ASU-Beebe chancellor resigns, takes assistant post

Karla Fisher, Chancellor, Arkansas State University at Beebe. She is retiring as of August 15, 2017.
Karla Fisher, Chancellor, Arkansas State University at Beebe. She is retiring as of August 15, 2017.

Arkansas State University-Beebe Chancellor Karla Fisher has resigned from the post after about a year and a half on the job.

Fisher, 50, said she wanted to pursue other opportunities in higher education, according to a news release from the Arkansas State University System. Her resignation is effective today, when she will start work as special assistant to ASU System President Charles Welch.

"Dr. Fisher indicated to me a couple of months ago her desire to seek employment at another higher education institution," Welch said in a prepared statement. "We both agreed that changing leadership in the middle of an academic year was not in the best interests of the institution. Fortunately, Dr. Fisher has significant expertise in accreditation matters and will provide great assistance to the institution this fall as we prepare for an accreditation review."

Neither Fisher nor Welch were made available for interviews Monday.

The opening will leave three of the state's public community colleges searching for a new leader: ASU-Beebe, East Arkansas Community College in Forrest City and Southeast Arkansas College in Pine Bluff. East Arkansas and Southeast Arkansas have already started the hunt, while the Beebe college will likely start in the spring.

Welch has historically started chancellor searches in the spring because most candidates are under contract for the entire academic year, said Jeff Hankins, the system's vice president for strategic communications and economic development.

In the meantime, Welch has named Roger Moore, who has been with the college for nearly two decades, as interim chancellor. He will earn $160,000 annually, $50,000 more than his current annual salary as vice chancellor of finance and administration, Hankins said.

"I am pleased with the changes that have been made at the institution in the past couple of years, and want to continue the strategic operational style that is currently providing significant momentum," Welch said in an email to the campus' faculty and staff. "I believe Roger is exactly the person we need to help us build off of the recent changes and successes."

Fisher replaced the college's longtime chancellor, Eugene McKay, in January 2016. She came from Butler Community College in Kansas, where she worked as vice president of academics.

In an email to the campus community, Fisher said she was proud of them and the work they had accomplished to centralize administration, build new leadership and realign the budget to support strategic priorities.

"However, to paraphrase Frederick Douglass, there is no progress without struggle," she wrote in the email. "Now that the basic foundation is in place, I feel it would be beneficial to the institution to transition to a leader who will not be associated with the difficult changes we've had to make."

Fisher started the college's newest strategic plan and started a campus reorganization that resulted in the elimination of several administrative positions and an annual budget savings of about $350,000, Hankins said.

The Oklahoma native had been interviewing elsewhere with Welch's support and has seen "positive results," she said in the email.

Her new position will last up to Dec. 31 and will include working on the college's reaccreditation for the regional body, the Higher Learning Commission. Her salary will drop from $183,000 annually as chancellor to $100,000 as assistant, according to her voluntary resignation agreement.

She will work from an office on the Searcy campus of ASU-Beebe, Hankins said, and only receive salary and benefits.

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Roger Moore, Interim Chancellor, Arkansas State University at Beebe

The agreement states that Fisher will "make diligent good-faith efforts to obtain employment as soon as reasonably possible" and that when she does find another job, she will notify Welch within 24 hours.

Metro on 08/15/2017

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