Gearhart Receives Presidential Excellence Award for 'Student First' Policies, Programs

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From the left: Danny Pugh, vice provost for student affairs, Chancellor G. David Gearhart, Timothy Alvarez, regional director of NASPA IV-W and Laura Wankel, chair of the NASPA board of directors

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas Chancellor G. David Gearhart was given the Presidential Excellence Award by the IV-West region of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.  The region includes 10 states and two Canadian provinces. The award was presented during the regional conference for student affairs professionals in Hot Springs Tuesday, Nov. 5. Gearhart will be the region's nominee for a national award.

“I am deeply grateful for this award, especially since it comes from professionals whose work is centered on students,” said Gearhart. “Our campus has made ‘Students First’ our mantra, but that can’t be realized unless our faculty and staff take it to heart and practice it every day. I am extremely proud of the progress our campus has made over the last several years and the excellent work done by our student affairs division. It’s a pleasure to lead the University of Arkansas and a comfort to know I have their full support.”

Gearhart was nominated by Daniel Pugh, vice provost for student affairs, with supporting letters from two students. The nominations noted Gearhart’s emphasis on a “Student’s First” philosophy and the way this approach led to programs to make the campus “veteran-friendly,” as well as the chancellor’s strong support for undocumented students and the DREAM Act.

Gearhart’s creation of a Veteran’s Task Force and implementation of the policies it recommended was praised by veteran and former student Robert Ainley.

“The changes were profound and in November 2011 I gave up my career with the federal government in order to come work for the Veterans Resource and Information Center [at the university] and help continue what Chancellor Gearhart started,” Ainley wrote in a nominating letter. “The student veterans and all the students at the University of Arkansas have been greatly served by Chancellor Gearhart.”

Jonathan Chavez pointed out that Gearhart’s support for undocumented students has been consistent.

“In 2008, the Arkansas Department of Higher Education told Arkansas universities that offering in-state tuition to students who did not possess a social security number might violate federal law,” Chavez wrote. “In response, Chancellor Gearhart raised scholarship money to cover the cost of out-of-state tuition rates for the undocumented students that were attending the University of Arkansas at the time, lightening the burden for many students, myself included.  If he had not done this, many of us would not have been able to pay the additional cost of going to school…. When I asked him why he has so much passion for helping undocumented students, he replied ‘because it is the right thing to do.’”

Pugh’s nominating letter addressed these areas, but also focused on the support for the Center for Community Engagement and the Volunteer Action Center, the first-ever service program for students at the University of Arkansas. He also noted programs to revitalize the Greek system on campus, particularly the Greek Life Leadership Center, and several moves that gave the Associated Student Government a critical role in decision making at the highest institutional levels of the university.

“In a remarkably short four-years, Dr. Gearhart has elevated the student to levels of prominence and focus on our campus never before seen,” Pugh concluded. “In doing so, he has established the University of Arkansas as a school of first choice for the majority of in-state students, as well as for out-of-state and international students.”