Longtime college instructor and administrator Ann Clemmer -- a former state legislator -- will serve as the interim leader of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Friday that Clemmer will begin in that role after the current Higher Education Department director, Brett Powell, resigns July 29. Powell will work as the vice president for finance and administration at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, where he lives. He announced his departure in May.
"With her 30 years of experience in higher education, I am confident that Ann is well equipped to lead the department forward during this time of transition," Hutchinson said in a news release. "I look forward to working with Ann and the future director to ensure that our state higher education institutions have the leadership and expertise they need to effectively fill the needs of the state."
Powell's departure comes as the department is finalizing the strategies for the state's master plan for higher education, which seeks to raise the percentage of adult Arkansans who have technical certificates, associate degrees, bachelor's degrees or higher to 60 percent by 2025. Higher education leaders are also revamping the way the state funds colleges and universities.
Powell has planned for the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board to take up the new method of funding -- which measures a school on various "outcomes," such as a student's time to a degree and graduation -- at its July 29 meeting, also his last day.
The Higher Education Department is searching for a new leader who will carry out Coordinating Board policies, review schools' academic programs and develop funding recommendations for the state's 11 public universities and 22 public community colleges.
Under Arkansas Code Annotated 25-7-101, the director is appointed by the 12-member coordinating board after a search process that includes input and recommendations from presidents and chancellors of the state's colleges, universities and their systems. The director "serves at the pleasure of the Governor" and is subject to confirmation by Hutchinson.
The law does not address interim leaders.
Clemmer, 57, is currently the senior associate director for academic affairs at the Higher Education Department, where she has worked since 2014, she said. She moved into that role after serving six years as a Republican state representative from Benton and a failed bid for the state's 2nd Congressional District seat.
As a representative, Clemmer served as the chairman of the Arkansas Legislative Council's Higher Education Subcommittee and the vice chairman of the House Education Committee.
Clemmer had previously taught political science at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where she said she also served on various faculty committees. And before that, she worked as a program director at what is now Arkansas Northeastern College in Blytheville, where she ran an off-campus, full-service student services program that ranged from advising and teaching to financial aid, she said.
In her current role, Clemmer has worked to bring forward some of the strategies in the state's master plan for higher education, including a placement policy, which gives colleges and universities more flexibility in putting students in either a remedial non-credit course, a regular college course or a blend of the two.
"It's been exciting to be a part of the statewide efforts to improve student success in Arkansas," Clemmer said in a statement. "ADHE is leading important initiatives in our state and I am happy to provide leadership continuity during this transition time."
She later added that it was an honor to be chosen for the interim position.
Bob Crafton, chairman of the Coordinating Board, said Friday that he is hoping to select someone to nominate for the director's post at the meeting at the end of the month. Sixteen people have applied for the position so far, the department said.
The search committee plans to meet July 18 to narrow down the list, Crafton said. The week after, the committee will invite the full Coordinating Board to take part in interviews of the applicants.
So far, the applicants are:
• Timothy Brooker of Seabrook, Texas, former chief operating officer at Graystone Education Inc., an Arizona-based educational services business.
• David Dauwalder of Glendale, Calif., former executive vice president and provost of Woodbury University in Burbank. Calif.
• Tommy Duncan of West Palm Beach, Fla., president of Keiser University of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
• Roosevelt Futrell of West Memphis, a former instructor in the U.S. Navy and former file clerk for the Department of Veterans Affairs' Health Information Management Service in Indianapolis.
• Lynda Johnson of Little Rock, an academic counselor at Hamilton Learning Academy in the Little Rock School District and a former Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board member.
• Rienzzie Kern of Little Rock, senior director of planning, monitoring and evaluation at Heifer International.
• Yoon Sik Kim of Shawnee, Okla., an English professor at Murray State College in Tishomingo, Okla.
• Mary Bane Lackie of Fort Smith, vice chancellor for university advancement at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and the executive director of the UAFS Foundation.
• Maria Markham of Nashville, Ark., vice chancellor for academic services at Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas at De Queen.
• Michael Meotti of West Hartford, Conn., founder of Ed Policy Group, an education consulting firm, and the former commissioner of higher education for the Connecticut Department of Higher Education.
• Carla Moody-Milligan the chairman of Pulaski Technical College's Behavioral Science Department.
• Stephen Schoonmaker of Little Rock, the founder and chief executive officer of Cross Country Leadership Solutions LLC -- a company focused on leadership coaching and strategic planning -- and the former president of College of the Ouachitas at Malvern.
• Charity Smith of Sherwood, the principal education associate at Fetterman & Associates, an evaluation services firm, and a former assistant education commissioner at the Arkansas Department of Education.
• MacGregor Stephenson of Austin, Texas, former deputy chief of staff to Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former assistant commissioner for workforce, academic affairs and research for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
• John Townsend of Smyrna, Tenn., associate vice chancellor of workforce development for Tennessee's Board of Regents.
• Michele Wright of North Little Rock, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Pathology Partners Toxicology, a laboratory services company.
Metro on 07/09/2016