COTO announces spring honors lists

MALVERN — The College of the Ouachitas recently announced the president’s and dean’s lists for the spring semester.

Students on the president’s list earned 12 or more credit hours in college level courses

and achieved a 4.0 grade-point average for the semester. Area students included were:

Bismarck

Eric Gaither.

Hot Springs

Timothy Jones.

Lonsdale

Clint Turner.

Malvern

Aaron Brown, Jessica Douskurt, Kelsey Elrod, Lloyd Howerton, Jerrilyn Moreno, Chasity Smith, Justin Stanley, Chloe Stiles, Seth Williams.

Students named to the dean’s list earned 12 or more credit hours in college level courses and achieved a GPA of at least 3.5 for the semester. Area students included were:

Hot Springs

Karen Brodin, Jordan Garner, Hannah Robinson.

Malvern

Stephanie Boren, Brandy Byers, Leann Carroll, Angelita Cruz, Sonjia Draper, Sara Johnson, Jace Keeney, Clarence Kellogg, Gary Loughren, Phillip Malone, Brittney McGriff, Kayla Overton, Madison Paine, Nicole Reynolds, Cory Stiles, James Stuckey, Brandon Williams.

Mount Ida

Zachary Kesterson.

Lakeside alum earns degree from Baylor

WACO, TEXAS — Cassandra Exum, a 2014 graduate of Lakeside High School, was among more than 2,500 graduates conferred degrees from Baylor University during spring commencement exercises May 12-13 in the Ferrell Center arena on the Baylor campus.

Cassandra Exum graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies.

Hathcock helps SAU PBL earn 36 state awards

MAGNOLIA — Hannah Hathcock, of Malvern, was among Southern Arkansas University Phi Beta Lambda chapter members who earned a total of 36 individual and team awards at the PBL State Leadership Conference in April.

A total of 15 SAU students qualified to attend and compete at the National Leadership Conference in June in Anaheim, Calif. Under the guidance of advisers Gerald Plumlee and Sheryl Edwards, 27 SAU students competed against 300 members from 14 other colleges and universities in the state of Arkansas.

Hathcock is a junior Communications Design major. She won third place in the Desktop Publishing category.

Each year, around 2,000 members from 40 states compete against each other on a national level, attend leadership development workshops and hear motivational keynote speakers. This year’s national theme is “A Legacy of Leadership,” marking FBLA-PBL’s 75th anniversary since the organization was founded in 1942.

SAU, SAU Tech pact eases transfer process

MAGNOLIA — The Southern Arkansas University System has signed an agreement to help students holding an Associate of Arts in General Studies-Law Enforcement degree from Southern Arkansas University Tech in Camden to transfer seamlessly to Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia for completion of a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice.

The collaboration is intended to help the partners to increase graduation rates, facilitate the transfer process and maintain a high-quality working relationship between the two institutions.

The SAU Criminal Justice major is designed to prepare students for entry-level positions in a variety of careers and enable experienced persons to expand their knowledge and improve their skills. The program received statewide attention earlier this year when Whitney Gass, assistant professor of criminal justice, was appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson to the Arkansas Board of Corrections for a term of seven years.

ATU undergraduate tuition to increase 3.19 percent

RUSSELLVILLE — The Arkansas Tech University Board of Trustees approved tuition and fee changes as part of a $161.1 million operating budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year during a meeting at the Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center on May 30.

Included in the budget is a

3.19-percent tuition increase for undergraduate students on the Arkansas Tech campus in Russellville. Undergraduate tuition will increase from $219 per student semester credit hour in 2016-17 to $226 per SSCH in

2017-18.

Graduate and doctoral tuition will increase from $274 to

$284 per SSCH in 2017-18. Tuition on the Ozark campus will increase from $118 to $122 per SSCH in 2017-18.

Trustees approved the second and final phase of a twoyear plan to eliminate the athletic transfer fee for students on the Russellville campus and replace it with an athletic student fee. The fee will be $18 per SSCH in 2017-18. Additional fee changes were approved for both the Russellville and Ozark campuses.