UALR has announced three finalists for the position of provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. The finalists were among a group of 70 candidates who applied for the job during a national search to replace Provost and Vice Chancellor David Belcher, who accepted a position as chancellor of Western Carolina University in July 2011.

The search sought candidates who possess a record of leadership in instructional, research, and outreach programs of a university comparable to the size and complexity of UALR.

The UALR provost leads six colleges – Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Business; Education; Professional Studies, including the School of Mass Communications and the School of Social Work; Engineering and Information Technology; and Sciences and Mathematics – and two free-standing schools, the Graduate School and the Bowen School of Law.

Dr. Sandra Robertson, director of the UALR Office of Budget, Planning, and Institutional Research, currently serves as interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.

The finalists include:

Denise A. Battles, dean of the College of Natural and Health Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley since 2005. She received a Ph.D. in geology from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1990. She was associate dean of the Allen E. Paulson College of Science and Technology at Georgia Southern University from 2003 to 2005.

Bahman Ghorashi, executive director of Fenn Academy and executive director of Fenn Research and Development Institute at Cleveland State University in Hudson, Ohio, since 2009. He received a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Ohio State University in 1980 and a management and leadership certificate from Harvard University in 2008. He was dean of the College of Engineering at Cleveland State from 2006 to 2011.

Colin G. Scanes, dean of the graduate school and vice chancellor of research and economic development at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee from 2007 to 2011. He received a Ph.D. in zoology at the University of Wales in 1972 and a D.Sc. in zoology in 1985 from the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. From 2004 to 2007, he was vice president for research at Mississippi State University.

Dr. Charles Hathaway, former UALR chancellor, originally led the search committee, a broad-based group that represents leadership from the university and the central Arkansas community. Due to a recent illness, he was recently replaced by John M. DiPippa, dean of the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law. Catherine Lowry, UALR program coordinator for the information technology minor program, is assistant to the chair.

Other members of the search committee are:

• Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, associate professor at the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law and director of the Institute on Race and Ethnicity
• Jane Brown, UALR professor of art
• John M. DiPippa, dean of the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law
• Wanda Dole, UALR dean of the Ottenheimer Library
• Gary L. Geissler, UALR professor of marketing and advertising
• Tony A. Hall, UALR associate professor/interim chair of the Department of Physics
• Eric R. Kaufmann, UALR professor of mathematics
• John A. Kirk, UALR Donaghey Professor/chair of the Department of History
• John A. Kuykendall, UALR assistant professor of educational leadership
• Joni Lee, UALR associate vice chancellor of University Advancement
• Simone Lewis, president of the UALR Student Government Association
• Christina Littlejohn, executive director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra
• Sadie Mitchell, associate superintendent of the Little Rock School District
• Gary Newton, executive vice president of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce
• Mary L. Parker, UALR professor and chair of the Department of Criminal Justice
• Brad Patterson, director of UALR Testing Services/president of the Staff Senate
• Elizabeth Pierce, UALR associate professor/chair of the Department of Information Science
• Remzi Seker, UALR associate professor/chair of the Department of Computer Science
• Laura Smith-Olinde, UALR associate professor of audiology and speech pathology/president of the University Assembly and the Faculty Senate