FAYETTEVILLE -- A draft version of Joe Steinmetz' resignation announcement referred to him remaining as a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville faculty member, but the former chancellor's final message to the campus said nothing about his future plans.
Steinmetz, 66, on June 17 in an email sent to students, and faculty and staff members said he would step down effective the next day.
Email records from university staff members released under the state's public disclosure law include discussion from earlier that day about the forthcoming announcement from Steinmetz.
"These would fit our headline template: Steinmetz to Conclude Service as Chancellor; Will Remain on Faculty," Mark Rushing, a UA spokesman, wrote in an email on the afternoon of June 17. He went on to list another possible "headline": "Steinmetz to Conclude Service as Chancellor; Will Continue to Teach."
Laura Jacobs, chief of staff for Steinmetz, wrote to Rushing: "Still on standby. Fine but let's see."
Bill Kincaid, a campus attorney last week named by UA System President Donald Bobbitt as acting chancellor for the university, in response to Rushing wrote: "I would be inclined to stop after 'Chancellor' given the stated duration."
The email discussion, held minutes before 3 p.m., took place as the University of Arkansas board of trustees was winding down a meeting to discuss an unspecified personnel matter. No action was taken by the trustees, and the personnel discussion took place during a non-public part of their meeting.
Records do not show who directed changes to the announcement. A text message exchange between Jacobs and UA's top financial officer took place at 5:41 p.m.
"Message to campus about to go out. Effective tomorrow," texted Jacobs, who after Steinmetz' departure has taken on a similar staff chief role for Kincaid.
"Any changes to message besides effective date," replied Ann Bordelon, the university's vice chancellor for finance and administration.
"No return to faculty," Jacobs answered back.
Steinmetz, in the message sent out to campus before 6 p.m., referred to "challenges" in managing a university "in today's polarized society." He stated that "I need to do what's best for my family and I feel ready to make way for others."
His resignation -- officially accepted by Bobbitt the next day -- came after the appearance of photos online purported to be of Steinmetz that a state senator said he has seen.
Rushing, in a statement the day after the resignation announcement, said Steinmetz has said he is not in the posted photos and that they were "Photoshopped."
State Sen. Bob Ballinger, R-Ozark, has said a legislator was told of a Twitter handle supposedly linked to Steinmetz. The Twitter account is now deleted.
"It appears that he was involved in some things that are pretty embarrassing for the university if they turn out to be legitimate," Ballinger said the day after Steinmetz announced his resignation.
Days before the resignation of Steinmetz, text messages from university staff members provided under the state's public disclosure law show some discussion about images.
"Was dealing with a gross twitter account using Joe's face. It has been taken down," went one text message dated June 11. Other staff messages referred to questions from journalists at TV station KNWA asking about the images.
Nate Hinkel, a UA System spokesman, in a statement Thursday said Steinmetz' "resignation happened quickly and there are some details still being worked out related to other aspects of his employment with the University."
On Tuesday, Hinkel said in an email that "nothing has changed" since late last week.
Hinkel, in his statement last week, said Steinmetz' compensation "as chancellor" ended on June 18.
Steinmetz earned a base salary of $464,000 and yearly deferred compensation of $250,000, according to Department of Education records.
"Obviously, he will receive payment for what he had earned as of the date of his resignation, but beyond that, he did not receive any additional compensation in exchange for resigning as chancellor," Hinkel said.
Steinmetz took over as top campus administrator at UA on Jan. 1, 2016, for an initial five-year term.
In 2019, the 10-member trustees board approved a three-year extension of Steinmetz' employment agreement through 2023. Bobbitt, in a 2019 letter to Steinmetz, specified that "other terms and conditions set out in the Oct. 20, 2015 letter agreement, and not modified by this letter, remain the same."
The 2015 offer letter to Steinmetz states that "if you decide to leave the Chancellor position prior to the completion of the five-year term, you will assume a 9-month faculty appointment at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville." The salary would be "set at 110% of the average of the two highest faculty 9-month salaries in the department serving as the home for your tenured position," the offer letter states.
Steinmetz arrived at UA from Ohio State University, where he was executive vice president and provost. He is a behavioral neuroscientist who has also worked as a professor at Indiana University and as a professor and dean at the University of Kansas.
It's "very common" for the employment agreements of college chancellors or presidents to state that they may remain on as faculty members should they step down, said Jon McNaughtan, an assistant professor of educational psychology and leadership at Texas Tech University who studies higher education leadership.
"Most presidents at institutions like Arkansas are faculty members before they become a president," McNaughtan said.
College professors with tenure in the University of Arkansas System have "the right of continuous appointment," as stated in board of trustees policy, though they must undergo annual reviews and can be dismissed because of an overall unsatisfactory performance if improvement isn't shown.
In higher education, tenure is something faculty members "build over time," McNaughtan said. "If they go into an administrative position, they want the same level of job security that they had before."
At UA, former Chancellor G. David Gearhart remains at the university as a professor of higher education. He is a Fayetteville native who before serving as chancellor from 2008-15 worked for a decade as UA's main fundraising leader.
Another former UA chancellor, John White, who served as top campus administrator from 1997-2008, also remained on the university's faculty until retiring in 2019. White is an Arkansas native who attended UA as an undergraduate.
But McNaughtan said college chancellors or presidents without strong ties to an institution may opt to spend a short time as a faculty member after stepping down.
It can be "like a stop gap," McNaughtan said. "They might be a faculty member for a semester."