UA System approves eVersity curriculum
The University of Arkansas System board of trustees Wednesday unanimously approved the curriculum for eVersity, the system's online-only university.
The coursework includes a core curriculum, along with program options in business, criminal justice, health care management, information technology and university studies. Nearly 30 faculty members from campuses across the UA System hashed out what the coursework for each program should look like. The classes got a second OK from another group called the Academic Governance Council.
The core curriculum has a heavy emphasis on workforce education, said Michael Moore, the system's vice president for academic affairs who is leading the eVersity efforts. The goal is to help students get degrees through eVersity that are "directly transferable to the workforce," he said.
The online-only university is set up differently, allowing students to take one course during a six-week period and then move on to the next one in the degree track.
Moore said his group is on track to recruit students for eVersity this summer and begin classes in October.
Board's OK moves UAMS closer to land
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences moved a step closer Wednesday in purchasing a parcel of land in Little Rock for about $2 million.
The 11-acre property includes the Fullerton Building at 4601 W. Seventh St., which is now vacant because of disrepair; Ricks Armory, which was vacated by the Arkansas National Guard in August after a storm damaged its roof; a parking lot near the American Red Cross at 401. S. Monroe St.; and an electrical substation.
On Wednesday, the University of Arkansas System board of trustees OK'd the purchase from the State Institutional System Board, which manages the facilities owned by the state Department of Human Services.
UAMS officials have been interested in the property for some time, said Dan Rahn, chancellor of the academic medical center. The plan is to place all the support services -- including human resources, the finance division and the information technology department -- in the newly acquired area, Rahn said. Currently, they are scattered throughout the UAMS campus.
The State Institutional System Board will need to give final approval of the sale.
Ex-students eligible for degree at UAPB
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff now will offer an associate degree of arts to former students who have completed at least 60 semester credit hours.
The move came Wednesday with the approval of the University of Arkansas System board of trustees.
The degree is available to UAPB students who are no longer enrolled at the university but have earned at least 60 semester credit hours. Transfer students with at least 45 credit hours of general education classes also can receive the degree if they complete another 15 semester credit hours.
"We think it offers a pathway for former students to better credential themselves," said Jacqueline McCray, interim vice chancellor for academic affairs at UAPB.
McCray said that most four-year institutions have something similar in place, including the University of Arkansas at Monticello and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Nearly 500 former UAPB students meet the requirement to earn this degree, she said.
Metro on 03/19/2015