Campus Talk: Common Core Task Force At Capitol, El Dorado This Week

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COMMON CORE TASK FORCE BEGINS WORK, LT. GOV. SAYS SPECIFICS NEEDED
The 16-member Governor’s Council on Common Core Review will need more specifics, particularly about the testing process, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, the committee’s chair, said at the conclusion of a first day of hearings at the Capitol and then a listening tour session at the Pulaski Technical College Little Rock-South campus last Thursday.

Griffin believes the council can reach a consensus on recommendations for the governor. However, he said it will be asking witnesses for more specific recommendations. “Without the specifics, all we have is people saying there’s room for change,” he said.

The task force will meet twice this week – once at the state capitol and once in El Dorado. Here are the details of those two events:

Wednesday, April 29
8:00AM – 5:00PM
State Capitol, Room 151

Thursday, April 30 – El Dorado
5:00PM – 7:00PM
SouthArk Community College, El Dorado Conference Center

For a full rundown of the Common Core task force meetings, click here.

OSTEOPATHY COLLEGE PLAN MOVES FORWARD FOR ASU
The New York Institute of Technology announced plans Thursday that it will expand its College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) program to a second site – the Jonesboro campus of Arkansas State University.

The plan is designed to address the state’s acute health care challenges and shortage of primary care physicians, officials with NYIT said.

Following its April 18 meeting, the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) awarded initial approval for the additional location, which ultimately will allow for 115 new medical students each year in Arkansas. No word yet on the application of a similar osteopathy school in Fort Smith. Read more at this link.

ASU, HARDING TEAMS WIN FIRST PLACE IN GOVERNOR’S CUP BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION
College students were rolling in the dough at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock on Wednesday.

The 2015 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup named its winners across multiple categories and students at the undergraduate and graduate level from universities across the state racked up more than $100,000 in prizes for their ideas.

The business plan competition, sponsored by the Arkansas Economic Acceleration Foundation, a subsidiary of the Arkansas Capital Corp., is in its 15th year and it has become a showcase for some of the best business ideas from the brightest college talent in the state.

This year’s top undergraduate winner was TIRE from Harding University, which has developed a tire-inflation system for mountain bikes. Agricultural Innovations from Arkansas State University won the graduate level competition. Agricultural Innovations has developed a solar-powered, sensor-driven automated irrigation system for farmers.

EDUCATION POLICY CONFERENCE SET
Rex Nelson, who represents the Arkansas Independent Colleges and Universities, said his group is hosting a one-day public policy conference May 14 at the Pleasant Valley Country Club in west Little Rock. The event will feature discussions on recent developments in K-12 education, workforce education and higher education from the recently concluded legislative session.

Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin; Higher Education chief Dr. Brett Powell; Sen. Jane English; Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang and House Speaker Jeremy Gillam; and Walter E. Hussman Jr., publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, are all slated to present at the one day conference. For more information, click here.