Karen J. Wheeler, Ph.D., has been named associate vice chancellor for policy, assessment, and diversity in the UALR Office of the Provost.

Wheeler has held leadership positions at the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) for the past 14 years, most recently as associate director. She comes to UALR with experience at four-year, two-year, public, and private higher education institutions, as well as previous positions at ADHE.

“Dr. Wheeler’s 20 years in senior-level positions in academic affairs, student affairs, research and planning, and finance will serve the university well with our focus on retention and graduation,” said Sandra Robertson, interim provost. “She has been a key leader in Arkansas’s recent student success legislation.”

Wheeler has consulted on national college graduation efforts and has been the state policy lead on a number of national career and college readiness initiatives. She has also represented ADHE and collaborated with college and university administrators, legislators, governor’s staff, and state agency leaders on numerous state education efforts, including the Closing the Gap Commission, Project Graduation Commission, Educational Renewal Zones, Career Readiness Certification, Career Pathways Initiative, and Arkansas Works/Career Coach.

For six years, Wheeler served as associate director for academic affairs at ADHE, working with institutions proposing to add degrees or change programs and making recommendations to the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board. From 1997 to 2003, Wheeler was coordinator of institutional finance at ADHE.

Her prior positions include dean of academic and student affairs at the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville; associate director of planning and accountability and coordinator of federal programs at ADHE; director of the Bootheel Education Center at Southeast Missouri State University; chairperson of the Division of Professional Studies, assistant to the vice president for academic affairs, and director of continuing education at Paul Quinn College in Waco, TX; and other positions at Bowling Green State University and the University of Tennessee–Knoxville.

Wheeler received a Ph.D. in educational administration and supervision/higher education from Bowling Green, a master’s degree in psychology from Austin Peay State University, and a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts with a major in psychology from the University of Tennessee, Martin.