Higher education notebook

UAM, UCA offer emergency money

The University of Arkansas at Monticello is offering its students one-time emergency money, while the University of Central Arkansas is continuing a similar effort.

UAM announced the initiative last week to help students who have experienced unexpected financial hardships that could affect their ability to stay in school, according to a news release. Applications are available on the university's website and in the financial aid office.

The grant money is in a Student Success Fund consisting of private donations to the university's foundation.

Students must be enrolled at the Monticello, Crossett or McGehee campuses; be in good academic standing; document their need; and must have exhausted all other financial aid options. A committee of faculty and staff members will meet every two weeks to consider awards.

At UCA, similar grants were made possible starting this fall and continuing through July 2019 because of the Great Lakes Higher Education Corp. and Affiliates, a nonprofit group that seeks to help students succeed in higher education and student-loan repayment. Dash emergency grants can go toward transportation, housing, medical, child care and other costs.

In its first year, UCA awarded more than $51,000, with an average gift of $883 per student, the university said. The funds have been used for things like an emergency dental procedure and saving a student from being evicted, UCA said.

Brown to oversee scholars program

Harding University has named a former faculty member as its new director of the McNair Scholars Program.

Ann Brown has returned to Harding University after working at Augusta High School, the university said. The scholars program, part of the university's Center for Student Success, started in 2003 and supports undergraduate students' scholarly activities through the academic year and summer, according to a news release.

The program, which receives $243,000 annually from a U.S. Department of Education grant, helps 27 students each year through the scholarly experiences and mentorships to prepare them for graduate school.

"I know firsthand the challenges and pitfalls students face as they make their way through university and later graduate school because I am that 'first generation, low-income student from a population that is underrepresented in fields requiring a graduate degree' that McNair seeks to help," Brown said in a prepared statement. "My journey to a Ph.D. in English literature was a convoluted one, and I truly wish I had had access to a program like McNair Scholars."

Brown received a master's degree in education from Harding University and a doctoral degree in English literature from Howard University. Howard is a private, historically black university in Washington, D.C. She taught at Harding, a private Searcy university, from 1990-93 and has taught at the Centre of Excellence of Applied Research and Training in the United Arab Emirates.

Grant to provide industrial training

Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas has received a $100,000 grant from the Sunderland Foundation for industrial technology training.

The grant will help the college transform the old Lockesburg High School campus into training space for "multicraft" workers in the manufacturing sector, the college said in a news release. In that space, students can earn a range of industry-recognized credentials and skills needed to be successful in the industrial field.

The college will rename the industrial training area of the building the "Ash Grove Center for Industrial Technology" once construction is complete, it said.

NW News on 12/11/2017

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