Joel Anderson

Dr. Joel E. Anderson became the Chancellor of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2003, bringing with him more than thirty years of university and community service.

As Dean and Provost, Dr. Anderson led the university to become a doctoral-level institution with an increase in research grants and contracts from $5 million to $22 million. His academic leadership helped UALR earn the “research intensive” national Carnegie classification. Often using the line “you have to face it to fix it,” Dr. Anderson has led the university to highlight the need for the community and the state to address issues of race.

Chancellor Anderson is successfully leading an effort to establish the first ever Institute on Race and Ethnicity that will live within the University of Arkansas system. The Institute will serve as the resource for multi-disciplinary research-driven data- including historical, sociological, educational, and economic analysis- in order to combat structural racism and support racial and ethnic justice.

Dr. Anderson is a graduate of Harding University (BA in political science), American University, (MA in international relations), and the University of Michigan (PhD in political science). He also completed the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University.