Four more vying to lead ASU

Four more people are throwing their names into the hat to be the next chancellor of Arkansas State University.

In total, 24 are vying for the position, held in the interim by Doug Whitlock. Whitlock was appointed to the post last fall after former Chancellor Tim Hudson resigned without a severance package. Hudson, who was paid $360,000 annually, was the subject of several internal audits that uncovered reports of nepotism and conflicts of interest.

Whitlock’s contract ends June 30, but it can be extended on a month-to-month basis if needed.

ASU System President Chuck Welch started the chancellor search Feb. 14 and plans to prioritize applications received by April

17. Welch has the help of a 21-member search committee, but will ultimately decide — with ASU System trustees’ approval — who will become the four-year university’s next leader.

Welch has said he is hoping finalists will visit the 14,085-student university in May and that the prevailing candidate will be able to start in July.

The four new job candidates are:

■ Katherine Bennett Ensor, statistics professor at Rice University in Houston, where she also works as director of the Center for Computational Finance and Economic Systems, and has served as chairman of the Department of Statistics.

■ D. Marshall Porterfield, professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University in Indiana, where he was also the founding director of the Physiological Sensing Facility. He is also the director of space life and physical sciences division at NASA.

■ Michael Orok, dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Virginia Union University, and a former associate provost for academic affairs and graduate studies at Alabama A&M University.

■ Neal Barlow, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, and associate dean for core curriculum at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado.