An effort to "fundamentally redefine who our students are" at Henderson State University is following several months of financial cuts that the school's top administrator said Thursday have been "traumatic on a community."
Chancellor Chuck Ambrose spoke alongside Gov. Asa Hutchinson at a news conference to tout collaboration efforts aimed at helping more students finish college, with Hutchinson voicing support for the decision to slash costs by eliminating 88 faculty positions and phasing out some 25 degree programs, including English and mathematics.
"This was necessary for the survival of Henderson State University," Hutchinson said, going on to say that Ambrose "has my support in the decisions he's made."
Ambrose said Henderson State -- through its collaborations with various schools, including Arkansas State University -- will "create pathways to high demand jobs and meeting the needs of our communities."
"We will value our traditional students, our graduate students. But we will also include high school students who are being able to accelerate their credentials," Ambrose said.
He also spoke about "ongoing educational opportunities focused on adult learners, many who have some college and no degree, but believe, with college, that new opportunities are possible."
Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key spoke about how his mother earned her degree from Henderson State, going on to work as a school teacher for 31 years.
"The success of Henderson is critical to so many other family stories, just like mine," Key said, stating that there's an opportunity for partnerships "in reimagining what education can look like in the future.
"How it should look 10 years from now is very different from what it has looked like in the past," Key said.
Ambrose described the university's restructuring as improving its cash position, but added that "just as important is the reallocation of financial resources to build personalized student pathways and support, so college completion is available for all students."
Through collaboration, Henderson State will create "an I-30 learning community, from Saline County to Arkadelphia," with schools working together to offer expanded options for credentials and degree programs, he said.
Ambrose mentioned various schools as involved in the collaborative effort, including ASU-Three Rivers, a two-year college based in Malvern, and New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, which offers classes on the ASU campus in Jonesboro.
Hutchinson called the changes "exciting."
"The most important reason I have confidence in Henderson State University and [am] excited about its future is that it has a singular focus on student success," Hutchinson said.
Neither Hutchinson nor any other education leaders at the announcement event discussed proposals to change state funding for Henderson State.
Financial woes for the school date back several years, and state officials in 2019 approved a zero-interest $6 million loan in 2019. The college had been struggling to pay its bills while facing a $6.1 million operating loss in a year where operating costs totaled about $64 million.
Soon after the loan, Henderson State gave up its independence and joined the Arkansas State University System, a move that became official in February of last year.
The seven-member ASU System Board of Trustees in May approved the university's restructuring plan, said to result in savings of $5.3 million over two years. The university earlier this year also had one-day-per-week furloughs that affected faculty, staff and administrators.
"To improve our cash position and take the steps we've had to make, it's been traumatic on a community and it's been most difficult, I think, on our students, because no one chooses a college and wants to see their institution suffer," Ambrose said.
He said the transition has a focus on a "personalized model," including "to really bridge our current students and their programs."
Ambrose praised outreach from other institutions, including the "collegial outreach" from Ouachita Baptist University, a private university also in Arkadelphia that over the years has been a traditional rival to Henderson State.
"With technology, we have tremendous [ASU] System assets that actually can broaden our degree offerings and make certain that we meet the needs of our returning students that we'll utilize going into our fall semester," Ambrose said.