ARKADELPHIA — While Brett Powell is thankful for his leadership role as director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, he said he looks forward to returning to a university setting and working in his hometown. Familiarizing himself with the state’s different campuses has been a job perk, but getting back into an environment where he can experience the immediate impact higher education has on students is something Powell highly anticipates, he said.
On Aug. 1, Powell will assume the role as vice president for finance and administration at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia. The university is just across the street from where he got his start in higher education at Ouachita Baptist University.
“My friends have jokingly said I’ll have to trade in all my purple for red,” he said in reference to the schools’ colors.
Powell will succeed Bobby Jones, who announced his retirement this spring. He had served the university in various leadership roles for more than two decades. Jones will be missed, Henderson State President Glen Jones said, but the Powells will be welcomed into the Henderson community with open arms.
“With nearly a decade of experience as the chief financial officer in the university setting, Dr. Powell brings proven character and innovative leadership in strategic planning and budgeting to meet strategic goals,” Glen Jones said.
Powell served as vice president for administrative services at Ouachita Baptist University for nine years. He also served as associate vice chancellor for finance with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and director of financial services with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Powell earned his doctoral degree in higher-education administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Powell’s path to a career in higher education was purely happenstance. With his undergraduate degree in public accounting, Powell started his career in that field. A firm he worked for in Little Rock had many nonprofit entities as clients. Ouachita Baptist University was one of them.
“When I felt like it was time to get out of public accounting, I really thought I would land in banking somewhere,” Powell said. “The more I got to know Ouachita, the more I thought about working in that atmosphere. The timing was right, and it was a natural fit for me to take Ouachita’s controller job in 1998. I’ve been in higher ed ever since.”
Powell graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Higher Education doctorate program in 2009. He completed one of the “finest dissertations” the program has produced, according to an article posted on the department’s webpage. One of his dissertation supervisors was faculty member Diane Gilleland, former director of the ADHE.
“Dr. Gilleland has been a major source of inspiration for me,” Powell said. “She really helped me pursue leadership roles in higher education.”
A manuscript from his dissertation titled “Expenditures, Efficiency and Effectiveness in U.S. Undergraduate Higher Education: A National Benchmark Model,” was published in the Journal of Higher Education in 2012.
The knowledge Powell has gained at the ADHE is invaluable, he said.
“When I came here a year and a half ago, I thought I understood higher education in Arkansas, but now I really understand higher ed and what’s happening on all campuses,” he said.
“It’s beneficial that now I know where we need to focus attention,” he said. “I’m transitioning from identifying what is important at the state level to taking it to an institution and putting it into practice; it’s the perfect transition.”
ADHE has been working on changing the way colleges and universities receive funds from the state.
“We’re changing it from being based on student enrollment to outcomes,” Powell said.
The goal is help institutions run more efficiently and effectively — topics discussed in Powell’s dissertation. The ADHE Coordinating Board is expected to vote on the new funding model soon, he said.
Last October, the board adopted a master plan for higher ed, which is designed to address overall educational outcomes, Powell said, noting that a gap exists between what employers need in the future and “where we are now.” The overall goal is to close equity gaps based on income and minority status and to award more adults in Arkansas with credentials.
Powell said he looks forward to implementing these ideas and initiatives at Henderson.
“I will provide an emphasis on making student success a priority and work to ensure campus systems are given the right level of support to make students successful,” he said.