University of Arkansas System President Donald Bobbitt has named Diana Arn as interim chancellor of the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton.
Arn, 62, vice chancellor for academic services, will replace Larry Davis, 68, who is retiring as chancellor effective Jan. 31. He announced his planned retirement publicly in November. As chancellor, Davis earns $189,414 per year. Arn has been earning $114,000 as a vice chancellor.
"UACCM has made great progress during the tenure of Dr. Davis' chancellorship, and I am positive that Ms. Arn will continue this upward trajectory," Bobbitt wrote in a letter dated Jan. 7 to campus employees.
The community college opened a 53,843-square-foot Workforce Training Center in April 2018 and in recent years has invested in security, installing security cameras in buildings and across parking lots, an emergency alert system and improved lighting across campus.
Bobbitt added that he will establish a search committee to help his office and the University of Arkansas board of trustees manage the search process.
This is the second chancellor's vacancy to develop in the UA System. Bobbitt is looking for a new chancellor to run the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. That university is seeking a replacement for Paul Beran, who left Aug. 31 after serving since 2006 as chancellor. Beran left to become executive director of the South Dakota Board of Regents.
Arn, who has been vice chancellor since 2008, has worked at the college for 32 years. She began in 1987 as a business education instructor. By 2002, she had become division chairman of humanities, social sciences and mathematics.
She is a product of a community college education, earning an associate's degree at Arkansas State University-Beebe. She has a bachelor's degree from Harding University in Searcy and an M.S.E. in Business Education degree from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
The University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton, established in 1961, has about 1,920 students. The spring semester begins Monday.
Metro on 01/10/2019