Courtway accepts UCA President position

CONWAY, AR - The board of trustees at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway unanimously voted Friday afternoon to name Tom Courtway as president, removing the interim tag from his title.

Courtway will serve up to three years without a contract, car allowance or severance package.  His salary will remain the same until July 2012 when the board will meet and decide whether to increase it.

The semester is winding down at UCA but talk of its next full time leader very much heating up.

Interim president Tom Courtway took that title when Allen Meadors resigned under pressure in September.

A food vendors offer to fix up the president's home in exchange for extending its contract did Meadors in.

Courtway's first go round as interim president arrived in 2008, after Lu Hardin also forced to resign under pressure over giving himself an illegal bonus.

Late Friday afternoon, the board of trustees extending the full time gig to Courtway.

"I felt like that if I was going to do it for a long period than 10 months than I felt it was important for the university to have a president while they do that search," Courtway says.

"He'll give us a sense of stability that we really need to recover from our past problems that we've had," trustee Bobby Reynolds says.

Courtway charged with stabilizing the financial health of the state's fourth largest university.

"I think it's quieted down some already and it's happening everyday," Courtway says. "There are a lot of good things happening on this campus as far as our students, faculty, staff are concerned. So it's happened already and it will get better."

Courtway says his goals include boosting enrollment for the university and working on UCA's long-range strategic planning.