Dr. Hunter Bacot, director of a quarterly statewide public opinion survey on public policy issues in North Carolina, is the new director of UALR’s Institute of Government, Dr. Angi Brenton, dean of the College of Professional Studies, has announced.

Bacot succeeds Dr. Roby Robertson, who served as director of IOG for 18 years before returning to the UALR faculty this summer.

Bacot  comes to UALR from Elon University in North Carolina, where he served as director of the Elon University Poll, recognized as the “poll of record in North Carolina.” He previously taught public administration at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, Valdosta State University in Georgia, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Tennessee and his masters of public administration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His special academic focus is environmental policy issues.

“Dr. Roby Robertson is a hard act to follow after his many years of service as the founding director of the Institute of Government,” Brenton said. “We are confident that we have found a dynamic leader with an ambitious vision for the future in Hunter Bacot and are eager to welcome him to Arkansas.”

In a profile published by the Charlotte News and Observer, Bacot, 49, attributes his interest in politics to a heavily political family. His grandfather was sheriff of Mecklenburg County from the 1940s to the 1960s, and his father and brother ran for Charlotte City Council.