The latest online-only venture for the University of Arkansas System has a chancellor and 146 full-time staffers, but only two employees considered state workers.
None of the 12 full-time and 237 part-time faculty are considered state employees, either, a UA System spokesman said.
The $ 1 acquisition of Lenexa, Kan. - based Grantham University became final on Nov. 1, after the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees approved the deal in August, officials said.
Trustees approved the creation of a limited liability company consisting of one member — the board itself — “to provide services necessary to the provision of quality education” for what’s now known as University of Arkansas Grantham.
Board documents describing how the deal would work stated that workers at what is now known as University of Arkansas Grantham would be considered “leased employees.” But with the closing of the deal, the for-profit university became a public institution, UA System spokesman Nate Hinkel said. The Florida-based previous ownership group of the university on Monday filed an amendment with the Kansas Secretary of State to formally dissolve Grantham University Inc. as a business entity.
The UA System trustees as part of the deal agreed for the UA System to take on “certain discrete liabilities” while acquiring “substantially all the assets” of Grantham University. University of Arkansas System President Donald Bobbitt said in September the university enrolls approximately 4,000 students.
Grantham University marketed its educational programs to members of the military, and Bobbitt has said that about two-thirds of all students are either military service members or emergency response personnel.
Bobbitt has often described a need to better serve adults seeking flexible options to further their education.
Under Bobbitt’s leadership, the UA System created the online-only eVersity, doing so following approval by the trustees board in 2014. But eVersity — launched with the idea of having faculty members from other University of Arkansas System institutions teach the courses — has seen its growth stall.
Federal data lists the University of Arkanas System eVersity as enrolling about 800 students, with 96% attending part-time. The plan is to merge eVersity with University of Arkansas Grantham to form a single online-only institution, according to documents presented to the trustees board.
Lindsay Bridgeman, chancellor for the University of Arkansas Grantham , earns $225,000 yearly, according to a Nov. 4 letter from Bobbitt describing her pay and benefits. She is considered a state employee, UA spokesman Nate Hinkel said.
For several months before the acquisition, Bridgeman served as Grantham University’s interim president. She joined Grantham University in 2014, taking on the role of vice president for student financial services, according to Bridge-man’s work resume as released under the state’s public disclosure law.
Before that, Bridgeman worked for a combined total of about eight years in the financial aid offices of Concorde Career Colleges, Inc. and ITT Technical Institute.
Bridgeman earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Benedictine College and a Master of Business Administration degree from Grantham University. Unlike other chancellors in the UA System, Bridgeman has not earned a doctoral degree.
The letter from Bobbitt states that Bridgeman’s role may change with the merger of eVersity and University of Arkansas Grantham, and refers to the UA System’s Michael Moore, vice president for academic affairs.
Bobbitt stated in the letter that he expected Bridgeman to work closely with Moore.
“As we integrate the two universities, I anticipate we will need to evaluate and realign various positions in both universities,” Bobbitt stated in the letter, adding that “your role as Chancellor is one that will need to be reassessed at that time.” During the November meeting of the UA System trustees board, Moore credited Bridge-man and others at Grantham University for recent enrollment growth.
“They’ve been doing a good job of tightening up their marketing and getting more focused,” Moore said.
Bridgeman told trustees she was “looking forward to the future.” “Most of our traction has been in the business programs and areas where people have been able to get in and get out pretty quickly. That’s where we have a lot of transfer credits and things of that nature. So they’re able to bring that in and finish programs quickly,” Bridgeman told trustees.
Moore told trustees that the university previously had a board of governors, which has been disbanded. Under the previous ownership, the group had been paid for their oversight, Moore said. A 2020-21 course catalog for Grantham University listed six members on the school’s board of governors.
Positions on the 10-person UA System trustees board are unpaid, with appointments to 10-year terms made by the governor.
Hinkel, the UA System spokesman, said in an email that Bridgeman reports to Bobbitt and “ultimately” to the UA System trustees board.
Bridgeman is 43 and, in addition to her University of Arkansas Grantham duties, serves on the Certified Financial Aid Administrator Program Commission for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, she said in a statement.
Hinkel said Sara Estes, controller for University of Arkansas Grantham, is the institution’s other worker considered to be a state employee. Estes earns a salary of $100,000, Hinkel said.
The University of Arkansas Grantham continues to have workers in its Kansas offices because of the pandemic most work remotely, Hinkel said.
“Roughly 20 staff members work on-site for part of the week in Kansas to complete essential duties. Approximately 65 percent of staff members live in the greater Kansas City metro area. There are no current plans to relocate existing employees as a group to Arkansas,” Hinkel said in a statement.
He added: “However, as the institution matures, we will prioritize growing UA Grantham’s Arkansas-based workforce through new employment and strategic relocation opportunities.” Hinkel said no positions have been eliminated since approval of the acquisition, and described few changes so far, apart from the name.
“UA Grantham has continued operating as it normally does with no operational changes to the tuition or financial aid of its students,” Hinkel said.