Negotiations set on Web training deal
FAYETTEVILLE -- Educational technology company EverFi will begin negotiations with the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville on a new deal to offer online training to students on topics such as the prevention of sexual assault and alcohol abuse.
EverFi already provides an online course on sexual assault, Haven, required for new UA students. About 7,000 students took the training this past fall, UA spokesman Steve Voorhies said.
UA online student training AlcoholEdu, required for incoming students, is also already provided by EverFi, as well as a financial literacy program called Transit. A version of EverFi's online sexual assault training is voluntary for UA faculty and staff, Voorhies said.
UA has paid EverFi $38,950 annually for four years to provide the online programs and training in using them, Voorhies said.
The university sought bids beginning in January for online prevention and compliance training on topics "including student training for primary sexual assault prevention, annual ongoing sexual assault prevention, primary alcohol and substance abuse prevention, alcohol sanctioning, and prescription drug abuse prevention," according to a request for proposals.
EverFi, based in Washington, D.C., won out over Carlsbad, Calif.-based KnowledgeCity. A Wednesday intent-to-award letter from UA states negotiations will begin with the goal of a purchase order or contract.
In its request for proposals, UA also stated it sought online training for faculty and staff on topics including harassment and discrimination.
Study still on hold, but talks advance
FAYETTEVILLE -- A proposed schedule for resuming an offshore-drilling safety study chaired by a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville professor remains uncertain, but talks have taken place between federal officials and representatives of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
On Dec. 7, a 90-day federal stop-work order halted a study committee whose chairman is Greg Parnell, a UA industrial engineering professor. The group was to provide recommendations about safety inspections to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement in the U.S. Interior Department.
Bureau leaders met Feb. 15 with representatives of the academies, sometimes referred to as NAS, to discuss "a path forward to resuming work," Greg Julian, bureau press secretary, said in a statement.
The bureau "is currently developing a proposed schedule that will allow NAS to resume the study in September," Julian said.
Halting the project elicited criticism from environmental groups and others. In January, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced a draft plan to open more than 90 percent of continental shelf acreage to oil and gas drilling, also drawing criticism.
Jennifer Walsh, a spokesman for the academies, in an email said that "if our study resumes, it would occur in the fall at the earliest."
The academies, a group of private, nonprofit institutions, said in a Dec. 21 statement that the 90-day stop-work order called for resumption or cancellation within that time period. Walsh said both sides agreed to extend the order into September.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., announced Feb. 22 a letter from 19 U.S. senators asking that the study resume immediately. The senators, all Democrats, represent coastal states.
Metro on 03/11/2018