Late entry in chancellor search wows campus community
Dr. Kelly Damphousse (pronounced DAMF-iss) was named as Arkansas State University’s fifth Jonesboro campus chancellor even though he officially applied for the position only one day before three finalists among 59 applicants were announced.
That said, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma proved during the interview process to be head and shoulders above the other two finalists. That’s my conclusion, but it was borne out by a unanimous vote of the ASU search committee after the three interviews.
A demanding 24-hour campus audition for each finalist included a community forum, and I sat in on the latter two. I missed the first — for Dr. Alan Shao, dean of the School of Business at The College of Charleston in South Carolina — because of a scheduling conflict, but watched a video recording later.
The search committee, of course, is an advisory body. Damphousse was chosen by ASU President Dr. Charles Welch, subject to confirmation by the university’s Board of Trustees at its next meeting. Assuming that goes as planned, the Canadian native will relieve Dr. Doug Whitlock on July 1. Whitlock has filled in as interim chancellor after the forced resignation last August of Dr. Tim Hudson.
Hudson’s original appointment in 2012 came in similar fashion. He was a late entry to the application process but quickly rose to the top. He was also impressive in the public and, by all accounts, in private interviews.
There are some significant differences, though. Hudson was looking for a top-level job in higher education — anywhere. In fact, he had applied for president of Henderson State University after Welch vacated that position to take over as ASU’s top executive (but didn’t even get an interview).
Damphousse was not looking to move. In fact, he had to be coaxed into applying for ASU chancellor, which explains his late entry. He had been at OU since 1997, moving steadily into higher levels of responsibility. Those who know him best say Oklahoma’s loss is a great gain for Arkansas.
He certainly pushed the right buttons in his forum performance. Whereas the other finalists staying mostly behind the podium on stage and talked about themselves, Damphousse engaged and charmed the audience. While he, too, talked about himself, he showed a good sense of humor, for example joking about his early years as a prison guard.
More importantly, he demonstrated that, despite his short time as a candidate for chancellor, he had done a wealth of research about the ASU-Jonesboro campus, its students and staff members. He (or someone) had also prepared a visual presentation to illustrate what he wanted to say. With that he showed a keen understanding and appreciation for the campus community and its current leaders.
Damphousse earned the support of students who met him because he does some things that few educational administrators anywhere do. Even since taking over as the dean of a huge academic unit (a $100 million budget and about 1,000 faculty and staff members), he has continued to teach Introduction to Sociology to some 700 freshmen every year.
Even more unusual, he and his wife live in a freshman dormitory, and his social media posts indicate they enjoy the close interaction with students.
While Whitlock has done much to heal some of the wounds inflicted by the Hudson administration, sharp divisions remain in the campus community. ASU doesn’t need a housecleaning as much as it needs a reunion of minds and hearts.
Some faculty members were miffed because a “favorite son” candidate, Dr. Shane Hunt, dean of the ASU College of Business, inexplicably was omitted from the chancellor finalists. His academic credentials were remarkably similar to Shao’s, and his understanding of the current campus climate is certainly superior to any of the finalists.
But Hunt made a tactical error by announcing that he would be stepping down as dean while openly criticizing the Hudson tenure and announcing that he would apply for chancellor because he didn’t want again “to potentially serve as dean for a chancellor I do not trust or respect.”
Certainly Hunt was expressing an opinion that prevails on campus. But by connecting the two, he surely lost favor with the president and some members of the search committee. Nevertheless, Damphousse would do well to try to convince him to stay on as dean of the College of Business, rather than simply returning to the classroom. He has been an outstanding leader and is well-respected within the Jonesboro community.
One of his suggestions should bear favor with the new chancellor — to create unique schools for the communications, fine arts, agriculture and engineering programs. Administrative reorganization under Hudson has done great damage to those programs, each of which had been immensely successful. Journalism at ASU, once Arkansas’ best, is almost dead.
Damphousse is quite familiar with the spectacular success of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at OU because it was part of the College of Arts and Sciences until separated with the help of major private funding.
Those programs once were part of the uniqueness of ASU, and they could be again. Building the university’s reputation will require more than a change in its “branding.”
Roy Ockert, a resident of Jonesboro, is a retired editor of The Jonesboro Sun. He can be reached at royo@jonesborosun.com.