Dr. William “Cody” Decker has been named interim vice chancellor of student affairs at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. 

Decker, 35, of Little Rock, will fill the post to be vacated by Mark Allen Poisel on Aug. 8 after a two-year tenure. Decker will serve a one-year term while the university conducts a national search for a permanent vice chancellor. In the new post, Decker will oversee all units that work with student affairs, including recruitment, admissions, financial aid, and the overall student experience. 

In addition, Decker will continue leading the Office of Institutional Research and Analytics as associate provost and chief data officer. That office facilitates the collection, analysis, and interpretation of institutional data to support planning, decision making, and regulatory reporting at UA Little Rock. 

“Dr. Decker has been instrumental in building data analytic capabilities at UA Little Rock and will bring his leadership and technical skillset to Student Affairs,” said Dr. Andrew Rogerson, UA Little Rock chancellor.

Decker serves on several strategic committees, including the Higher Learning Commission Accreditation Steering Team, the Institutional Effectiveness Committee, University Enrollment Committee, University Retention Committee, and the Quality Initiative Task Force. He also serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Information Science.  

Decker joined UA Little Rock  in 2015 as director of Institutional Research and Analytics. He was promoted in 2018 to associate provost and named the university’s first chief data officer.

Prior to joining UA Little Rock, Decker worked as the assistant commissioner of education and chief information officer at the Arkansas Department of Education, network project manager in research and technology at Dawson Education Cooperative, and technical support manager at Environmental and Spatial Technology, Inc. (EAST). 

He has a doctorate in philosophy in integrated computing, a Master of Science degree in information quality, and a Bachelor of Science degree in information science, all from UA Little Rock.

Photo of Dr. William “Cody” Decker by Benjamin Krain