Dr. Calvin White named provost at A-State

Dr. Calvin White, Jr. has been selected as the next executive vice chancellor and provost at Arkansas State University. He will replace Dr. Alan Utter who resigned from the position in December. The ASU Board of Trustees will have to make the hire official at their next meeting.

His selection comes after a national search for the provost’s position, and his appointment is effective July 1. White, a Stuttgart native, is the first African American to serve as provost at A-State.

“I am extremely excited that Calvin is joining our team at Arkansas State,” ASU Chancellor Dr. Todd Shields said. “I am also appreciative of the incredible work our advisory committee put into finding the right leader for this pivotal role. Their enthusiastic support and feedback was that we should offer the position to Calvin. We cannot wait to welcome him to Jonesboro and to the Pack.”

White is the associate dean of humanities in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He joined UA in 2007 as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor in 2013, and has served in campus leadership roles including program director and department chair, as well as on strategic projects focused on budget preparation and oversight, assessment and accreditation, international education, fundraising and strategic planning.

“I welcome, with great enthusiasm, this opportunity to work with the excellent faculty, staff, students and community of Arkansas State,” White said. “I look forward to the exciting challenge ahead, and to continuing to facilitate the expansion and enhancement of A-State’s thriving research, academic programs and overall vital intellectual campus life.

“As a native Arkansan, this is an exceptional opportunity to contribute as a leader to research, innovation and discovery that directly improves the lives of all Arkansans. My entire academic career has been focused on the overall intellectual growth of students, colleagues, peers, the institution, community and state,” he added.

In his role as associate dean at UA’s largest college with 8,000-plus students, White supervised several academic areas comprised of programs, departments, centers and schools, including the Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, the Diane Blair Center for Southern Politics and Society, and the Arkansas Humanities Center. Prior to his most recent position with UA, he served as chair of the department of history at Fayetteville and as the director of the African and African American Studies Program.

“I’m well acquainted with Calvin’s work from our previous time together, and I’m looking forward to everyone at A-State getting to know what an outstanding administrator and colleague he is,” Shields said. “In higher education as a whole, the road ahead will be demanding and Arkansas State, with the selection of White as our next provost, is better positioned to meet these challenges head-on.”

During his time at UA, White served as a fellow in the SEC Academic Leadership Program and earned several teaching, advising and service awards, including the Fulbright Master Teacher Award, and the Dr. John and Mrs. Lois Imhoff Award for Outstanding Teaching and Student Mentorship. He also was inducted into the UA’s Teaching Academy and served as a Gilder-Lehrman Fellow at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York.

White completed his Ph.D. in history at the University of Mississippi after earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Central Arkansas. Focusing on the history of the American South, his research in the African American experience – particularly in the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta region – has led to multiple publications. His first book, “The Rise to Respectability: Race, Religion, and the Church of God in Christ” was released in October 2012.

His most recent book, a biography of Oscar Stanton De Priest, is under contract with Palgrave Macmillan. De Priest was the first African American elected to the U.S. Congress in the 20th century, and the Illinois Republican went on to serve three terms in the House of Representatives.

Before joining the UA faculty, White was an instructor at the University of Mississippi, UA-Pulaski Tech, and an adjunct at UCA. White takes over the A-State role from interim provost Len Frey.