School briefs
HSSD schools to host EAST Council meeting
Students in Environmental and Spatial Technology programs in the Hot Springs School District have invited community partners to their newly formed EAST Council to examine existing project, explore new opportunities and collaborate with members of the community.
Fifth- and sixth-grade students in the Hot Springs Intermediate School EAST program under Cassandra Dixon worked with students in the EAST program at Gardner STEM Magnet School, under Paul Miller, to create the council.
The first meeting will be held Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in Room 240 of the intermediate school.
Guests are asked to brainstorm potential projects to fix problems they see around the Hot Springs community and reach out to other potential partners. The council is also seeking contests the students can enter and grants for which they may qualify.
Referrals can be emailed to dixonc@hssd.net.
UAM announces August grads
MONTICELLO — Carlos Celis and Miranda Welch, both of Hot Springs, and Justin Richerson, of Bismarck, were among 138 students presented 140 awards by the University of Arkansas at Monticello when they completed their academic requirements in August, according to information recently released by the UAM registrar’s office.
Celis graduated with an Associate of Arts.
Welch graduated with a Master of Arts in Teaching.
Richerson graduated with an Associate of Arts.
Governor announces UCA cyber range grant
CONWAY — Gov. Asa Hutchinson recently announced a $500,000 grant from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education would help the University of Central Arkansas fund a fully functional dedicated cyber range for educational training, a first-of-itskind operation.
The cutting-edge tool in high-tech cyber security training will be housed on the campus of UCA and is a complementary initiative to support computer-science education in Arkansas. A cyber range is a dedicated computer system that can simulate a computer network.
Cyber ranges have long been utilized for the nation’s security matters. Arkansas students will now have access to the same technology for the very first time.
UCA will house the first educational cyber range in the region. Arkansas will be the first state in the country to implement a range with higher education and K-12 curriculum plans at the range’s foundation.
Also announced was a memorandum of understanding with the Arkansas Educational Television Network to create a partnership to develop cyber security, coding, computer programming, computer science and other curricula in Arkansas schools.
Arkansas Tech receives grant to support veterans
RUSSELLVILLE — Arkansas Tech University earned a federal grant that will allow the institution to enhance its support for veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Veterans Upward Bound will provide student success resources to 125 veterans at the university each year. It will be the fourth TRiO program at Arkansas Tech, joining the existing Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math and Science, and Student Support Services programs.
The grant for Veterans Upward Bound is for five years with $263,938 in the first year. Anticipated funding from the U.S. Department of Education from Sept. 1, 2017, through Aug. 31, 2022, is more than $1.3 million.
Included in the funding are resources to hire three fulltime personnel to administer the program, which will serve students on the Arkansas Tech campuses in Russellville and Ozark. It is anticipated students will be served by the program beginning with the spring 2018 semester.
Fewer than 60 universities and colleges in the United States were selected to host a Veterans Upward Bound program for the 2017-22 cycle.
Grant to fund transition education at the U of A
FAYETTEVILLE — A new
$1 million grant to University of Arkansas faculty from the United States Department of Education will be used to prepare
36 graduate students in special education and communication disorders to improve transition services for high school students with disabilities and help them move into the workforce or postsecondary education.
The College of Education and Health Professions and J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences put together an interdisciplinary team to write the grant proposal. The team will continue to collaborate with school districts and communities throughout the five-year life of the grant.
Suzanne Kucharczyk, an assistant professor of special education, is the primary investigator, along with Peggy Schaefer Whitby, associate professor of special education, and Kimberly Frazier, associate professor of communication disorders.
The grant will provide tuition and book stipend funding for graduate students in special education and communication disorders. Students will also receive funding to attend a summit sponsored every other year by Arkansas Transition Services.
Current and potential students interested in the project can email Kucharczyk at suzannek@uark.edu.
HSU psychology program listed among best in state
ARKADELPHIA — Henderson State University’s psychology program was recently named one of the top in the state of Arkansas by Zippia, a career information services website.
Ranked No. 2 in the state, Henderson’s program offers students “unique job prospects” and “continual intellectual challenge,” according to the ranking.
To evaluate programs, the services provider focused on career results, mean earnings, emphasis areas, percentage of graduates who have majored in psychology, cost of attendance and amount of debt for graduates.
The company examined data from the National Center for Education Statistics and College Scorecard data from ED.gov to understand which Psychology departments offer the best career opportunities.
The company compiled the data and ranked each of the schools for each of the criteria. They averaged the rankings to create a “Psychology Quality Index.”