FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The search committee for a new director of the University of Arkansas Press has been appointed, the University announced today.

The members are:
- Jeannie Whayne, chair of the department of history, who will serve as chair of the search committee;
- Charles H. Adams, chair of the department of English;
- Hal Berghel, professor of computer science;
- John Duval, professor of English;
- Gerald Jordan, associate professor of journalism;
- John Lewis, president, Bank of Fayetteville;
- Bobby Roberts, director of the Central Arkansas Library System;
- Archie Schaffer, director of media relations and government affairs for Tyson Foods Inc.;
- Elliott West, professor of history; and
- Joseph H. Ziegler, chair of the department of economics.
In addition, John Coghlan, interim director of the UA Press, will serve as a resource person for the committee.

The committee was appointed by Collis Geren, dean of the Graduate School, associate vice chancellor for research and the administrator to whom the UA Press reports.

"I am delighted with the intellectual depth and breadth represented by this committee," said University Chancellor John A. White. "I appreciate their willingness to serve and anticipate the vital contribution they will make by recommending a talented candidate to lead the Press into the next century. I also am grateful to Dr. Geren for his success in assembling such a strong search committee.

"The selection of our next director is the key to our plans for strengthening a highly regarded scholarly press and continuing to build its reputationwhich in turn will contribute to our emergence as a nationally respected research university," White added. "We will count on our new director to help bring the University of Arkansas Press into the top tier of the nation's academic presses."

The nationwide search for a new director stems from the recommendation of the Ad Hoc Committee to Restructure the University of Arkansas Press. The ad hoc committee recommended that candidates be well qualified to lead the acquisitions, editorial and fund-raising efforts of the Press.

"Each of the members of our search committee brings unique credentials to the committee that will allow us to identify and hire the very best director," Geren said. "We are specifically seeking candidates who have demonstrated abilities in acquiring and publishing works of national and international significance, and who will be a capable fund-raiser for the Press."

The first step of the search committee will be to draft an advertisement for the director that will be placed in relevant national publications, Geren said. The goal is to have a new director in place by July 1, the beginning of the next academic year.

"There are more than 3,600 colleges and universities in America, but no more than 100 first-rate scholarly presses," Geren said. "Scholarly presses have faced severe technological, marketing and financial challenges in recent years, and good directors are few in number and difficult to recruit in such a competitive environment for their services.

"Nevertheless, as our consultants have told us, the Press has been in its 18 years of life `unusually active and distinguished,' publishing `a list of unusually high quality works for such a young publishing venture,'" Geren added. "To the next director, we offer a great opportunity to continue publishing works of national and international significance, especially in poetry, literary studies, Southern history, biography and minority studies, as well as major works on Arkansas history and culture."

Earlier this spring, in an effort to shore up financial support for the UA Press, the University pledged to provide $250,000 in annual operating funds. In addition, the Tyson Foundation made a gift of $1 million to endow the Press.

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