Bigger is new chair of higher ed board

Pocahontas woman, a Hutchinson appointee, replaces Revels at helm of panel

Graycen Bigger of Pocahontas is shown in this undated courtesy photo. Bigger, the assistant vice president of community development for Farmers and Merchants Bank and the executive director of the Northeast Arkansas Intermodal Authority, has been named chairperson of the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Bigger chaired the April 27-28 meeting of the board at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia. (Photo courtesy Black River Technical College)
Graycen Bigger of Pocahontas is shown in this undated courtesy photo. Bigger, the assistant vice president of community development for Farmers and Merchants Bank and the executive director of the Northeast Arkansas Intermodal Authority, has been named chairperson of the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Bigger chaired the April 27-28 meeting of the board at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia. (Photo courtesy Black River Technical College)

ARKADELPHIA -- Graycen Bigger of Pocahontas has become chairperson of the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Bigger chaired the two-day meeting at Higher Education Coordinating Board at Henderson State University on Thursday and Friday.

The former chairperson, Greg Revels, 64, a certified public accountant from De Queen, resigned earlier in the week.

"It has been an honor to work alongside such dedicated individuals in improving higher education in Arkansas," Revels wrote in his resignation letter. "I want to express my gratitude to the board members and staff for their support and dedication to improving higher education in Arkansas. I will always value the memories, experiences and friendships gained during my time."

Bigger, 35, is the assistant vice president of community development for Farmers and Merchants Bank and the executive director of the Northeast Arkansas Intermodal Authority, a regional economic development alliance based in Pocahontas.

Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed Bigger to the Higher Education Coordinating Board in 2021 for a term scheduled to expire in 2025. She has a Master of Arts degree in Art Business from Sotheby's Institute of Art in New York City as well as bachelor degrees in the history of art and photojournalism from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

Board members are appointed by the governor, so the board will operate one member short until a replacement for Revels is named, Bigger said. Bigger will remain chairperson even after that new member is appointed.

"We thank [Revels] for his service," Bigger said. "He will be sorely missed."

The board is also waiting on a replacement for Maria Markham, 42, as director of the Arkansas Division of Higher Education. Markham, who had served as director since July 2016, was discharged by the governor's office in late March. Mason Campbell, the division's chief academic officer, has been the de facto leader for "day-to-day operations" since then, according to Jacob Oliva, the state Education Secretary.

Oliva said he has been meeting regularly with senior leaders at the division and coordinating board members, and "the agency is in good hands."

"The governor is looking at options, and we hope to have a full-time person pretty soon."

Bigger echoed Oliva's sentiments, saying, "the governor is working on that, and I believe it'll be sooner rather than later."

Arkansas Code Ann. 25-7-101 states, in part, "The director shall be appointed, in consultation with the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board, by the Governor and shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor. The director shall report to the Secretary of the Department of Education."

The next meeting of the coordinating board is scheduled for July 28 at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville.


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