University of Arkansas notebook

Issuing bonds OK’d for training center

The University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton got the go-ahead Friday to issue up to $10 million in bonds for a new workforce training center.

The community college has raised about $2 million through a capital campaign, and it is hoping to reach $3 million before the end of the year, Chancellor Larry Davis said.

The center will have more space for many technical training programs, including welding, automotive technology and industrial maintenance, according to documents.

Tuition and fee revenue will help pay the debt service, the documents show.

Currently, the 2,044-student campus has a 50-yearold vocational-technical education building, Davis said. The new building will be a 65,000-square-foot training facility, he said.

Chancellor-search panel head picked

University of Arkansas System President Donald Bobbitt has named a chairman for a new chancellor search committee.

The committee is tasked with helping find a replacement for University of Arkansas at Little Rock Chancellor Joel E. Anderson, who is retiring June 30.

Anderson has led the university for about 13 years. The system is hoping to fill the leadership position by July 1.

Bobbitt said Friday that he has named Bob Denman, the university’s vice chancellor for advancement, as the head of the chancellor search committee. Denman is also stepping down from his position in March.

eVersity enrolls 219 for Net classes

The University of Arkansas System’s online-only university has admitted 219 students since the application period opened in September.

Altogether, eVersity officials received 279 applications by Nov. 18 to enroll in the online-only university. In addition to those who completed applications, seven decided not to attend after speaking with an adviser, two could not attend because they were not Arkansas residents and one withdrew the application, said Michael Moore, the UA System’s vice president for academic affairs who is leading eVersity efforts.

The university’s officials are still reviewing 60 applications, he said.

The average age of students is about 35, he said. The university is targeting adult Arkansans who have started college but never finished.

The eVersity has also teamed up with the University of Arkansas at Monticello to help provide federal financial aid to its students. The online-only university can’t offer federal financial aid until it earns accreditation, so the partnership will enroll eVersity students to concurrent degree programs at UA-Monticello.

UAMS approved to merge programs

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will reorganize four graduate programs into one with specialty tracks.

Students on the new tracks will complete a common core curriculum, along with courses and electives specific to the track. The reconfigurations are: a pharmacology, toxicology and experimental therapeutics track; interdisciplinary biomedical sciences: pathobiology; interdisciplinary biomedical sciences: biochemistry and molecular biology; and interdisciplinary biomedical sciences: microbiology and immunology.

The new tracks got the OK from the University of Arkansas System board of trustees Friday and will need approval from the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Board.

UAMS is hoping to get the tracks — which don’t require new course work or funding — in place by the fall 2016 semester.

If enrollment and budget goals for the programs do not meet expectations after five years, they will be discontinued. UAMS is expecting three to four students to choose each of the tracks.

$54M set for work on 4 UA projects

More than $54 million in construction and renovation projects planned for the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville received approval Friday from UA System trustees.

About 106 acres at three sites apart from the main campus will become recreational fields and courts for students in an estimated $20 million project. Dallas-based SmithGroupJJR and Conway-based Nabholz Construction are expected to design and construct the sites.

The estimate does not include land costs. About $2.5 million in purchase agreements were approved in January 2014 for approximately 66 acres.

Also approved was an $11.6 million renovation to Kimpel Hall — considered to be the busiest classroom building, with 30,222 scheduled credit hours during the most recent spring semester. A student media addition is planned.

An $11.7 million expansion of the on-campus health facility and an $11.4 million library storage building were also approved.

Ferritor cuts up at successor’s hire

A video message featuring a dance performance by UA-Fayetteville’s interim Chancellor Dan Ferritor quickly brought on a standing ovation at Friday’s board meeting of trustees for the UA System.

Addressing trustees and UA System President Donald Bobbitt, Ferritor said in the video that he promised to perform a dance “from my era” — the Charleston — should a chancellor be hired before the November board meeting.

Ferritor, 76, praised the hire of Joseph Steinmetz last month, who will take over top administrator duties Jan. 1 for the Fayetteville campus.

Wearing red suspenders, a bow tie and a flat cap, Ferritor danced with gusto in a performance that won over the crowd.

Now set to retire after a career spanning more than four decades with UA and the UA System, Ferritor also received serious praise from Bobbitt.

“Dr. Ferritor’s service will not be equaled,” Bobbitt said.

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