CONWAY -- A former University of Central Arkansas trustee will head the committee advising the board during its search for the school's 11th president.
Board Chairman Shelia Vaught appointed Bobby Reynolds of Searcy on Friday to serve as chairman of the Search Advisory Committee, and Kelley Erstine, UCA's chief of staff, to serve as campus liaison to the committee. Both men will be nonvoting members of the committee, which will assist the board in its search for a successor to Tom Courtway.
Reynolds, a 1973 UCA graduate, was a board of trustees member from 2009 through 2015.
Reynolds said he believes "the potential of getting a highly qualified president is much greater" than it was in late 2011 when the board opted to forgo a formal search and instead asked Courtway, then interim president, to stay on in an attempt to bring stability to the campus.
At the time, UCA was recovering from serious financial problems and contention that had forced the preceding two presidents to resign.
"The ship has been righted, and now we've got our finances back in order," Reynolds said.
Courtway, who announced in December his plans to step aside, has been approved for a six-month sabbatical either after his current contract ends June 30, 2017, or after the board selects a new president. After the sabbatical, he will return to teach in the College of Business.
Among qualifications Reynolds would like to see in the next president is the ability to "be an excellent fundraiser," Reynolds said. "It would be great to have someone with an outgoing personality like Tom Courtway and experience."
Reynolds said he would like to see the committee submit a list of finalists to the board by September, but he said he did not know if that would be feasible.
Reynolds recalled that he was in his first year on the board when the last presidential search took place and resulted in the hiring of Allen Meadors in 2009. Meadors resigned under pressure in 2011.
Reynolds and trustee Kay Hinkle were the only trustees to vote against hiring Meadors. Hinkle is the only current board member who was serving then.
"I'm hoping my seven years [on the board] will ... help in working through" the search process, Reynolds said.
Erstine, a 1979 UCA graduate, has been the university's chief of staff since 2014. He was a member of the board of trustees from 2000 to 2003 and has served as vice president for institutional advancement.
Erstine said he sees his role as being "a conduit of information and sharing of information to the UCA community."
The committee chairman will provide leadership and facilitate committee meetings, according to a university news release. The campus liaison will help plan and organize committee meetings and on-campus interviews.
Under a UCA policy adopted in November 2008, the committee must include one or more representatives from each of these groups: faculty, staff, students, senior administrators, the UCA Foundation, alumni and community members. The panel also may include one trustee. The policy provides for each group to nominate three to five people to the chairman and the board. The board has the final say on committee members.
If the committee wants, it can hire -- but only with board approval -- an outside consultant or company to aid in the presidential search.
The committee's task is to submit a list of at least of four unranked finalists to the board for its consideration. The board may consider a candidate not screened by the committee. But if it does, it is to give the committee a chance to offer its views on that candidate.
The board makes the final decision on who gets the job.
Metro on 02/15/2016