Business and Technology Development Center coming to Tech

RUSSELLVILLE — Arkansas Tech University will be home to a regional office of the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center on its campus beginning in January 2010.

The regional office will serve an eight-county region and will be in Centenary Hall, a new 60,000-square-foot academic building scheduled to open at ATU at the beginning of 2010.

The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center represents a partnership between the U.S. Small Business Administration, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and other institutions of higher education in Arkansas. The center is dedicated to assisting new, existing and expanding businesses.

“Education and economic development are irrevocably tied to one another,” ATU President Robert C. Brown said. “We are pleased to welcome this regional office to our Russellville campus, and we look forward to a long and successful relationship with the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, the U.S. Small Business Administration, our colleagues at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and other institutions around the state.”

Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center State Director Janet Roderick said the center at Arkansas Tech will serve Conway, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Pope, Scott, Sebastian and Yell counties.

“ASBTDC is the only entity with a statewide network of offices focusing on entrepreneurial and small business development,” Roderick said. “We areexcited about partnering with Arkansas Tech University to extend our network and better serve the area’s small businesses.”

Among the services offered at Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center regional offices are consulting, training and market research. Most services are offered free of charge.

There are approximately 1,000 such centers around the nation. The center at Arkansas Tech will be the seventh in the state of Arkansas, joining existing offices at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas at Monticello College of Technology in McGehee.

The network of small business development centers represents the largest outreach program coordinated by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

For more information, visit asbtdc.ualr.edu.

River Valley Ozark, Pages 66 on 11/19/2009

Print Headline: Business and Technology Development Center coming to Tech