The University of Arkansas System board of trustees met in executive session for roughly three hours Friday in Little Rock to discuss the hiring of the next chancellor of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, but no action was taken.
"It's important for us to [discuss] the leadership of our flagship university," board Chairman C.C. "Cliff" Gibson III said. "I can't comment any further than that."
"The stated purpose of the meeting is to consider employment of a public officer," UA System spokesman Nate Hinkel said before the meeting. "The trustees have had the opportunity to interview the candidates during their visits, but I expect this meeting will give them -- along with [system President Donald] Bobbitt -- the chance to discuss the finalists more in depth before any kind of a decision is made."
Gibson declined to comment on when or if the trustees would meet again about the position or to speculate on a timeline for when the new chancellor would be selected.
The finalists are: interim Chancellor Charles F. Robinson, who is the first Black person to be chancellor of the University of Arkansas in even an interim capacity; Jay T. Akridge, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Purdue University; Daniel A. Reed, presidential professor of computational science at the University of Utah; and Cynthia Y. Young, founding dean of the College of Sciences at Clemson University, who would be UA-Fayetteville's first female chancellor if selected.
In September, the finalists each visited the campus of the state's largest university for two days of meetings with students, faculty, staff and university stakeholders.
Robinson was named interim chancellor in August 2021 after acting Chancellor Bill Kincaid -- who was named to that role after former Chancellor Joe Steinmetz officially resigned June 18, 2021 -- returned to his role on campus as senior managing associate general counsel.