The University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College hired a new provost, it announced Tuesday.
The North Little Rock-based community college has hired Marla Strecker, 42, from the state Department of Higher Education, where she currently works as a senior associate director of academic affairs, research and analytics and earns about $114,000 annually. Strecker will start the Pulaski Tech job Sept. 11 and will earn $125,000 annually, said spokesman Tracy Courage.
"The [search] committee and I were very impressed with Dr. Strecker's experiences in higher education, both at the college and state levels as well as her dedication to student success," the college's chancellor, Margaret Ellibee, said in a prepared statement.
Strecker will start at what was once the state's largest community college -- it was dethroned in fall 2015 by Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville -- as it carries out a new strategic plan that includes retention and graduation initiatives and other student success strategies.
"I look forward to supporting the continued work for [Pulaski Tech's] faculty and staff as they provide area students with life-changing educational opportunities," she said. "I think it's a wonderful time to join an institution with a significant sense of direction."
Pulaski Tech started the search for a new provost this spring after Michael DeLong resigned in December from the post he held since April 2012. Ellibee named as interim provost Mike McMillan, who is also the school's dean of business and information technology.
McMillan was among three finalists scheduled for interviews in the spring, but none of the three were ultimately selected for the position, Ellibee said.
"We were not comfortable with the candidates as presented, so we closed it and then opened it up -- gosh, we've been advertising since July 1," she said in a recent interview. "The reason we opened it is because we have a number of initiatives starting in the fall, a strategic plan, a number of professional development opportunities in assessment and curriculum for our faculty. There's a lot of new initiatives in relation to our strategic plan that we want to start with as far as academics."
The second round of applications brought in about 15 candidates, two of whom -- Strecker and Constance Meadors, a physical science instructor at the college -- were called for interviews earlier this month.
Strecker has a doctorate of education in higher education leadership from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. She had worked at Arkansas State University-Mountain Home from 2003-11, starting as the director of public relations, marketing and recruiting and ending as an online instructor and retention specialist. In 2011, she moved to Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia to lead transitional studies, in which she helped prepare the most at-risk students in remedial courses, according to her resume.
She left SAU as the senior associate director for research and analytics in January, when she started at the Higher Education Department.
In her role there, Strecker helped to buff up the state's data repositories on public colleges and universities, including the set that will help determine the how the state's public higher education institutions will be funded next year. The funding mechanism is changing from one based largely on enrollment to one based more on student success.
Strecker wanted to stay at the agency through the end of the new funding mechanism implementation, she said.
It was in her review of the data and working with all the state's institutions that Strecker took a liking to Pulaski Tech, she said.
"I really think it's just being able to see UA-Pulaski Tech," she said. "It is uniquely poised to really address the attainment gap in our state and provide opportunities for students. The access point to education is very affordable. They have degree programs which students will be able to attain employment."
In 2015, the state created a master plan for higher education, which ultimately sought to raise the number of Arkansans who hold high-quality certificates that lead to jobs or college degrees. Part of the plan includes helping the academically underprepared, minority students and adult students succeed, she said.
In fall 2016, the school tallied some 6,576 students, 43 percent of whom are black, another 43 percent of whom are white and about 5 percent of whom are Hispanic, Higher Education Department data show. Most of the college's students -- about 46 percent -- were between the ages of 18 to 24, while another 48 percent were 25 or older, data show.
"Pulaski Tech is already involved in addressing those and so I'm looking forward to joining those efforts," Strecker said.
Metro on 08/09/2017