Colleges and universities have until Tuesday to turn in applications for regional workforce grants.
The grant program is a part of the Workforce Initiative Act backed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Under the program, higher education institutions will partner will other state agencies and turn in competitive applications for grants for workforce development and regional economic development.
So far, 34 universities, colleges and technical institutes have submitted 41 proposed projects, according to forms due at the beginning of the month.
The Arkansas Department of Higher Education is in charge of disbursing the grant funds, which will happen in three phases. The first will give applicants up to $100,000 for planning purposes. The second phase would give up to $1 million during a two-year period for implementation, and the third phase includes up to another $1 million to continue successful programs from the second-phase recipients.
State legislators have put aside about $2 million in general improvement funds for the first phase, which could fund about 20 projects.
UAMS department names 1st chairman
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences has named its first chairman of the Department of Biomedical Informatics.
Fred Prior will assume the position in the newly established department Oct. 1. The department will develop tools to test and manage medical and public health information for patient care and research programs, according to a news release. The department was created to give greater prominence to advanced medical information.
“The importance of a strong, vibrant, cutting-edge biomedical informatics enterprise to our institutional success cannot be overstated,” Dr. Pope L. Moseley, dean of the College of Medicine and UAMS executive vice chancellor, said in a prepared statement.
“Establishment of the department and Dr. Prior’s appointment will ensure continued momentum in the informatics advances made at UAMS in recent years and help us to truly leverage data and maximize its potential for improving health and health care.”
Prior, who will earn $330,000 annually, will move from the Electronic Radiology Laboratory in the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Law school program wins $85,000 grant
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Bowen School of Law has received a grant for its performance-based admissions program.
The Access Group Center for Research and Policy Analysis awarded the $85,000 grant to the law school’s Legal Education Advancement Program, which is in its second year. The program seeks to increase the representation of minority groups at the law school and in the Arkansas Bar.
“Finding ways to increase diversity in law schools and, ultimately, in the legal profession is central to our mission,” Christopher P. Chapman, Access Group president and chief executive officer, said in a news release.
“Programs like LEAP demonstrate how law schools are testing innovative models to increase diversity. We look forward to the legal education community learning from this approach.”
The law school’s initiative allows students whose admissions applications were initially denied to complete a summer program. Those who successfully complete the program are recommended for admission into the law school, the news release states.