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Candidates for Higher Education Department director narrowed to four Saturday, Oct 27, 2007 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The field of applicants to head the state Department of Higher Education has been narrowed to four, the state Higher Education Coordinating Board announced Friday. The applicants who will be invited to interview for the position of Higher Education director are Betty Overton of Spring Arbor, Mich., vice president for academic affairs at Spring Arbor University; James Purcell of Edmond, Okla., associate vice chancellor for strategic planning and analysis for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education; Kermit McMurry of Oklahoma City, vice chancellor for student services for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education; and Lawrence Tyree of Sarasota, Fla., a former college administrator who now serves on the board of CampusWorks, a higher education consulting firm. The four were chosen from a field of 17 applicants for the position, which has an annual salary of $133,937. The Higher Education Coordinating Board chose the four applicants in an executive session Thursday and announced them Friday at its regular quarterly meeting at Lyon College in Batesville, Department of Higher Education spokesman Dale Ellis said. The board is searching for a replacement for Linda Beene, who resigned earlier this year to become dean and associate provost of the University of Arkansas' School of Continuing Education and Academic Outreach. Beene became higher education director in 2002. Also Friday, the Higher Education Coordinating Board elected Bob L. Burns president of the supervisory committee of the State Board of Higher Education Foundation. Burns replaces David Damron, whose term expired. Steve Floyd, interim higher education director, was elected secretary-treasurer of the foundation's supervisory committee, replacing Beene. In other business, the board voted to allow Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas to spend up to $363,500 on maintenance projects and on renovations to bring the campus into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The board approved a 25-year, $10 million bond issue for Arkansas State University's Searcy, Mountain Home and Newport campuses; a 30-year, $14 million bond issue for Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia; and a 30-year, $4.7 million bond issue for North Arkansas College in Harrison. The bond issues are for educational and general purposes. John Davidson, the Higher Education Department's financial manager, reported that athletic expenditures at the Arkansas' 11 state-supported universities and 22 state-supported two-colleges totaled $98 million in 2006-07, an increase of 26 percent over the previous year. The board also approved a new Master of Arts in Teaching program at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and a new Master of Science in Instructional Technology program at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. |
