(JOPLIN, Mo., AP) — Retiring Crowder College president Alan Marble will serve as interim president of Missouri Southern State University as it searches for a replacement for its recently fired president, school officials said.
Marble will start his new job July 1, Missouri Southern’s Board of Governors announced Thursday. He will replace Bruce Speck, who was fired this week with two years left on his contract.
Marble is retiring after 27 years at Crowder College in Neosho. Speck hired him last month to become special assistant to the president, a new position at Missouri Southern. Crowder said Thursday that position likely will not be filled, The Joplin Globe reported (http://bit.ly/199Nghe).
Marble said the terms of his contract are still being finalized but he expects his salary to be higher than the $125,000 he was scheduled to earn as assistant to the president. He said he is still formulating his plans for the job.
“I think it’s important for a person to get to know the people” of the university, he said. “We’re going to figure out together where we’re going to go.”
Sherry Buchanan, chairwoman of the board, said Marble’s contract is for one year but it is “open-ended” until a new president is found. No further details on the search effort or timeline have been announced.
Board members have not discussed the reasons for Speck’s dismissal. The university’s faculty clashed with Speck during his five-year tenure, culminating in a vote of no-confidence for what they said was poor communication and withholding of information.