Terisa C. Riley took office as chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, succeeding Paul Beran. She came to UAFS from Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where she served in a number of roles, including vice president for student affairs, senior VP for fiscal and student affairs and, ultimately, senior vice president for student affairs and university administration.
Before her tenure at Kingsville, Riley had worked at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, Saint Louis University and Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri.
Riley earned a bachelor’s in communications and a master’s in higher education administration from the University of Missouri at Columbia and a doctorate in higher education administration from Saint Louis University.
College is a sizable investment. How does UAFS ensure its students are getting a solid return on investment? Is there a way to quantify that?
I believe the best investment any student can make is in themselves. As a comprehensive regional institution, our students benefit from outstanding academic experiences and amenities at a low tuition rate, and we are implementing systems and structures to help our students reach graduation so they can fully capitalize on their education through high-paying jobs.
Fiscally speaking, Arkansans who earn a bachelor’s degree see an average increase in annual pay of $18,864. Our average net cost for tuition, fees, room and board is just $10,809. So a student who earns a four-year bachelor’s degree at UAFS can break even on their out-of-pocket investment in just 2.3 years — far quicker than the national average of nearly four years.
You graduated from the National Police Institute. How has law enforcement experience informed your career?
Working in law enforcement, you learn to minimize risk, to be proactive and to truly scan the landscape to remain aware. Scanning the higher education landscape is something that came naturally as a result of my training and graduate studies. That training taught me to be on guard to prevent problems before they become problems. Training in risk management and safety, especially in light of campus violence that has happened across the nation, has made me very empathetic to my colleagues in higher education and has helped me prepare my campus in a more robust way everywhere I’ve worked. Creating emergency management plans and conducting tabletop and full-scale exercises have been a major part of my work in emergency preparation and business continuity planning.
How do you plan to integrate workforce development into UAFS’ educational offerings?
I honestly believe we do an excellent job of workforce development and creating a pipeline of education. It’s one of the things that attracted me to UAFS. I love the fact that students as young as high school get robust educational experiences and earn certificates that will help them earn higher incomes and allow them to be better prepared for work. Every step of our educational pipeline aims to diversify students’ knowledge, improve their soft skills and encourage continual learning.
UAFS is constantly assessing the needs of our public schools and our community. We understand the importance of matching the attitude of students as young as seventh grade with the needs of our workforce so that we’re better able to provide robust educational opportunities.
What drew you to higher ed?
As a first-generation college student, I worked three jobs to pay for college. Luckily, a student I trusted encouraged me to speak to my residence hall assistant about options and resources, which kept me from dropping out with debt and no degree. When I realized that student success strategies were embedded across all different areas of higher education, I wanted to pay it forward and work in this field, so that I could help remove or reduce barriers and help students be successful.
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