Westark to Become UA at Fort Smith

On July 17, voters in Sebastian County approved a proposal to allow Westark College of Fort Smith to become part of the University of Arkansas system.

Alan Sugg, president of the UA system, said the new campus will benefit the system in many ways.

“I think the role of a land-grant university is to do everything we can to provide access to education in the state of Arkansas,” he said.

Westark has an annual budget of $35.5 million, with $17.3 million of that coming from state appropriations. The school has 126 full-time credit faculty and 35 full-time noncredit faculty.

Sugg also said legislators look more favorably on the UA system if they have a campus in their district. While that’s not the primary reason UA takes on small campuses, it is a side benefit, he said.

The campus will officially become the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith on Jan. 1.

The vote set in motion events that will turn the two-year college into a four-year institution. It dissolved the Sebastian County Community College District and repealed a property tax, replacing it with a one-fourth cent sales tax for the endeavor. The sales tax is supposed to generate $4.4 million a year and be in effect for 20 years.

The UA Board of Trustees unanimously approved the merger Dec. 15. Proponents of the move said it would encourage economic development in western Arkansas.

Westark has about 5,300 students enrolled for college credit. An additional 4,844 students attend noncredit courses in Westark’s College of Business and Industry. The UA campus in Fayetteville, by comparison, has about 14,000 students.