Stephanie Gardner
University of Arkansas System President Donald Bobbitt has named Stephanie F. Gardner, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), as interim UAMS chancellor.
The appointment is effective following the July 31 retirement of Chancellor Dan Rahn.
“The Board of Trustees and I join with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences community in thanking Dr. Gardner for taking on this responsibility,” Bobbitt said in a news release.
Bobbitt said Gardner has “a complete understanding of the academic mission of UAMS” and will work with other administrators “to ensure that the clinical enterprise continues its rapid progress.”
UAMS cited Gardner’s 26 years of experience rising through its ranks. She joined the campus as assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice in the UAMS College of Pharmacy in 1991, became chair of that department in 1996, interim dean in the college in 2003 and dean in 2004.
Gardner was named associate provost for society and health at UAMS in 2013. In 2015, she was named senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost.
“I appreciate the trust that Dr. Bobbitt and the University of Arkansas System have placed in me to lead UAMS in the period between Chancellor Rahn’s retirement and the arrival of the next chancellor,” Gardner said.
Rahn became UAMS chancellor in 2009. A search committee to find his replacement named two finalists for the position on Thursday.
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