Velmer Burton, left, and Mark Poisel
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock recently announced the addition of two to its leadership team.
Velmer S. Burton Jr., dean of the University of Mississippi School of Applied Sciences, was hired as executive vice chancellor and provost. He starts the job on July 1.
Mark Allen Poisel, vice president for enrollment and student affairs at Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia, will serve as UA-Little Rock’s vice chancellor, effective July 31. Poisel will be responsible for managing the student affairs and enrollment divisions, as the position was restructured to combine those roles.
The university said Burton’s “experience leading student retention and graduation initiatives is a strong fit.”
He has nearly 30 year of experience and was a special assistant to the senior vice president for system academic administration at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
Burton and has also served as a department head, graduate dean and small campus chancellor at several universities.
He taught and studied crime and justice, criminology and research methods. Burton’s research has been published in several peer-reviewed journals.
He has a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Cincinnati, an Ed.D. in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania and a 2004 certificate for new presidents from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati.
Poisel holds a doctorate in higher education from Florida State University and has 25 years of experience in the field.
The university said he would help lead an effort to expand its student population to 15,000 in five years through recruitment and retention.
At Augusta University, Poisel was responsible for increasing new student enrollment, building two residence halls, renovating student center space, restructuring several departments, reorganizing a division and leading the efforts to consolidate two former universities into one institution.
Poisel has also served the associate provost for student success at Pace University, associate vice president for student development and enrollment services at the University of Central Florida, student services specialist for the Florida Division of Community Colleges and staff auditor for Ernst and Young.
He serves on the advisory board for the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students and previously served on the advisory board for the National Resource Center for the First Year Experience and Students in Transition.
Sign up for Daily E-news
