Campus Talk: ForwARd Arkansas Presents Recommendations To State Board Of Education

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FORWARD ARKANSAS PRESENTS RECOMMENDATIONS TO STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: Last week, the state Board of Education accepted a comprehensive, 56-page report from ForwARd Arkansas, a group of educators, business leaders, and government officials, outlining recommendations for improving education in Arkansas. ForwARd Arkansas unveiled “A New Vision for Arkansas Education,” which recommended: improvements to Pre-K; expanding teaching opportunities, including nontraditional educators; improving childhood nutrition and access to health care for children and families; streamlining systems and policies to ease regulatory burdens; and intervening earlier with schools headed towards academic distress. The full recommendations are available at ForwardArkansas.org.

FORMER SOUTHWESTERN ENERGY CEO GIVES $5 MILLION TO UA: Charles Scharlau, former chairman and CEO of Southwestern Energy Co., past chairman of the UA Board of Trustees and current member of the board of directors of the University of Arkansas Foundation, has pledged $5 million to the university to create an endowed chair in presidential leadership. Scharlau served on the UA Board from 1997 to 2007 and was elected chairman for the 2005-06 academic year. He has served on numerous advisory boards at UA and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and is past president of the Arkansas Alumni Association.

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS MOVES UP IN NATIONAL RANKING OF TOP TIER U.S. COLLEGES: The University of Arkansas moved up seven places in the ranking of national public universities and six places among all national universities to remain a top-tier national university in the 2016 edition of “Best Colleges” published by U.S. News and World Report.

The University of Arkansas tied for 62nd place with Arizona State University, Louisiana State University and the University of Kentucky. The state’s flagship university also tied for 129th place among nearly all the 1,600 four-year colleges and universities in the country assessed by U.S. News.

In individual categories, the Sam M. Walton College of Business improved its ranking to 27th among public undergraduate business schools, up from 29th last year; among both public and private institutions Walton moved up from 45th last year to 43rd in this year’s ranking.

The University of Arkansas was also included again among the “A+ Schools for B Students,” defined as a school “where non-superstars have a decent shot at being accepted and thriving.” This year the U of A improved in its class size rating – with more small classes and fewer large classes – while the graduation rate also improved from 60% to 62%.

ARKANSAS LITERACY ORGANIZATIONS RECEIVE DOLLAR GENERAL EDUCATION GRANTS: Adult literacy programs in Mountain Home, Forrest City, Clinton and Little Rock were among the nearly 870 schools, nonprofits and organizations that were recently awarded a portion of more than $4 million from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation.

The youth literacy grants are awarded across the 43 states Dollar General Corp. serves at the beginning of the academic year in an effort to give teachers, schools and organizations funding and resources for the upcoming school year. In the past 22 years, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded more than $100 million in grants to nonprofit organizations, helping more than six million individuals take their first steps toward literacy or continued education.