Biography of Chancellor

Dr. Robert L. Potts
Chancellor, Arkansas State University-Jonesboro

Robert L. Potts was appointed as the first chancellor of Arkansas State University-Jonesboro in November 2006. During his tenure, the university has recorded steady enrollment growth, reinvigorated its International Program, expanded distance learning opportunities and placed new emphasis on the institution's research mission.  Recent campus construction projects include the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Health Sciences, which was made possible by the largest single donation in ASU history, the Delta Center for Economic Development, and a new 80,112 sq. ft. Student Recreation Center.  Fall semester enrollment in 2008 was 11,490, and ASU-Jonesboro has more than 60,000 living alumni. 

Chancellor Potts' current professional leadership activities include the board of directors of the Arkansas Research Alliance; the Commission on Lifelong Learning of the American Council on Education; the board of directors of Economics Arkansas; the executive council of the President's Council of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education; Arkansas Yellow Ribbon Task Force; and member of the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship Advisory Council.

Potts has had a distinguished career in higher education, serving as the chancellor of the North Dakota University System before moving to Jonesboro. Previously, he served as president of the University of North Alabama. Earlier in his career, he served as general counsel for the University of Alabama System.

Potts attended Newbold College, Bracknell, Berkshire, England, and graduated cum laude from Southern Adventist University, Collegedale, Tenn., with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He thereafter graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree, and served as an editor of the Alabama Law Review. He later graduated from Harvard University with a Master of Laws degree.

Robert Potts met his wife, Irene Elisabeth Johansson, a native of Sweden, while they were students in England.  They are the parents of two adult children. Julie Anna Potts and her husband Parks Shackelford live in the Washington, D.C. area, where Julie Anna is general counsel for the American Farm Bureau Federation and Parks, a native of Jones, La., currently works for Florida Crystals, a sugar cane company. The couple are the parents of twin daughters, Ella and Olivia, and one son, Duke.  Robert Leslie Potts, Jr. is employed as a financial analyst by Mississippi State University.  Les Potts and his wife Holly are the parents of two daughters, Claire Elisabeth and Anna Leslie, and reside in Starkville, Mississippi.