Emporia ? Michael Lane, the provost at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, will be introduced as president of Emporia State University during a news conference Friday, the Kansas Board of Regents said.

It will be the third move for Lane in the past two years. Before his stint at Arkansas-Fort Smith, Lane was provost at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania.

“We’re extremely impressed by Dr. Lane’s experience, character and the enthusiasm he will bring with him to Emporia,” Nelson Galle, chairman of the Board of Regents, said in a news release. “I’m confident that Dr. Lane’s abilities will serve ESU, the Emporia community and the state of Kansas well for many years to come.”

Lane replaces Kay Schallenkamp, who was named president of Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D., in January. She had been Emporia State president since 1997.

During a visit to Emporia earlier this month, Lane said the school must pursue private funding to combat declining state support. He also said the school needs to revise its marketing plan to avoid the connotation of being “the cheap school.”

“We need to look at tuition and whether to raise it, but we also have to be conscious that, as a state university, we need to remain affordable for those who have difficulty affording higher education,” he said.

Lane earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. He also holds a master’s degree in accounting from Northeastern University and a doctorate in accounting from Texas A&M.

He began his teaching career at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., rising to associate dean. In 1994, Lane was named dean of the business school at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. He took a similar position at Berry College in Rome, Ga., before moving to Mansfield in 2000.