It is obvious that Christi Batts loves her work. She admits it is the dream job she’s always wanted, and the skills required are exactly those she has been developing throughout her life. Add the passion that she not only possesses but shares with those she encounters, and you have someone who is happy with her work.
“I’m bringing my alma mater to my hometown, helping to create options and opportunities for people here,” Batts said. “I want to see someone graduate who didn’t think they would ever have the chance to attend a four-year college.”
Batts is the executive director of Henderson State University-Hot Springs, a campus of HSU in the Spa City that was created in partnership with National Park Community College.
The partnership’s mission is for Garland County residents to be able to enroll in Henderson State and finish their bachelor’s degrees and remain at home, after completing two years of college at NPCC.
The new HSU campus will be located in the Landmark Building on Market Street in Hot Springs. Batts said she hopes the facility will be ready by the time school starts in the fall.
“We need to get it renovated, and you know how that goes,” she said. “We want to be ready when students graduate from NPCC. We will have five classrooms, a computer lab and a seminar room.”
Henderson already offers some classes at the community college on Mid-American Drive.
We have 92 enrolled now, and of course, we will grow,” Batts said. “We will offer classes starting a 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and the last class ends at 9:30 p.m.”
For now, HSU-Hot Springs is a one-woman show for the Hot Springs native.
“It’s a one-person shop. I hope I’ll have a clerical person to help evenings, and if we start Saturday classes, we will be getting a full-time adviser on staff. Meanwhile, I am marketing, registrar and adviser, as well as doing the day-to-day paperwork,” Batts said. “Most of the professors will come up from Arkadelphia, but many of them already live in Hot Springs, so they will come here, then go home.”
Speaking of teachers, Batts is a speech and communications teacher at Henderson. This semester, she is teaching management communications for business majors.
Batts said that when she was approached about the position in Hot Springs, she was told the position was so new and different that she might not yet know what questions to ask, much less have the answers, but that she would have to think fast.
“The main thing was to get it done,” Batts said. “Create some opportunities and options for people looking to get a degree from a four-year school and help Henderson grow.”
Batts said it was just the perfect time for Henderson to come to Hot Springs.
“One hundred years ago, the college lost its main building in a fire, but the school rose from the ashes, and the Reddie Spirit started that night,” she said. “Now, after the Majestic [Hotel] fire, Hot Springs can rise up from the ashes and revitalize the downtown as the Reddie Spirit is planted here.”
At the announcement that the new campus of HSU was going to be created at the Landmark, Glen Jones, university president, said one of the missions of Henderson’s efforts in Hot Springs is to enhance economic development.
“We are committed to economic development and to educating Hot Springs-area residents with the presence of a four-year institution,” Jones said. “The moment is ours for the seizing.”
Jones said that when he was hired as president of the university, one of the charges from the Henderson Board of Trustees was to create an educational center in Hot Springs.
“There are 3,000 alumni and supporters of Henderson State here in Hot Springs,” Jones said. “This move makes all the sense in the world.”
“It is now my job to tell people the good news for the future,” Batts said. “I want to break down the myths of higher education and help overcome people’s fears about getting an education.”
Batts said she believes she has been preparing for this job for 20 years.
While attending college at Henderson State, Batts said, she decided to be a speech teacher. She received a master’s degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Five days after I got my degree from UALR in August 1994, I walked in to teach an oral communications class. She was an adjunct instructor not only at Henderson in Arkadelphia, but also at Ouachita Baptist University; Ouachita Technical College, now called the College of the Ouachitas, in Malvern; and the University of Arkansas Community College in Hope.
Two years later, she was hired full time at OTC. Later, there was a one-year appointment as a professor at Henderson before she joined the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences as director of development for the university foundation.
Still wanting to work in her hometown, Batts joined the Levi Hospital in Hot Springs in 2002 as development director.
“It was hard to leave UAMS, but I needed to get back to my home and see my mom and go to games and band concerts for my niece and nephew,” she said. “I was there for 11 years and always teaching at HSU.”
With a handful of part-time jobs and moving around the region, Batts said, she maintained a positive attitude and enjoyed her work until she got a special call. She was contacted about her current job last July.
Meanwhile, she still enjoys teaching speech.
“I like teaching students to give good speeches,” she said. “It is great to help them find the confidence to get up and make a speech.”
Batts said one of her students recently made a lasting impression after she made a nice speech in class.
“I was talking to her about the speech, and she mentioned that she had been living with her parents in Vilonia, and they lost their house and everything, including her schoolbooks,” Batts said.
“I was blown away. She had a great excuse, but with no textbooks, actually with almost nothing, she came to class and did well on her assignment. I asked her if I could tell all of my classes about her perseverance and character.”
Both student and teacher looked to find the positive in the situation.
Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 244-4460 or wbryan@arkansasonline.com.