Warwick Sabin has been named Director of Communications for UCA, just a few days after Kane Webb was scheduled to take the position, President Lu Hardin said Monday.

“Kane and I talked several times about his commitment to editorial writing and editorial management of a newspaper,” Hardin said. “While he was excited about the possibilities of higher education, his heart was in day-to-day newspaper editorial work and he decided to remain in the newspaper business.”

Webb, assistant editorial page editor and opinion page columnist at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, was named director of communications earlier this month after the position came open in December following Tommy Jackson’s resignation.

After Jackson resigned, Hardin said he was changing the position from a full vice president’s position to a senior-staff position but said the change was in name only.

“Semantics – totally semantics,” Hardin said. “We are actually, in some ways, expanding the position.”

Hardin said Webb met him in Little Rock last week and said he had reservations about leaving the newspaper business.

“He indicated he felt like he would miss the newspaper business,” Hardin said. “[It was] something that was bothering him on a daily basis and so he decided that his heart was in the newspaper business.”

In an e-mail sent Wednesday, Feb. 21, by Webb, he said: “I won’t be going to UCA. In the end, Lu Hardin and I mutually agreed that it just wasn’t a good fit – for either me or the institution. But mostly for me. I fear I’m too far gone as a writer and journalist to be a publicist.”

Hardin said Sabin’s salary will be $92,000 annually.

“Warwick Sabin will be an asset to UCA,” Hardin said. “Warwick has exceptional academic credentials, having studied as a Marshall scholar and is also an outstanding writer. I am very pleased we were able to get someone of Warwick’s ability in this important position.”

Hardin also said Sabin plans to teach one or two courses at the university in addition to this communications duties.

In a UCA press release, Sabin said: “I’m excited about the opportunity to help advance a dynamic university and underscore the importance of higher education in Arkansas. UCA is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and there is an undeniable energy on campus as the university expands in so many positive, innovate ways under Lu Hardin’s leadership.”

Sabin currently co-hosts Unconventional Wisdom on AETN and will continue to do as long as no conflict exists, Hardin said.

According to the press release, Sabin was director of development for the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation in Little Rock and communications director for U.S. Rep. Marion Berry in Washington D.C.

Sabin is a 1998 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Arkansas.