Dr. James Carr, senior vice president of Harding University, was named to the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board by Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Carr joins 11 other members on the board and will serve a six-year term.

The mission of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education “is to advocate for higher education, to promote a coordinated system of higher education in the state, and to assist each of the publicly and locally supported institutions of higher education in the state in improving the delivery of higher education services to the citizens of Arkansas.”

Carr will serve with the board staff to create and implement the department’s policies and procedures in addition to the agency’s numerous functions, including reviewing academic programs; administering statewide financial aid programs and contracts with the Southern Regional Education Board for support of graduate and first professional study outside of Arkansas; recommending institutional operating, capital and personal services budgets; and collecting and reporting on student and course data as part of a statewide data base and academic program inventory for policy studies.

Prior to joining the Harding staff, he served in administrative positions at Florida State University and the American College Testing Program. In 2006, he was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to a position on the National Security Education Board.

He is currently on the State Board of the Chamber of Commerce and Board of the Boy Scouts of America. He was a member of the Arkansas Forestry Commission from 2003 to 2015. He has consulted with colleges and universities around the country in the area of strategic planning, student retention, enrollment development and fundraising.

Carr is a 1970 alumnus of Harding, and he received his Ph.D. from Florida State.