CONWAY -- Kelley Erstine, the University of Central Arkansas' chief of staff and a former trustee, will serve as the school's interim president for the brief period between outgoing President Tom Courtway's exit and the arrival of the next president, Houston Davis.
Erstine, 58, now makes $169,983 annually, and his salary will not change for the interim position, UCA spokesman Christina Madison said in an email.
The board of trustees voted unanimously for Erstine's appointment Friday.
"I am honored and I appreciate the confidence the board has placed in me," Erstine said in an emailed statement. "My focus will be to ensure a smooth transition between President Courtway and Dr. Houston Davis. We will continue our efforts in seeing that our students succeed through the work of our excellent faculty and staff."
Erstine will be interim president from Friday until Davis' first day on the job, Jan. 23.
A Sheridan native, Erstine has been chief of staff since Sept. 1. He graduated from UCA in 1979 and later served on the board of trustees. He was vice president for institutional advancement when he left Arkansas to take a job in North Carolina.
Courtway's last day as president will be Thursday. He plans to go on sabbatical through Aug. 15, then return to UCA to become a full-time faculty member in the College of Business.
Courtway, who turns 64 later this month, was UCA's interim president twice before being named president in December 2011. He helped navigate the school through unusually difficult financial and morale problems following the departures of two other presidents, Lu Hardin and Allen Meadors.
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In October, UCA announced a $100,000 gift by Rush and Linda Harding to establish the Tom Courtway Endowed Scholarship Fund. Since then, the fund has grown to $327,250, Kale Gober, vice president of advancement at UCA, said at a reception honoring Courtway on Friday. That sum includes an additional $100,000 the Hardings plan to contribute, Gober said. "Your presidency will go down in UCA history as one of passion, honesty, and integrity," Gober told Courtway during the reception.
UCA and Davis, 43, have agreed on a five-year contract that will at first pay $347,330 a year in addition to other benefits.
Davis most recently was interim president at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.
Davis and his wife, Jenny, have three children. He will be required to live in the UCA-owned president's house on Donaghey Avenue, across the street from the main part of the campus.
No one has been living there since Courtway and his wife, Melissa, moved out of the state-owned, two-story, brick house in May 2015 to a private home at their own expense. Courtway said the move would afford him and his wife more privacy.
A Nov. 25 email sent from Larry Lawrence, UCA's physical plant director, to Erstine and Diane Newton, vice president for finance and administration, listed 29 improvements or repairs that might be or were needed at the university-owned house.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette obtained the email under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
University spokesman Christina Madsen said Newton has allocated up to $15,000 for improving the house.
Some of the 29 items are relatively minor: installation of a granite counter top in an upstairs restroom; enameling of all closet rods; and removal of all screws and anchors from walls that then will be repainted, for instance.
A few potential needs that could get costly but that Lawrence said would not be undertaken without approval included driveway work.
"The driveway is in bad condition," he wrote. "We will compare cost of replacement to an overlay. No action will be taken without approval."
Another such item said, "Some conversation was had about adding a possible second staircase. This will only be investigated and no other action will be taken without approval."
State Desk on 12/12/2016