Dr. Trey Berry has been selected to serve as the 12th president of Southern Arkansas University following a vote of the University’s Board of Trustees on Thursday afternoon. He will assume the post on July 1.
The Board chose Berry from among three finalists who were interviewed earlier this month.
Berry currently serves as SAU’s provost and vice president for academic affairs. He came to the University in 2012 as professor of history and dean of the College of Liberal and Performing Arts.
A native of Shreveport, La., Berry spent most of his youth in Arkadelphia where he later graduated from Ouachita Baptist University. He earned master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Mississippi.
Berry and his wife, Dr. Katherine Simms Berry, are the parents to Tanner, 16, and Berkeley, 6.
The public is invited to welcome Berry at a reception and press conference to be held at noon on Friday, February 20, in the Grand Hall of the Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Community Center. Current SAU System President Dr. David Rankin was welcomed with a reception in similar fashion in January 2002. He will retire at the end of this academic year on June 30.
