yearly at UA.
Rupe praised Gaber for working with faculty members. He also credited her for an increase in faculty hiring to help keep up with the growth in student enrollment. While the university has tenure-track faculty, it also has nontenure-track faculty members who primarily help with teaching as opposed to research. Their numbers have been "greatly increasing," Rupe said.
Rupe said that under the leadership of UA System President Donald Bobbitt, campuses have set goals. But the goal for UA might change under new leadership, he said.
"We've set ours as rising up to that top-50 [public] research-university status," Rupe said. In the latest U.S. News and World Report ranking, UA was listed as 69th among public institutions, down from 63rd a year earlier.
"Whether that's what the next chancellor is going to want to do or not, I'm not sure. But I know Dr. Bobbitt wants us to be thinking big in where we're going to go and what we want to be. The next team, that's going to be a pretty important requirement, to come up with that goal and then work with faculty on how we achieve it."
Metro on 03/13/2015