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OBU Names Charles Wright Interim President

2 min read

Ouachita Baptist University of Arkadelphia has named Charles Wright, the university’s retired dean of fine arts, to be interim president while it seeks a replacement for Rex Horne, who will leave the university at the end of the month.

Horne, who has been university president since 2006, announced in May that he would leave OBU to become president of Arkansas’ Independent Colleges and Universities.

Wright, professor emeritus of music, retired in 2004 following a 40-year career at OBU. He returned to the university staff in 2013 as a development officer.

“We are very pleased to have Dr. Charles Wright serving as Ouachita’s interim president,” said Jay Heflin, chairman of the university’s board of trustees. “Dr. Wright has dedicated his career to serving Ouachita in numerous ways. He is the ideal individual to help lead us during these days of transition.”

Heflin named members of the presidential search committee in June. Gene Whisenhunt, executive vice president and CFO of Hickingbotham Investments in Little Rock and the immediate past chairman of OBU’s board of trustees, is committee chairman.

The committee will begin taking applications for president on Monday. It plans to meet on Sept. 10 to begin reviewing nominations and resumes. Its leaders said they will conduct a national search for Horne’s successor. They said the process could take six months to a year.

Heflin said the group will “seek candidates who would inspire the trust and confidence of the entire campus community as well as Ouachita’s Baptist constituency and who value and understand Ouachita’s relationship with the churches of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.”

OBU is a private, undergraduate university affiliated with the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. It had 1,500 students enrolled in fall 2014.

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