FAYETTEVILLE -- The next provost at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville will play a significant role in decisions about enrollment growth at the state's largest university, where the arrival of more out-of-state students has fueled a 50 percent increase in enrollment over the last 10 years.
UA enrolled 26,754 students this past fall, up from 17,821 in fall 2005, according to university data.
"There's a tipping point at which the additional revenue of adding students doesn't go far enough to offset the additional resources required to educate the additional students," Laura Jacobs, chief of staff for UA Chancellor Joe Steinmetz, wrote in an email. "We just don't know yet what that point is."
Job advertisements for the provost position -- the No. 2 campus administrator -- were placed last week as UA also works with a search firm to find candidates. The new hire will report directly to Steinmetz, the university's chancellor since Jan. 1.
Steinmetz created a 16-person advisory committee in March to help with the search, naming Peter Ungar, an anthropology professor, as committee chairman.
At a May 6 town-hall-style meeting to gather ideas about important characteristics for the next provost, Ungar told a group of mostly faculty that the new hire will oversee enrollment planning.
The job advertisement for the position does not list enrollment planning as a key duty, but Jacobs, in response to a question from the Democrat-Gazette, wrote that Ungar "was correct that the provost will have a significant and ongoing duty of enrollment planning" because the provost's office oversees admissions and enrollment management.
"We will begin working on this though before the new provost arrives and are developing a set of variables to examine in determining enrollment capacity as one enrollment management factor," Jacobs wrote, listing the number of faculty, available classroom space, housing availability and the number of campus police and health care workers as examples of the factors under consideration.
The analysis involves not just finding a maximum enrollment, but also studying "how the current numbers impact the need for additional infrastructure/personnel/etc.," Jacobs wrote.
Ashok Saxena, UA's current provost, took over that role last year before Steinmetz was hired, with the university making clear at the time that the position would ultimately be filled by the school's next top leader. Ungar said at the meeting the hiring decision "is entirely in the hands of the chancellor."
The search firm helping find candidates, Greenwood/Asher & Associates Inc., based in Florida, is being paid $100,000 from the University of Arkansas Foundation, UA spokesman Mark Rushing wrote in an email. The foundation is a nonprofit that supports campuses within the UA System.
This fall, UA anticipates a freshman class of about 5,350 students, Saxena told UA's faculty senate last month. If the estimate proves correct, the total would be about 400 more students than last year, which set a record for the largest freshman class at UA.
Faculty in May approved a change in admissions designed to give more flexibility in putting together the school's freshman class. Beginning next year, the university will be able to raise academic admissions standards for out-of-state students in years with strong in-state demand.
In recent years, out-of-state students have made up about half of the incoming freshman at UA. Steinmetz has said that, for undergraduates, a "50-50 split is fine." But the chancellor has said he does not want the proportion of out-of-state students to increase.
The trend at UA can be found at similar public flagship schools. A January analysis by The Washington Post found that in 2014, state residents made up less than half of the freshmen at 10 flagship schools, a group that did not include UA. The Post described a drive for tuition dollars to help offset declining state support for higher education.
The job ad states that the new hire will be UA's chief academic officer and lead academic planning, policies and budgeting, with other responsibilities that include reviewing academic appointments. The new provost will also oversee implementation of a strategic plan, the ad states, a reference to an ongoing planning process begun under Steinmetz.
The position "plays a central role in fundraising" and also "represents the university before various external organizations and state agencies," according to the advertisement. The ad states that applications are encouraged to be submitted before the end of August. Nominations are also being accepted.
Ungar said the plan is to conduct a round of interviews at a "neutral" location, then name perhaps three or four finalists by mid-October and invite them to campus. He said a provost could be in place by the beginning of next year.
Metro on 06/13/2016