While enrollment increased at Southern Arkansas University’s Magnolia campus it has declined at SAU-Tech in Camden, Dr. David Rankin, SAU president, told the Board of Trustees Thursday.
“It’s been a rather interesting year, particularly in the enrollment area,” Dr. Rankin said. “We’re very pleased to see a rather significant increase in enrollment here at Magnolia.” He said the Magnolia campus had the second-highest increase percentage in the state, second only to Arkansas Tech University at Russellville.
However, enrollment at SAU-Tech decreased in undergraduate enrollment. “That’s an area we’re going to have to pay some attention to. It is of concern to us and we’ll be looking at the reasons for that and what we can do to turn that around in the not-too-distant future.”
At the Magnolia campus, “it’s kind of like all the things we’ve worked on have kind of hit in one particular year and it has produced a record enrollment,” Dr. Rankin said. “We were at 3,404 last year. We’re at 3,545 this year — a dramatic increase in total enrollment.”
Most of that is attributed to core undergraduate and graduate students, he said, and to a large extent this increase is a result of students coming to the university from further than commuting distance. “So we cannot rely on our core population in this region to fuel any enrollment growth,” Dr. Rankin said. “We have to look further and we’ve done some things that have allowed us to do that.”
SAU has also experienced a record graduate enrollment. “We have probably the largest graduate program in South Arkansas right now,” he said. “We have the largest enrollment in Honors College we’ve ever had in the history of the university. We’re attracting honor students from all over the place. This has been a tremendous addition to the university.”
The housing capacity has been reached at SAU, Dr. Rankin reported. “We’re there. Nobody every thought we would have 1,538 students on this campus in housing. We do. So many of these students are from places where they can’t commute. We’re going to have to be taking a look at where we go from here.”
Dr. Corbet Lamkin, chancellor at SAU-Tech, stated that enrollment had decreased during the last two years and a core growth enrollment committee was formed 18 months ago.
“We know that we have encountered a loss of population in our four-county service area of Calhoun, Columbia, Dallas, and Ouachita counties,” he said. “SAU-Tech at one time was one of the few online course providers in Arkansas. Now all the institutions provide online courses. We’re looking closely at every major, eliminating non-productive majors, and starting programs that give us a comparative advantage in offering. We were established to serve the industries of Highland Industrial Park. We are going to concentrate heavily on technical offerings in the future.”
“Because of decreased enrollment this fall, we have moved to cut approximately $186,000 more from this year’s budget,” he told the board. “Spring enrollment will be watched closely, and if additional steps are necessary they will be taken.”
Dr. Lamkin reported that SAU-Tech continues to work with the Smarter Sentencing Program in Columbia County. On Monday, Sept. 22, Dr. Lamkin is scheduled to testify in Little Rock before Sen. Jane English’s Workforce Committee about the impact of the program. Also requested to speak are Barbara Hamilton, head the SAU-Tech Adult Education Program, and David Butler, deputy prosecuting attorney for the 13th Judicial District. This will be detailed further in Monday’s edition of the Banner-News.
SAU Tech continues to provide support for the Golden Triangle (Columbia, Ouachita, and Union counties) efforts to attract industry to the area. “For the past few months we have worked with a group that would like to see a prison facility located in the Golden Triangle,” he said, in addition to working with other area industries on various projects and contracts.
He stated that SAU-Tech had established an Honors Program two years ago and it has doubled its enrollment the second year to 22 students.
Dr. Trey Berry, provost and vice-president for academic affairs, gave the 2013-14 Institutional Report on the Annual Review of Faculty Performance. He told board members that the masters of computer science degree “has skyrocketed this year,” going from the third smallest graduate program to the second largest graduate program. This is SAU’s second largest program, he said.
The theatre program is up and running well, Dr. Berry reported, and 13 new students have been recruited. The English as second language program is now at 20 students, up from seven students last year.
Recruiting for the gaming and animation program has been “very interesting,” Dr. Berry said. A tournament is scheduled in Texarkana in October, and for the spring in Little Rock. “That’s how you recruit these students,” he said. “The fact that we’re the only one in the state is really helping.” There are currently 70 new majors in this field.
For the 2013-14 Minority Recruitment and Retention Annual Report, Dr. Berry reported that officials are “looking at how we can improve our diversity in our applicant pool when we have job openings.” He said they are looking at several options. One is to create relationships with other colleges where their graduates can come into the applicant pool. The other is to “grow your own program,” by encouraging current employees to get their masters and doctorate degrees.
Dr. Reginald Cooper, vice-chancellor for student services at SAU-Tech, stated that a goal of SAU Tech is to increase recruitment and retention of students, faculty and staff of minority representation in the primary service area of Columbia, Calhoun, Dallas, and Ouachita Counties.
In other business:
• Dr. Linda Blake, assistant professor of public administration at SAU, presented her appeal for denial of tenure.
The board retired into executive session at 1:44 p.m. and returned at 2:05 p.m., at which time William Stringfellow, board chairman, announced that Dr. Blake had elected to present her appeal in public. Dr. Blake contended that her entire file had not been viewed by the promotions and tenure committee. After hearing Dr. Blake’s presentation, the board returned to executive session at 2:21 p.m. and resumed the meeting at 3:01 p.m. Stringfellow announced that the board would have Dr. Blake’s entire file returned to the committee for a complete review.
• The board approved a resolution recognizing former board member Kenneth W. “Ken” Sibley for his service.