Martin, McCray, Okiror appointed to senior-level positions in UAPB administration
Martin
McCray
Okiror
Three administrators were appointed to senior-level positions— Dr. Carla Martin was named Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration; Dr. Jacquelyn W. McCray was named Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and Dr. Linda Okiror was named Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management and Student Success. Dr. Martin, who has served as Interim Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration since 2014, is a former Dean of the School of Business and Management at UAPB. Before joining UAPB, she worked as an attorney with Corporate Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., as a Real Estate Transactions Manager and Senior Manager of Supplier Diversity, where she was responsible for partnering with the company’s procurement structures to create and sustain business opportunities with Wal-Mart’s more than 2,500 minority and women owned suppliers. Attorney Martin practiced in the areas of criminal defense, domestic relations (adoptions, child custody, child support, divorce), personal injury, wrongful death, probate (wills), real estate, and civil litigation. Dr. Martin is involved with the Pine Bluff Rotary Club and Leadership Pine Bluff. She also serves as a board member to the University of Arkansas National Alumni Association; the University of Arkansas School of Law Alumni Board; the Foundation for the Mid-South; United Way of Southeast Arkansas; Jefferson Hospital Association, Inc. Membership Board; the Boys and Girls Club of Jefferson County; the Pine Bluff Regional Chamber of Commerce; the Pine Bluff Jefferson County Library Board; the Pine Bluff Area Community Foundation; National Association of University Women; The Links, Incorporated; and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. A native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Dr. Martin was the top graduate from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. She received her Juris Doctorate degree in 2004 from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville School of Law. Dr. McCray, who has served as Interim Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs since 2014, is a former Dean of the School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences and former Director of the 1890 Research and Extension Programs at UAPB. She has previously served in various capacities including Professor of Home Economics, Assistant Administrator for 1890 Programs, and Deputy Dean. She was awarded $20 million in grants and contracts through the USDA and other federal agencies. In 1991, Dr. McCray was elected President of the American Association of Housing Educators. She also served as Chair of the 1890 Association of Extension Administrators and as a member of the USDA Extension Committee on Organization and Policies.
A native of Monticello, Arkansas, Dr. McCray received a Bachelor of Science from Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College, (now the UAPB). She received a Master of Arts from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. from Florida State University. Named a Distinguished Alumnus by the College of Human Sciences at Florida State University and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Dr. McCray also was named in 2007 a Centennial Laureate, one of the top 100 graduates of the FSU College of Human Sciences during its 100 years of existence. Upon her appointment as a Vice Chancellor, Dr. Okiror will serve as a member of the Executive Cabinet. In addition, UAPB will raise Enrollment Management and Student Success to a Division within the university. Dr. Okiror, who has served as Associate Vice Chancellor of Enrollment Management and Student Success since 2014, has responsibility for the Offices of Recruitment, Admissions, the Student Success Center, and the summer Learning Institute and Opportunities for New Students (LIONS) Program. She provides leadership to programs that create opportunities for the recruitment of new students and the success, retention, and persistence to graduation of continuing students. In 1996, Dr. Okiror started in the School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences, where she rose from Assistant to the Dean to Associate Dean for Academic Programs. She has been a member of the enrollment management administrative team since 1998 as Director of Education Assessment and is the founder and past director of the LIONS Program. Dr. Okiror authored and co-authored grants of more than $1.5 million for programs that support student success and faculty development. She has 17 years experience with summer programs bridging to college readiness, and faculty development. Dr. Okiror holds a Ph.D. in crop physiology from the University of Minnesota and a masters of education from Trenton State College in Trenton, New Jersey.
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