School briefs
Third draft of plan now available online
The third draft of the Arkansas Accountability System plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act has been submitted to Gov. Asa Hutchinson for review.
The draft is available online at http://www.arkansased.gov/ divisions/public-school-accountability/every-student-succeeds-act-essa.
All stakeholders are encouraged to read the latest draft and send feedback by Aug. 31 to ade. essacomments@arkansas.gov. The department will submit the final version to the U.S. Department of Education by Sept. 18.
SAU signs historic pact with Cuban university
MAGNOLIA — Southern Arkansas University participated in a historic exchange agreement with the University of Artemisa when it hosted three Cuban nationals Aug. 5-12.
Trey Berry, president of SAU, and Carlos Eduardo Suarez Ponciano, rector or president of the Artemisa, formalized the exchange in a signing ceremony Wednesday in the rotunda of the state Capitol in Little Rock.
A new mural will be painted on the large planter between Nelson Hall and Harton Theatre. It will complement a mural painted at Artemisa by Steven Ochs, SAU professor of art, and art student Veronica Ramirez, who visited the university along with Honors College Director Ed Kardas in November.
Berry said SAU is the first university in Arkansas to create an exchange program with a university in Cuba.
Veterans writing retreat set at Hemingway-Pfeiffer
PIGGOTT — Acclaimed author and Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway’s studio at the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center, an Arkansas State University
Heritage Site, is now the site of an all-expense-paid weekend writing retreat for military veterans Sept. 15-17.
Applications are being accepted until Aug. 25. Hemingway penned portions of “A Farewell to Arms” at the home of his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, in Piggott in 1928.
The retreat offers veterans from or living in Arkansas the opportunity to work on personal creative writing, share their work, receive feedback and interact with others interested in writing. The retreat is structured to be interactive, a time when friendships are formed, craft is honed and creativity is enhanced.
Email adamlong@AState.edu or call the museum at 870-598-3487 to receive an application. The retreat will be held in partnership with the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Private support pushes campaign past $650M
FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas raised more than $100 million in private gift support for students, faculty and staff, capital projects and programs for the seventh year in a row.
The 2017 fiscal year ended with $134.2 million in private gift support, slightly outpacing 2016 and making it the third-best year in the university’s fundraising history. The amount of private gift support surpassed the university’s goal of $125 million and included gifts of cash, gifts-in-kind, planned gifts and new pledges to the university received from July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017. The amount brings the total raised for Campaign Arkansas to $657.1 million.
Campaign Arkansas is an eight-year comprehensive fundraising campaign focused on advancing academic opportunity at the university. The goal of the campaign is to raise $1 billion by June 30, 2020.
The campaign launched to the public last fall. Alumnus Doug McMillon and his wife, Shelley, will lead the campaign as co-chairs through June 30, 2018.