UA Board Chair Leaving A Positive Mark On Arkansas

by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) 699 views 

Editor’s note:  This article, written by Jeanni Brosius, first appeared in the latest magazine edition of Talk Business Arkansas.

Jane Wickard Rogers exemplifies positivity by her warm smile, her firm hand shake and her many efforts to improve Arkansas through volunteerism and board service, including being the first chairwoman of the Board of Trustees for the University of Arkansas System.

For years, Rogers, 66, has been instrumental in bringing art to Little Rock. In fact, for seven years, she worked with the Sculpture at the River Market to bring sculptures to Little Rock for an annual show each October. Art is also acquired from the proceeds of the Sculpture at the River Market show and is on display in the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden in Peabody Park.

“The Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden is a real prize for the city,” Rogers says.

Visitors can stroll on the meandering paths through the sculpture garden that is just a few minutes walk from the River Market.

This civic leader also believes that bringing art to a city makes it feel more friendly, and the $2 million worth of art that is tucked throughout the River Market area in downtown Little Rock improves the vibe of the community, she says.

Beyond bringing more art to Little Rock, Rogers also helped organize the very first Riverfest after it moved to the river in 1983 and served as the executive director of Riverfest Inc., a nonprofit organization, for seven years. What began as a family festival for the arts has evolved into the largest music festival in Arkansas and one of the South’s largest music festivals.

Riverfest was founded by the Junior League of Little Rock in July 1978 and called Summer Arts Festival in Murray Park. It moved to Julius Breckling Riverfront Park on the south bank of the Arkansas River on Memorial Day weekend in 1983.

“The first year, we had just finished putting sod down that week,” Rogers says with a laugh recalling the first Riverfest at the river, “and it would slide down the hill when people would sit on it to watch a concert.”

As a native of Little Rock, Rogers has a vested interest in the city, and as a graduate of the University of Arkansas, Rogers has an interest in the university as well.

After receiving her degree in secondary education from the UofA, Rogers taught sixth grade at Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic School in Little Rock for three years before she and her husband, Jay, had their two children.

“Once my kids were in junior high, they were old enough to do their own laundry and cook dinner,” Rogers says, “that’s when I went to work for Riverfest.”

After leaving her position as executive director of Riverfest, Rogers became director of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, where she said she got to know and understand the workings of the governor’s office during Mike Huckabee’s tenure. After two years, she left her position there, but she continued to organize events for the governor’s office as a freelance special events coordinator.

She has served on the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees since 2003, and recently took the title as the first chairwoman in the history of the board. Although Rogers doesn’t put a lot of emphasis on making history as the first woman chairperson, she does plan to emphasize doing what’s best for the university and all of its 16 campuses.

“Good things are going on on everyone of those campuses,” Rogers says.

She has asked each chancellor to give her eight to 10 current points of pride on their campuses, and she published those points.

“At each meeting, I will talk about the good things there and what a great job they are doing. I want to emphasize the positive,” she says as she pulls a “Points of Pride” publication from her notebook.

The 19-page magazine-style publication highlights good things that are happening on the campuses of the five universities, five community colleges, medical school, two law schools, presidential school, mathematics and sciences high school and units dedicated to agriculture, archeology and criminal justice in the University of Arkansas System.

“I appreciate the thorough manner in which Ms. Rogers addresses board action. She does not hesitate to challenge the status quo and wants to promote all system colleges and universities,” says Debbie Frazier, chancellor at the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville. “This was apparent in one of her first actions as board chair when she requested all institutions to submit 10 points of pride to emphasize their unique qualities. Her actions indicate her inclusive leadership style and her willingness to promote the diverse missions of the colleges and universities within the University of Arkansas System.”

Rogers took the helm from former chairman Mike Akin of Monticello in March. She faces several challenges as chairwoman, and she says the biggest question is obviously money.

“Without a doubt the biggest challenge has to do with funding,” Rogers says. “We don’t want to out price our students [by raising tuition too much]…. We are asking the chancellors to tighten their belts.”

Rogers also says that president of the University of Arkansas Systems, Dr. Donald Bobbitt, has emphasized distance learning, or online classes. This can result in savings for the universities and their students.

In March, Rogers chaired her first board meeting at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

“The first meeting with her as chairperson was on our campus, and from what I saw there, I think she’ll be a great leader,” says Jack Lassiter, chancellor at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. “I’ve known her for a long time, and she’s caring and attentive to the needs of the institutions. She’ll be a great chairperson.”

Taking her time to make appropriate decisions regarding the university, Rogers evaluated each of the trustee’s talents and hand picked them for committees. When choosing who would head up board committees, Rogers says she takes each person’s strengths and uses them where she believes they will work best.

“I’m working with nine other trustees, and I looked at the person and used their strengths to make our organization stronger,” says Rogers. “I studied the list of committees and made the placement of each board member. Our job is to pay attention and to help the chancellors and president in any way we can. We watch over spending and keep tuition as low possible.”

Rogers says she believes she’s fortunate to be the chairwoman of the board, but she doesn’t put much emphasis on the fact that she’s the first woman to chair the board.

She also has served on the Delta Trust’s board of directors for 13 years, and she has served more than 20 years on the board of the Chi Omega Fraternity, which is the largest women’s fraternity in the U.S.. Interestingly, Chi Omega originated at the University of Arkansas in 1895.

Rogers chaired the national centennial for Chi Omega in 1995, and served as its president and was on the national governing board for seven years. She also received the President’s Award in 2002, which is Chi Omega’s highest award for service.

“Chi Omega provides young women and alumni strong leadership skills, and it was that leadership training that gave me the confidence to lead the board of trustees,” Rogers said.