LITTLE ROCK (Tuesday, July 16, 2024) — University of Arkansas System President Dr. Donald R. Bobbitt today announced plans to retire as president after almost 13 years leading the state’s largest university system.
Bobbitt said he is bittersweet about the decision after fulfilling the goal he set for himself when he became president in November 2011 to leave the $4.5 billion enterprise in better standing and poised for further success in providing opportunities for Arkansans in all parts of the state.
“Susan and I are thankful for the opportunity the Board of Trustees has provided us the past 13 years to serve a university system that has played such a large and important role in our lives,” Bobbitt said. “One of the great privileges I have been afforded through my time as president was the chance to work with an exceptional group of colleagues who served as the Chancellors and CEOs of our campuses, divisions and units, and with the very talented staff in the UA System administration. Each and every day they carry out the complex responsibilities of their position, keeping first and forefront the mission of this system to serve Arkansas and its citizens. It has equally been an honor to serve the many students across the UA System and help them achieve the dream of improving their lives through higher education.”
Bobbitt notified Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas Chair Kelly Eichler this week of his plans to retire as president effective Jan. 15, 2025, or earlier, if a successor is selected before that date. Eichler said she will call a special meeting of the Board in the coming days to discuss Bobbitt’s retirement and to plan for a national search for the next president.
Bobbitt began his tenure as president on Nov. 1, 2011, succeeding Dr. B. Alan Sugg, who had led the system for 21 years before his retirement.
“Dr. Bobbitt has been a truly outstanding leader for the UA System and higher education in our state for more than a decade,” Eichler said. “His steadfast, calm approach to the role of president has not only provided a steady hand at the helm of the system, but it has also allowed other excellent leaders to emerge across our campuses. We are certainly going to miss Don and his wife, Susan, who has equally dedicated her time and effort to serving the UA System and its many institutions with class and integrity. They are leaving the system in a stronger position than it has ever been in, and we wish them the very best as they prepare for their next chapter.”
Under Bobbitt’s leadership, the UA System has undergone a vast transformation that not only expanded the number of campuses, divisions and units, but also capitalized on pooling its diverse offerings and leveraging its collective resources to operate more efficiently as a system. Highlighting that effort was the addition of UA – Pulaski Technical College and UA – Rich Mountain Community College in 2016 and the pending addition of East Arkansas Community College later this year.
Bobbitt’s tenure saw the growth of new leadership across the system’s campuses, divisions and units, with new chancellors or chief executive officers recruited and hired at 17 of the system institutions, resulting in the most diverse leadership team in system history.
Bobbitt also oversaw the implementation of the UA System’s largest-ever systemwide project, Project One, bringing each of the institutions onto the Workday platform to manage all finance, human resources, academic and student information functions. Through this effort the system has realized better alignment and easier exchange of data among the institutions.
Other systemwide projects conducted under Bobbitt’s leadership include implementing collective contracting for the Blackboard learning management system, launching the UA System solar energy project, and creating the UA System Workforce Response and Training Center, among others.
One of Bobbitt’s primary goals when he took over the UA System was to expand its online learning offerings. That effort included successfully launching the state’s first 100 percent online institution, the University of Arkansas System eVersity, in 2015, which later merged and expanded with the acquired University of Arkansas Grantham in 2021.
Visit here for a more detailed listing of the UA System’s progress under Bobbitt’s leadership.
Bobbitt is the inaugural holder of the endowed chair in presidential leadership at the UA System, established in 2015 by the late Charles E. Scharlau, former chairman and CEO of Southwestern Energy Company and past chairman of the UA Board of Trustees.
While serving as president, Bobbitt continued to keep active in his scientific discipline and served as chair of a National Institutes of Health Study Section for 8 years.
Before his selection as UA System president, Bobbitt served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington from 2008-11. In 2003, he was named Dean of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, after serving as an administrator and faculty member on the campus for 17 years. Among his many honors are the University of Arkansas Alumni Association Award in Teaching and the Fulbright College Master Teacher Award.
Bobbitt was a recipient of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar Fellowship, from 1988-93. In 2015, he was inducted as a Fellow into the National Academy of Inventors based on his patents and emphasis on patenting, innovation and entrepreneurship as evaluation criteria for promotion and tenure. His research has received support from national corporations and organizations, including the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
In 1980, he earned a B.S. in chemistry with highest honors from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and in 1985, he earned a doctorate in chemistry from Iowa State University before beginning as an assistant professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at UA-Fayetteville.
Bobbitt was born in Philadelphia but got to Arkansas as fast as he could. He and his wife, Susan, have three children and a growing number of grandchildren.