A Letter From Chancellor Boyce Regarding Retirement of Larry Sparks

Larry Sparks, the university’s vice chancellor for administration and finance and a distinguished leader on our campus for nearly 25 years, will retire from the University of Mississippi at the end of this calendar year.

The Oxford native and Ole Miss alumnus joined the University of Mississippi in 1997, and he has served in his current role as the university’s chief financial officer since 2006. He provided continuity during an important period by serving as interim chancellor in 2019.

Larry also served as president of the University of Mississippi Educational Building Corporation and as the university representative on the Joint Committee on Investments, which oversees the endowments for the University of Mississippi, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and the UM Foundation. He is also a member of the IHL-UMMC Partnership and Affiliation Review Committee. He also serves on the Executive Council of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).

Prior to joining the Ole Miss staff, Sparks served in several positions with the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, including assistant commissioner for audit and budget and deputy assistant commissioner for finance and administration.

A committee has been convened to conduct a national search for a new vice-chancellor. Information about the search and the members of the search committee will be posted shortly on the chancellor’s website.

Please join me in wishing Larry all the best in his well-earned retirement, and thank him for everything he has done to advance our university over the last 23 years.

-Chancellor Glenn Boyce