UALR provost takes planning post

Velmer Burton, provost at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will move to a new role focused on helping the university meets its planning goals while tightening its budget.

Burton has been named senior vice chancellor for university strategy and performance, Chancellor Andrew Rogerson announced in an email to UALR employees on Friday. The change goes into effect Nov. 1, Rogerson wrote.

Rogerson stressed Friday the university didn’t create a position but instead is putting Burton in a role allowing him to better use his skill set to strengthen the university.

UALR faces an enrollment drop of nearly 10 percent for this fall’s semester and a budget deficit of about $9 million for the 2018-19 school year.

Christina Drale, 60, who has served as associate vice chancellor for academic affairs since 2011, will take over as interim executive vice chancellor and provost.

Burton, 56, became provost at UALR on July 1, 2017. He was previously the dean of the University of Mississippi School of Applied Sciences and has experience leading student retention initiatives, according to a UALR news release from last year.

One of Burton’s focuses in his new role will be improving program offerings and student enrollment at the UALR Benton campus.

“We feel that the Benton-Bryant area is a really untapped resource,” Rogerson said.

Burton’s salary — $250,000 annually — will remain the same, according to information provided by Judy Williams, associate vice chancellor of communications and marketing.

Drale, who has served UALR in administration roles since 2006, will make $240,000 annually in her new position. Her yearly salary as associate vice chancellor for academic affairs was $130,000. Before that, she served as associate dean of the College of Professional Studies. She also serves on several committees, including the Higher Learning Commission Accreditation Steering Team, the Institutional Effectiveness Committee and the UALR Diversity Council.

The university is “not in any rush” to begin a national search for a new provost, Rogerson said Friday. Since Drale has been with UALR for more than a decade, he said, keeping her as interim provost for at least a year could lend a sense of stability to a campus abuzz with talk about the university’s fiscal challenges.

The new leadership roles were an indirect result of meetings Rogerson has been having with students, faculty and staff over the past few weeks in an effort to have a transparent conversation about the university’s financial situation, he said.

Rogerson began his tenure as UALR’s chancellor Sept. 1, 2016.