$500,000 gift aids Empower program
FAYETTEVILLE -- A $500,000 gift from the Dallas-based A.L. Chilton Foundation will support a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville program enrolling students with cognitive disabilities.
Half the gift will create a scholarship endowment for students in the four-year, nondegree Educate, Motivate, Prepare, Opportunity, Workplace Readiness, Employment, Responsibility program.
The Empower program enrolled its first students this past fall and has four students, said Tom Smith, a special education professor who led work creating the program.
The U.S. Department of Education is reviewing a UA application for Empower students to be eligible for federal financial aid, Smith said. Student costs include a program fee of $5,000 per semester on top of tuition and housing fees that are the same as for other students, Smith said.
Of the gift, $200,000 will support program operations and $50,000 will establish a scholarship for undergraduates studying special education.
"We truly appreciate that gift, and we hope that we have more gifts because we want to make a program that's as affordable as possible," Smith said.
Old 'Incompletes' will become F's
FAYETTEVILLE -- An "Incomplete" grade given in a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville course will change to an F after a year, a policy change after a report that found decades-old "I" grades still on the books.
A UA report in December found an "I" grade dating back to 1964 and more than 1,100 incompletes dating to courses taken before 2000, according to a document presented to UA's faculty senate. The report identified 4,248 incomplete grades in total. Out of all the students with the "I" grades, 108 were enrolled at UA as of fall 2017.
Faculty on Wednesday voted to approve a change giving students a 12-month deadline to finish course requirements.
Under the old grading policy, a 12-week deadline was tied to a student's next term of enrollment.
"We have students who never come back and enroll in courses again, and so we have I's in our system that go back 40-plus years," said Julie Trivitt, chairman of the faculty senate's academic standards committee.
City, school seek bike-sharing bids
FAYETTEVILLE -- The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and the city of Fayetteville are seeking bids for a new bike-sharing program that would start with at least 300 bicycles, according to a request for proposals published last week.
Bicycles can be a rare sight on the hilly UA campus. The university in 2008 launched a campus bike-sharing program called Razorbikes that still exists, "but there is a real need to kind of reinvent it and make it new and improved," said UA spokesman David Wilson. He said there are now fewer than 75 bicycles available as part of the campus program.
The request for bids seeks a one-year "no-cost" contract, which could then be extended for up to seven years. The bid request document states that the bike-share system "shall be self-financed" with the help of user fees. Wilson said neither UA nor the city expect to pay for the bike-sharing system.
"Preference will be given for applicants who can demonstrate the ability to incorporate electric pedal assist or 'e-bikes' into their initial deployment and provide goals for 'e-bike' expansions," the bid request document states.
Bidders have a deadline of May 17 to submit proposals.
2-day fundraiser draws $433,744
FAYETTEVILLE -- The annual All in for Arkansas campaign raised a preliminary total of $433,744 from 1,292 gifts made supporting the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, according to the university.
The campaign, which makes extensive use of social media, raised money for the university over less than 32 hours -- an 1,871-minute period that refers to the year of UA's founding. It was first held in 2016. Gifts made during the April 4-5 campaign included $14,700 from Chancellor Joe Steinmetz and wife Sandy.
Metro on 04/15/2018