It's time for my interview with Henderson State University Chancellor Chuck Ambrose, but something has slowed us down. It's the first day of March Madness, and the 13th-seeded Furman Paladins have the fourth-seeded Virginia Cavaliers on the ropes. Ambrose is not only a Furman graduate, he's also a member of the school's board of trustees.
With nine seconds left and the Cavaliers up 67-65, a Virginia player catches an inbounds pass and is trapped. Rather than dribble or call a timeout, he throws the ball to the middle of the court. His heave goes to Furman's Garrett Hien, who passes to J.P. Pegues.
Pegues hits a three-point basket at the horn for the win. Ambrose immediately begins receiving texts--from other board members, fellow alumni from the private liberal arts school in South Carolina, friends and family. I once was a sportswriter, but we're not here to talk sports. Ambrose says he will answer the texts later.
We're here to talk about Henderson, which was on its deathbed in 2019 when its board voted unanimously to merge with the Arkansas State University System.
If not for Chuck Welch, the tree-covered Arkadelphia campus would be the home only of empty buildings and the memories of a school founded in 1890 as Arkadelphia Methodist College. Welch became one of the youngest university presidents in the country when he took over as Henderson's president in 2008. In November 2010, he was chosen to lead the ASU System.
With only days of cash on hand, Welch knew there would have to be drastic steps taken. He also knew he would need a chancellor from outside Arkansas, a state where everyone in higher education tends to know each other. Faculty and staff members would be laid off. It would be unpleasant enough for someone who didn't know the people involved. An Arkansan would have been unable to do what had to be done to save Henderson.
Ambrose previously served as president and CEO of KnowledgeWorks, a national foundation focused on the future of education. He was president of the University of Central Missouri from 2010-18 and of Pfeiffer University in North Carolina from 1998-2010. Ambrose had never faced a task like this, though. In essence, he had to tear Henderson down before he could build it back up.
In February 2022, Ambrose sent a letter to the university community indicating that he would begin the process of declaring Henderson to be in a state of financial exigency. An article in Forbes noted: "Declaring financial exigency is one of the most serious steps a financially strapped college can take, and it's typically used only by institutions facing such imminent financial circumstances that their overall survival is threatened. The American Association of University Professors has a policy, followed by most colleges, that tenured faculty members, the most valuable asset of any college, cannot be terminated as a way to lessen financial problems under any circumstances other than a declaration of exigency."
I had also visited with Ambrose on opening day of March Madness last year. At the time, he was determined but also dreading the task he faced. He left KnowledgeWorks knowing that this was a chance to create a model that other struggling colleges could replicate. He wasn't there simply to stop the bleeding. He told me last year: "Patchwork innovation is sometimes a disincentive for true transformation."
Ambrose wants Henderson to better serve a rural student body in the south half of the state, where counties are losing population. He thinks he can create a model for preparing students who are the first in their families to attend college for careers they want and careers their communities need.
Almost 6,200 students left Henderson without a degree in the previous decade. Most still live in Arkansas, and Ambrose is working to get them back in school. He has relied heavily on the ASU System, offering joint programs with the flagship campus in Jonesboro and working closely with a nearby community college, ASU Three Rivers at Malvern.
He told me in the spring of 2022: "We have three duties to those who live in the area we serve. The first is to open the door to a college degree that's affordable. The second is to do everything in our power to get them across the finish line. The third is to make sure their degrees are useful to them as they go out in the world and try to make a difference."
A year later, things are better, though much work remains to be done.
"The stakes were the long-term survival of this institution," Ambrose says as the basketball game ends. "Most of our students, faculty and staff understood the depth of the crisis Henderson faced. ... I knew it would have a huge impact on a lot of people. We did what we had to do. There was no easy road to survival."
Ambrose praises the ASU board, those who work for the system, and the Huron Consulting Group for helping him survive the past year.
In 2019, Henderson had only seven days of cash on hand with more than $64 million in operating expenses. By 2020, ASU officials had reduced operating expenses to $61.98 million, resulting in 38 days of cash on hand. Additional cuts in 2021 further reduced expenses to $56.56 million with an improvement to 42 days of cash on hand. Expense reductions included non-faculty positions, furloughs, reduced travel and fewer supplies purchased.
It wasn't enough. Enter Ambrose. The patient (Henderson) has survived major surgery. In a state that needs all the college graduates it can get, Arkansans should celebrate that fact.
Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.