LITTLE ROCK (Monday, June 17, 2024) — University of Arkansas Sytem President Dr. Donald R. Bobbitt has named Dr. Andrea Stewart to be the interim chancellor at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) beginning July 1.
Stewart, currently provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at UAPB, will lead the campus as a national search to replace current Chancellor Laurence Alexander, Ph.D., is in progress. Alexander, who has led UAPB for more than a decade, was named chancellor at University of Michigan – Flint last month.
In a letter distributed to the UAPB campus today, Bobbitt wrote, “While we conduct the comprehensive search for the next chancellor, I am pleased to announce that Dr. Andrea Stewart has accepted my offer to serve as the Interim Chancellor for UAPB, beginning July 1, 2024, and will serve until the new chancellor starts his or her appointment. Please join me in thanking Dr. Stewart for accepting this challenging appointment and assist her as you can in carrying out the complex responsibilities of her new position.”
Stewart has served as provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs since August 2022. Prior to that, she was the dean of the UAPB School of Arts & Sciences beginning in 2013, providing leadership to 12 academic departments. She served as coordinator/director of the social work program for 25 years, leading its initial accreditation and subsequent reaffirmations. Stewart served as interim Chairperson of the Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences and president of UAPB’s Faculty and Staff Senate. She successfully supported the Department of Nursing faculty to begin a new nursing program in 2015. Stewart received a Doctorate in Social Work from Howard University, a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), and a Bachelor’s Degree in sociology with a minor in psychology from UALR.
“I am deeply honored to serve as the interim chancellor of UAPB and thank Dr. Bobbitt for this tremendous opportunity,” Dr. Stewart said. “This institution holds a rich legacy of academic excellence and community impact, and I am committed to advancing its mission during this transitional period.”
Bobbitt said an announcement is also coming later this week to name the members of a search committee “that will have the responsibility of advising me and the University of Arkansas System’s Board of Trustees in identifying and vetting candidates, interviewing semi-finalists and scheduling visits to Arkansas for finalists in this process. It is important that all aspects of the campus community be fully engaged with the finalists when they visit as there will be ample opportunity for your thoughts to be shared with, and considered by, the UA Board of Trustees in arriving at their final decision.”
About the University of Arkansas System (www.uasys.edu)
Since its inception, the University of Arkansas System has developed a tradition of excellence that includes the state’s 1871 flagship, land-grant research university; Arkansas’s premier institution for medical education, treatment and research; a major metropolitan university; an 1890 land-grant university; two regional universities serving southern and western Arkansas; seven community colleges; two schools of law; a presidential school; a residential math and science high school; and a 100 percent-online university and divisions of agriculture, archeology and criminal justice. As the premier higher education system in the state, it enrolls more than 70,000 students, employs more than 17,000 employees, and has a total budget of more than $4 billion. An intrinsic part of the texture and fabric of Arkansas, the UA System is a driving force in the state’s economic, educational and cultural advancement.