15 Dec 2013 Investiture for UCA President Tom Courtway
by Sonja J. Keith
Tom Courtway was officially confirmed as the 10th president of the University of Central Arkansas in a ceremony Nov. 20.
Gov. Mike Beebe delivered the keynote address during the investiture ceremony, which was attended by former governor and U.S. Sen. David Pryor and other dignitaries.
A reception was held after the ceremony in McCastlain Hall, and an inauguration concert took place that evening.
Courtway was appointed president by the UCA Board of Trustees in December 2011 and had been serving as interim president.
UCA first hired Courtway as general counsel in 2002. He left in late 2003 to serve as interim director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education and returned to UCA as general counsel in 2004. In December 2005, Courtway became vice president of Hendrix College in Conway until August 2006, when he returned to UCA as vice president and general counsel.
Highlights of Courtway’s service as president include the adoption of an official university seal; opening of Bear Hall, a 122,200 square-foot residence hall, which also houses UCA’s Athletics Department offices and skyboxes overlooking Estes Stadium; and the construction of a 200-seat campus amphitheater.
Courtway was born in Wynne and graduated from Conway High School in 1971. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics and business from Hendrix College in 1974, a juris doctorate with honors from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1978 and an M.L.T. from Georgetown University in 1983.
He and his wife, Melissa, have four sons and two granddaughters.
