BENTONVILLE -- Northwest Arkansas Community College will receive $50,000 to enhance campus security as one of six winners in a competition that was open to all U.S. higher education institutions.
The college was named runner-up in its division in Stanley Security's Together for Safer Schools grant program, a national contest started in 2013. Schools compete by rallying students, staff and community members to vote for their schools by text, on Stanley Security's website or through Twitter. Six colleges and universities received a total of $600,000.
Stanley grants
Stanley Security recently announced winners in its Together for Safer Schools grant program. Here’s who won and how much their grants are worth.
Tier 1 (fewer than 8,000 students)
Grand prize: Kilgore College (Kilgore, Texas), $100,000
Runner-up: Aquinas College (Grand Rapids, Mich.), $25,000
Tier 2 (8,000 to 19,999 students)
Grand prize: University of West Georgia (Carrollton, Ga.), $150,000
Runner-up: Northwest Arkansas Community College, $50,000
Tier 3 (20,000 students or more)
Grand prize: University of North Texas, (Denton, Texas), $200,000
Runner-up: University of Texas at Arlington, $75,000
Source: Stanley Security
Stanley Security accepted nominations for the grants through mid-November. Voting was allowed between Jan. 19 and Feb. 13.
Northwest Arkansas Community College's public relations and marketing department produced a short YouTube video encouraging people to vote for the college.
"We are so thankful to Stanley for the grant and we especially appreciate all the students, faculty and staff and community members who voted for NWACC," said Steven Hinds, director of public relations and marketing. "Their votes truly made a difference."
The college will work with faculty, staff and students and Stanley Security to determine exactly how it will use its grant money, said Ethan Beckcom, the college's director for institutional policy, risk management and compliance.
Beckcom said the money will go primarily toward infrastructure protection -- things such as access control, video surveillance, the fire alarm system and mass notifications.
The college is already a "safe and resilient environment" for all, Beckcom said.
"But as we grow, we understand we're a very open campus and associated risks grow as well," he said. "We always want to work very directly to ensure that we provide a counterbalance to that risk in advance."
The college competed in the grant program's second tier, a division for those institutions with enrollments between 8,000 and 19,999 students. The college's fall semester enrollment was 8,098. The University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Ga., finished first in that division and received $150,000.
Information about how many schools were nominated in that division was not made available by Stanley Security, but a news release from the company indicated more than 200 schools were nominated across the three categories.
Stanley Security partners with more than 2,500 colleges and universities nationwide to promote the value of secure campus learning environments, according to the news release.
The news release also quoted college President Evelyn Jorgenson, who called the grant "a heartening win" for the school.
"We're proud of our students, faculty, staff and community for uniting together and rallying behind us during the entire contest to help us achieve what will ultimately be a long-term sense of safety and security throughout our campus," Jorgenson said.
This was the first time the grant program had been extended to higher education institutions. During its first year in 2013, the program provided $500,000 to schools for grades kindergarten through 12.
Dave Perozek can be reached at dperozek@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWADaveP.
NW News on 03/31/2015