UA Chancellor talks sports, students, research

During the “free speech for a dollar” portion of Tuesday’s (Mar. 29) Rotary Club meeting, a Rotary member gave a dollar to praise University of Arkansas Chancellor G. David Gearhart and guest speaker for the hiring of Mike Anderson to be the new Razorback basketball coach.

Gearhart had a new opening line for his comments to the more than 100 in attendance.

“I appreciate that dollar. Now if you could find 1,499,999 more, it would make my job a lot easier,” Gearhart deadpanned to immediate and loud laughter.

Anderson, a former assistant coach to Nolan Richardson and most recently the head basketball coach for the University of Missouri, was announced Mar. 23 as the new Hog coach. His salary is $1.5 million a year from the university, and $700,000 a year from the Razorback Foundation.

Later in the Q&A session, Gearhart noted that Anderson is one of the most highly regarded coaches at the college level. He said Missouri officials were not happy to lose him.

“I do not cross the Arkansas-Missouri line without a bodyguard,” Gearhart joked.

But Gearhart was not in Fort Smith to talk sports. He was in Fort Smith to promote the university and meet with area high school students.

He visited Tuesday morning with students and faculty at Southside High School, and was scheduled to make a Northside High School visit after the Rotary address. The visits are part of a program began two years ago that sees Gearhart make a personal pitch to students in high schools around the state.

There are two primary points Gearhart makes to the students: Come to the UA, but if you don’t or can’t, please get a college degree somewhere.

“It’s important that they continue to hear about the value of that (degree),” Gearhart said during a brief interview after the Rotary meeting.

POPULATION GOAL
The student outreach is also part of the UA goal of reaching a student population of 25,000. Now just short of 23,000, Gearhart believes the goal will be reached “within the next 2 to 3 years.”

The UA chancellor is pleased with the incoming (fall 2011) freshman class, which he said reflects the largest increase since World War II. Among the 4,400, those with a high school grade point average of 4.0 and higher is up 11% compared to the previous class.

Increasing the student population requires new and renovated facilities. Such work includes adding a small fitness center and new computer center in the student union, doubling the size of the nursing program, constructing a new child development study center (funded by the Tyson family), renovating several buildings and modernizing about 130 classrooms and labs.

Gearhart said the 25,000 goal is not a cap, but is roughly the maximum the university can serve without “fairly significant” additions and upgrades to facilities. He said university officials will have to determine if the “marginal income” of rising above 25,000 will be enough to offset the costs.

RESEARCH GOAL
Gearhart said university officials are also focused on programs and efforts “leading to economic development and jobs in Arkansas.” Part of that is to convert research — valued at $82 million in the most recent fiscal year — into products or processes that may be commercialized.

Part of that effort also includes increasing the number of STEM graduates — science, technology, engineering and math.

The university also is underway on construction of a $50 million “nano scale and engineering” facility that will include areas for advanced research and development, labs and classrooms.

“We want to solidify our place as a leading research university in the country,” Gearhart told the Rotarians.