After the resignation of President Farris, Bill Pate became interim president and served from December 1, 1986 until December 31, 1987. Pate’s successor as interim president was H.B. Hardy who assumed the duties of interim president on January 1, 1988 and served until March 31, 1988. Winfred Thompson officially began his duties as UCA’s seventh president on April 1, 1988. Thompson has the distinction of being UCA’s second long-serving president, second only to Silas Snow. Thompson came to UCA from the University of Arkansas where he was a vice-president. His presence on campus became known rather quickly as he began transforming the campus with the addition of several new buildings. In fact, during Thompson’s administration there was $125 million in new construction and renovation of existing facilities. Also to Thompson’s credit UCA received two doctoral programs, one in school psychology and one in physical therapy. He also was proud to have increased student enrollment while simultaneously increasing UCA’s ACT scores. Thompson left UCA on December 21, 2001.