Miller speaks at forum for SEARK presidency
Douglas Miller leads the Utah State University Eastern campus as its chief administrator, but in pursuing the presidency at Southeast Arkansas College, the Idaho native is seeking an opportunity that may be limited in his current role.
“I function through a university system, and the opportunity to progress and be innovative is difficult,” Miller told members of the SEARK community at an open forum Thursday morning inside the Welcome Center. Miller is one of three finalists vying this week to succeed Steven Bloomberg as president.
“We made real strides at Eastern, but this would give me a chance to offer myself to be of the highest and best use.”
Miller was just named senior associate vice president of the Price, Utah, campus last August. He was a faculty member in Utah State’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business in Logan, according to his Eastern bio, when he was selected.
“There’s benefits to both sides, and you’ve got to understand that,” Miller said. “A system comes with additional resources, but what a system oftentimes struggles with is meeting the needs of the local constituent. In my opinion, a position like this, where you’re president of an independent college, you have far greater capacity and ability to serve local needs than you would with that institution that is defined by a system.”
To grow enrollment at SEARK, Miller said the key is to determine how to best serve the needs of local students. Enrollment during the fall 2023 semester was 975 and during this
spring 869, but interim President Stacy Pfluger noted that while enrollment was relatively flat year over year (987 in fall 2022 and 836 in spring 2023), SEARK saw an increase in the total number of student semester credit hours during the same time period.
Miller’s education career has taken him to new heights after a stint in financial management with R.R. Donnelley, a marketing and business communications company. Miller left there to pursue his doctoral degree at Washington State University.
“While I absolutely loved my work at R.R. Donnelley — I had a great team of composers and digital designers and worked with great clients — I found that, like anyone, I wanted to have an area where I could have impact and make the biggest benefit based on my capacity,” he said.
One of the most meaningful parts of Miller’s career, he said, is starting the Henry Ford Entrepreneurship Academy, named after the Ford Motor Co. founder, in Saudi Arabia.
“We served full economies and countries to build and grow these economies and drive economic development through entrepreneurship,” Miller explained. “That’s where I found a real passion for serving these groups and making connections between higher ed and economic development. That’s what led to my leadership roles in higher ed.”
In recent years SEARK has planned a student union and residential hall to be built in the middle of campus to break down transportation barriers among some students. Projects on the horizon, as well as the chance to engage in local economic development, have lured Miller into pursuing the presidency.
Miller, for example, highlighted a recent federal grant of $548,492 that the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, received toward rehabilitating South Olive Street as a business corridor.
“To me, that says two things: one, it says there is real interest in supporting this region, and two, it says there are real resources being driven to meet that need,” Miller said. “And I think both of those things are part of an enticing package to say, ‘I can come and join an effort that is ongoing and meaningful. We all want to play for the winning team. I want to play for the winning team. And this feels like the winning team.’”