UAFS gets $2 million for entrepreneurship center (Updated)

A $2 million federal grant will build a Regional Entrepreneurial and Innovation Resource Center facility at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, according to a university statement released Friday afternoon.

Gary Locke, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, made the official award to UAFS Chancellor Paul B. Beran on Friday (April 17) in a ceremony in Little Rock. Also at the ceremony was Rusty Myers, assistant executive director of the Western Arkansas Planning and Development District, who assisted with the grant application submitted to the EDA.

The money comes from the U.S. Economic Development Administration under a program designed to help areas hit with natural disasters. The hail, wind and flooding that hit the area in the first half of 2008 qualified the region for the grant program.

“In addition to the natural disaster element, job losses in the Fort Smith region’s manufacturing sector and the recent economic downturn provided added justification for the EDA’s award of the grant funds,” noted the UAFS statement.

The facility — to be included in an expanded Boreham Library — will consolidate under one roof research services for small businesses and entrepreneurs who use the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (IEC). Construction on the library expansion is expected to begin in 2010. The library expansion also is supported with funds from the $31 million capital campaign conducted by the UAFS Foundation.

“This center will greatly expand the footprint of the current Boreham Library,” Beran said. “It will become a place where students and area business persons can pursue their business, educational and professional goals.”

Updated info: Beran stressed that the resource center will not house the staff and operations of the IEC. The IEC partners are in the process of finding a location for the IEC.

The IEC was created in 2006 as a partnership between the city of Fort Smith, the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce and UAFS.

Michelle Stockman, the first director of the IEC and who now works for Little Rock-based Arkansas Capital Corp., said the new center will “bring Fort Smith up on par with those two areas (Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas” and help level the playing field between entrepreneur support in the area and larger metro areas around the country.

The research center will also provide support to other programs such as the Family Enterprise Center and the Center for Business and Professional Development. Disaster prep will also be a component of the new research center.

“The new Research Center is seen as a place where small business owners can receive training and information relating to disaster preparation, including research assistance in preparing disaster mitigation, business interruption and response plans,” according to the UAFS release.

UAFS was one of three EDA awards made in Little Rock. Also receiving funds were Arkansas State University ($1.75 million) and Conway County ($1.5 million).