FAYETTEVILLE -- The top academic official at Northern Arizona University has been named the No. 2 leader at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
James Scott Coleman, 55, will start Jan. 1 as UA's provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, the university announced Monday. He will earn $300,000 yearly and receive a $1,000 monthly car allowance, according to the university.
Chancellor Joe Steinmetz, UA's top leader since the beginning of this year, made the hire after three finalists visited campus in October.
"I saw a great deal of enthusiasm with Jim for moving forward, and some great ideas," Steinmetz said. He said he did not know Coleman previously, but praised his leadership experience.
Coleman will also be a professor in UA's biological sciences department, with the appointment pending approval from UA System trustees. He became provost last year at Northern Arizona University, a public university in Flagstaff that enrolls about 29,000 students, a couple of thousand more than UA's enrollment of 27,194.
Previously, Coleman served as dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., from 2011 to 2015. Earlier academic jobs included serving as vice chancellor for research at the University of Missouri and vice provost for research at Rice University in Houston.
Steinmetz said one of Coleman's strengths is his knowledge of "what it takes to have an institution that has a strong research profile, right along with a strong teaching presence."
In a public talk at UA on Oct. 18, Coleman described himself as an academic and an experienced leader.
"At my core, I'm a plant physiological ecologist who has tried to pay forward over the course of my career the inspiration that was provided to me by some extraordinary faculty members," Coleman said.
He received a bachelor's degree in forestry from the University of Maine and earned advanced degrees from Yale University.
In addition to his research background, he said he helped develop a student entrepreneurship program at Virginia Commonwealth University and worked on an initiative that improved the freshman retention rate at Northern Arizona University.
Northern Arizona University in October described a "mutual decision" for Coleman to step down as provost next year, according to the Arizona Daily Sun. Coleman likened the situation to a football coach wanting a different offensive coordinator.
He said "transformation and curiosity" sum up his perspectives on higher education, describing his grandparents coming with "very little" to the United States from eastern Europe. College propelled his parents "up the socioeconomic ladder, providing them opportunities to make a difference in the world," he said.
"I grew up with the impression that higher education was also the nation's greatest force for social equality and opportunity, and I hold on to that narrative with all of my might to this day," he said, adding that UA, as a land grant university, is positioned to continue that narrative.
Other finalists who visited UA were Mike Sherman, vice president for innovation and economic development at the University of Akron in Ohio and chief operating officer of the school's research foundation; and Sheryl Tucker, associate provost for academic affairs and dean of the graduate college at Oklahoma State University at Stillwater.
Metro on 11/08/2016