The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will eliminate its French degree program and its affiliated faculty members after the move was approved Wednesday by the UA System board of trustees.
Chancellor Christina Drale had proposed in 2020 that the university eliminate its bachelor of arts degree in French due to what she called a “steep decline” in student interest and the trend of removing language requirements from most programs. However, she said that after a campus review, she was persuaded to give French a reprieve to see if it could regain viability. That didn’t occur — and program enrollment has continued to decline, she said.
Drale utilized the 2020 benchmark threshold that sets a ratio of 12 full-time students or the equivalent to every one faculty member. In 2019, the French program's student-faculty ratio was 8-to-1, falling to 7-to-1 this academic year.
Drale also used the benchmark of 200 semester credit hours to every full-time faculty member or the equivalent. In 2019, that ratio in the French program was 123-to-1, falling to 108.5-to-1 in the fall 2022 semester.
Eliminating the program “seems like a wise move to me,” said trustee Sheffield Nelson.
SOLAR SERVICES
The Board of Trustees for the University of Arkansas system also approved a system agreement with Little Rock-based Scenic Hill Solar.
Cumulative savings for the UA System over the 25-year agreement are estimated at nearly $150 million, with nearly $4 million in the first year, said Chris Thomason, vice president for planning and development for the UA System. This “will produce substantial benefits across the system,” he said, citing cost savings, workforce development, research and development, and what he called the contributions to a healthier state environment.
The system-wide purchase is for electricity produced by solar photovoltaic production arrays, according to Thomason. The UA Solar Committee — seven members from across the UA System who “reflected a diverse and experienced grouping that appropriately represented all campuses, divisions, and units,” Thomason said — interviewed three firms that responded to a request for proposal, and the committee recommended Scenic Hill Solar as the most-qualified firm at the lowest cost.
Scenic Hill Solar will provide all capital costs, design, permitting, installation, utility interconnection, operations and maintenance of the solar arrays and energy. The UA System, through its campuses and units, will purchase the entire energy output of the arrays at specified, fixed rates.
UAPB FINE ARTS BUILDING
Trustees approved WER Architects as design professionals for the Hathaway Howard Fine Arts Renovation and Restoration Project at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
UAPB Chancellor Laurence Alexander recommended the firm over two other finalists, and UA System President Donald Bobbitt concurred.
The fine arts center, which is nearly 63,000 square feet, has been damaged by fire, soot, smoke, and mold. The nearly $5 million reclamation project is being funded by proceeds from insurance claims, according to Bobbitt. The restoration is estimated to take three to four months.
This is “one of our key academic buildings, [but] it’s been offline for awhile due to storm [damage] and then a fire,” Alexander said, adding that it’s a “very important building for our students.”