Your Personal Update

Your Personal Update is a quarterly, single-sheet newsletter mailed to a core group of friends of the UAFS Foundation. Each issue provides four or five "nuggets" of campus news that our friends may not hear through the traditional channels. Below are two sample issues. For a free subscription, call the Foundation at (479) 788-7020.

 

Eighteen months in the making and incorporating input from across the university and the community, UAFS’s new Five Year Strategic Plan: 2010 – 2015 sets forth the University’s mission and vision and formally directs all the activities and resources of the institution toward fulfilling them. UAFS’s vision is to “be a premier regional university connecting education with careers.” Its mission is to “prepare students to succeed in an ever-changing global world while advancing economic development and quality of place.” The plan calls for the mission to be accomplished by concentrating on six priorities, which are in turn supported by 24 initiatives and more than 100 action steps. “We will use [the plan] to set funding priorities, to make decisions about a multitude of topics, to drive growth that is sure to happen in a reasonable and sustainable way,” said Chancellor Paul B. Beran. See the entire plan online at  www.uafortsmith.edu/About/StrategicPlan.

 

Up 5.4% from last year, this fall’s total enrollment of more than 7,700 students is the largest ever for UAFS. (Last year’s 7,300 was also a record, up 8% from the year before.) But the newest enrollment figures are interesting for more than just their size. For instance, 65% of UAFS students now attend full-time, up 9.5% from last year, and 67% of students are now under 25 years old. In other words, more and more promising high school graduates are choosing to enroll at UAFS, instead of leaving the region for college. In fact, an increasing number of students from elsewhere are coming here: out-of-state enrollment is up 18.7%, and transfers to UAFS from other Arkansas institutions are up 8.7%. Perhaps most gratifying, though, is the increase of nearly 25% in the number of credit hours taken by juniors and seniors. Keeping students in school, after all, is at least as important as getting them there, and UAFS’s retention rates continue to rise.

 

The Lion’s Den, UAFS’s new on-campus residential complex, is now home to 343 students, who enjoy state-of-the art kitchenettes with stainless appliances, spacious study lounges, and high-tech laundry machines that—get this—actually text-message residents when their clothes are dry. Between the Lion’s Den and Sebastian Commons—an apartment-style complex opened in 2003—some 710 students now live on campus, up from about 470 last year. The dramatic increase is already changing the character of the campus; 419 students attended this fall’s intramural sports welcome and recruitment event, compared to 150 last year. Across Waldron Rd. from the Lion’s Den, a new lot with more than 350 spaces and a new intramural field are under construction to ease parking and expand opportunities for student involvement.

 

“I really did leave school with the knowledge and even experience needed to enter the workforce. But, unlike a lot of graduates, I didn’t leave with any debt. I truly do feel that I’ve received a first-class education right here at home and have been able to give back by serving on the UA Fort Smith Graphic Design Advisory Board and by working with interns. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have had a great college experience at UA Fort Smith, and who knows, maybe I’ll even go back to further my education!” —Brock Girard ’03, art director at Williams/Crawford & Associates

 

An ongoing engineering project at UAFS was featured recently on the homepage of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). AASCU rotates the banner on its homepage weekly. During the third week of May, it showed a collage of images from UAFS with the headline, “University of Arkansas – Fort Smith Students Build Electric Car.” The car in question, a Geo Metro donated by R&S Auto Parts, is now zipping silently around town, entirely on battery power. The engineering phase of the project began in 2006, when Baldor Electric made a gift of an electric motor, parts, and assistance. Since then, more than 55 students have participated. In the coming years, students will further refine the car with on-board microprocessors, a specialized instrument cluster, and more. The AASCU nod attests to UAFS's growing reputation as a thriving, innovative regional university.

 

The inaugural issue of Bell Tower, the first alumni magazine of UAFS, was mailed in early May to approximately 19,500 graduates of UAFS, Westark, and Fort Smith Junior College. The issue was highlighted by a feature story about alumna Anna Kasten Nelson ’52, now a Distinguished Historian in Residence at American University. See the magazine at www.uafortsmithalumni.com/belltower.

 

The College of Languages and Communication will launch a new Media Communication major this fall designed to position graduates at the cutting edge of the rapidly evolving world of communications and journalism. Planned with input from an advisory board of local media members, the course of study—informed by an interdisciplinary approach to new media writing, convergence journalism, and digital literacy—will be accompanied by a new communications internship program. The steady addition of new courses of study—including, since fall 2006, bachelor’s degrees in nursing, theatre, organizational leadership, and studio art—reflects both an expanding mission and increasing demand.

 

With the new residential complex at the corner of Waldron Road and Kinkead Avenue nearing completion, plans are now on the table for a major expansion and renovation of Boreham Library. The planned University Learning and Research Center will more than double the library’s current square-footage and serve not only the campus but the larger community with the latest technology and databases, spaces for team and interactive learning, and a center for economic development research. Maximum amenities—comfortable lounges, media rooms, extended hours, even a coffee shop—will make it a vibrant core for the academic community.