CONWAY -- A committee searching for the next president of the University of Central Arkansas plans to narrow a large field of applicants to eight to 10 people when the panel meets Thursday.
UCA Chief of Staff Kelley Erstine gave the board of trustees an update on the selection process during the board's meeting Friday.
UCA President Tom Courtway has told trustees he wants to step down from the position.
Courtway, 63, was UCA's interim leader twice before being officially named president in December 2011. He has said he would like to take a six-month sabbatical, then return to teach at the university's College of Business.
Speaking after the board meeting Friday, Erstine said Parker Executive Search, an Atlanta-based company working with UCA, will turn over information on the applicants and nominees to UCA on Monday. The committee's meeting Thursday will be closed to the public, he said.
Erstine, who is the campus liaison to the search committee, said he did not know how many people had applied for the job but expects the university will "be pleased by the number."
Committee members will gather in Dallas Oct. 19-20 to interview the finalists and narrow the total to three or four, he said. Those finalists will visit the UCA campus during the following week, starting Oct. 24, for separate interviews with the board of trustees, faculty, students and others, including community members.
Erstine said the board may call a special meeting late that week to vote on a presidential selection, but trustees may schedule a special meeting later.
"If at all possible it is the desire to have someone [in office] by the first of the year," Erstine said.
UCA's general counsel, Warren Readnour, has said state law would allow UCA to pay the next president up to $307,330 in the current fiscal year and $343,750 in the next fiscal year.
NW News on 10/09/2016