UAM restructuring focus on retention
The University of Arkansas at Monticello will restructure the school's enrollment management office in efforts to raise retention and graduation rates.
Chancellor Karla Hughes said the reorganization will also streamline and make more efficient student recruitment and student special services.
"I believe the enrollment management model we're creating will better serve the institution as we create a greater alignment between academics and student life," Hughes said in a prepared statement. "It is consistent with the creation of a model open enrollment institution to address the needs and scope of our student population, including international and transfer students as well as individuals with special needs."
The restructuring includes moving the Office of Admissions to the Office of Student Affairs, headed by vice chancellor Jay Hughes; naming Tawana Green, the director of Upward Bound, as the new executive director of enrollment management and supervisor of admissions, the Upward Bound program, counseling, testing, career services, international students and special services; and naming Mary Whiting, who was the admissions director, as leader of student special services, according to a news release.
The chancellor has said the admissions staff will not change, though the university will fill three positions that are now vacant.
Marketing exec to fill Harding job
A Florida marketing executive has been named as Harding University's new vice president for communication.
The Searcy school announced last week that Jana Rucker will fill the new position, a part of President Bruce McLarty's cabinet, on Aug. 1. Rucker will make the move from Melbourne, Fla., where she works as the senior director of global brand and marketing for Satcom Direct, a global connectivity provider, according to a news release.
Rucker, a 1988 graduate of Oklahoma Christian University, has held other leadership roles in marketing with companies, including Crump Group Inc. and Sprint.
She will replace David Crouch, the private university's director of public relations, who retired in March after working at the 6,009-student school for 46 years, the news release states.
Degrees offered in games fields
Arkansas Tech University will offer a new game and interactive media design degree this fall.
The Russellville school will join Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia in offering this degree program. Arkansas Tech's program is for a bachelor of arts degree in game and interactive media design, offered through the Department of Art. SAU has a bachelor of fine arts degree in game art, animation and simulation design, but also offers a bachelor of science in computer science with an option in game design.
In Russellville, the degree program will also include a new computer lab with high-end graphic cards, software and a three-dimensional printer, according to a news release.
"The Department of Art is very excited about the opportunities that this program will offer our students in an industry whose rapid growth has created a very high demand for these skills," Dawn Ward, professor of art and the leader of Arkansas Tech's Art Department, said in a statement.
The Arkansas Tech degree can also lead to careers in animation, simulation programming, web design and interactive visualization construction.
Metro on 06/05/2016