Tech OKs $4.9M for student union
Arkansas Tech University trustees approved spending $4.9 million from three sources to build a temporary student union.
The money will renovate a former swimming pool area in the Hull Physical Education Building, according to a university news release. The union will have a banquet hall, gaming area, student lounge and catering kitchen. Construction is scheduled to start next spring and end during fall 2020.
Student fees, unappropriated general fund money and food services reserves will pay for the project.
But that's just for the time being.
Longer term, the university plans to build a new student recreation center and student union -- to be housed in the same building -- and turn the renovated Hull building space into a convention center, the university announced.
Trustees approved the student fee for the project in the spring.
University officials anticipate that the new recreation center and union building will open in fall 2022.
$2.5 STEM grant awarded to UALR
A $2.5 million federal grant will establish a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education.
The center helps educate professionals and graduate students on how to teach higher-ability learners.
The STEM+C2 grant from the United States Department of Education will be used to "identify promising students" through screening and serve "gifted and talented" second and third graders, the university's announcement of the grant states.
The grant is through the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program, "which emphasizes serving traditionally underrepresented students in gifted and talented services to reduce the gap in achievement among groups of students at the highest levels of performance," according to the announcement.
It's the third five-year grant the center has received through that program.
During its five years, the grant will reach nearly 1,400 students, 60 classroom teachers, 30 gifted education teachers and 30 elementary school principals across two cohorts at 30 Arkansas elementary schools, according to the university.
Science festival scheduled at ASU
Arkansas State University will host the Arkansas Science Festival next weekend in Jonesboro.
The festival will include a performance Thursday by juggler Greg Kennedy, who "uses the principles of geometry and physics to create groundbreaking work with original apparatus," according to a university announcement.
On Friday, the university will host STEM Fest from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The event is a hands-on learning activity for kindergarten through 12th-grade students.
Saturday's event will be a science tailgate hosted by the College of Sciences and Mathematics, from 3 to 5:30 p.m. before the university football game that night.
Metro on 10/21/2019