An administrator at the University of Central Oklahoma is one of 18 vying for the chancellorship at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Myron Pope, who is vice president of student affairs at the Edmond, Okla., school, has thrown his name into the ring, according to the University of Arkansas System. Pope was part of the University of Alabama's 1992 football national championship team as a walk-on tight end and linebacker.
He's among the ranks of other college administrators, including UALR's own provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs Zulma Toro and the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope Chancellor Chris Thomason.
The 18 are hoping to become the next chancellor of UALR. The Little Rock university's leader, Joel Anderson, 74, is stepping down from his $219,406 a year post at the end of June after serving at its helm for the last 13 years.
The UA System has formed a 17-member search committee to pare down the candidates to the handful who will visit the campus for interviews. The system has also hired on an executive search firm based in Miramar Beach, Fla., Greenwood/Asher & Associates, for up to $155,000.
The groups met about a dozen potential candidates and applicants in the Dallas-Fort Worth area earlier this month to have "conversations," the system has said. From there, the committee has whittled the list to eight candidates for whom they want reference checks, the group's chairman Bob Denman said.
The UA System has declined to identify the names of the people the committee spoke with.
The committee planned to meet Thursday to discuss those references and any other applicants, Denman has said.
The group would like to have a handful candidates come to the 11,924-student campus before the May 14 graduation, but can extend the search process if necessary, he said. The search firm is taking applications continuously until the position is filled, but hasn't received any other new applicants Tuesday, a UA System spokesman said.
NW News on 04/28/2016