NEWS IN BRIEF : University of Arkansas notebook
Posted on Friday, January 26, 2007
UALR to partner with Tulsa school
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will enter into its first distance-learning partnership with a community college outside Arkansas.
Under a collaboration approved by the University of Arkansas board of trustees on Thursday, students in the interpreter education program at Tulsa Community College can complete UALR’s bachelor of arts degree in American Sign Language / English interpretation through online classes.
David Belcher, the provost of the 12, 000-student campus in Little Rock, said the program will use resources and technology that the university already has.
Students in the Tulsa program would pay a variable tuition rate to take UALR classes that is higher than what students pay in Arkansas.
By 2012, the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf requires that all interpreters have a baccalaureate degree before taking the test for professional certification. But no public university in Oklahoma at present offers a bachelor’s program in interpretation, Belcher said.
UA Trustee Jim Lindsey of Fayetteville initially wondered whether the program was a good use of university resources.
“If it’s a money-maker for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, I’m in favor of it,” he said. “But if it’s not a money-maker, if it’s just a service rendered to the people in the state of Oklahoma, then I don’t understand exactly our charge.”
University of Arkansas System President B. Alan Sugg likened the UALR program to a University of Tennessee program that reserves spots for Arkansas dental students since this state does not have a dental school.
“It looks like it works both ways,” said UA Trustee Jane Rogers of Little Rock.
The board then approved the partnership unanimously. Architects OK’d for bond projects
The UA trustees on Thursday selected architectural firms for two community college campus projects that will use funds from the college bond program that voters approved Nov. 7.
The UA Community College at Hope plans to use Harris Architects of Hot Springs to design a new science / health professions complex on campus. The project will cost an estimated $ 3. 6 million, about $ 2. 2 million of which will come from the bond program. Chuck Welch, chancellor of the 1, 120-student college, said the rest will be paid with a mixture of private donations and college funds.
The UA Community College at Morrilton plans to use Fennell-Purifoy-Hammock Architects of Little Rock for a $ 3. 9 million project that includes a new library and an addition to the Plaza, the campus student center. Nathan Crook, the chancellor of the 1, 800-student college, said the project will use about $ 3. 15 million of bond funds, and $ 750, 000 the college has been saving for the project. UA board officers to remain in posts The UA board of trustees on Thursday chose to keep the same slate of officers in 2007. Stanley E. Reed, the president of the Arkansas Farm Bureau and a Marianna resident, will continue as the chairman. Other board officers selected by fellow trustees to remain in their posts are: Jim Lindsey of Fayetteville, vice chairman; Jane Rogers of Little Rock, secretary; and Dr. Carl Johnson of Little Rock, assistant secretary.
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