MENA -- The community of Mena and University of Arkansas at Rich Mountain have "a ton of momentum" underway, Chancellor Phillip Wilson said last week.
Athletics have been integral to the college's recent momentum, and they've been a revenue generator and a tool for student recruitment, Wilson said.
"We have to do things differently -- think like a private college while being public -- nimble and agile," he said.
Wilson made the comments to the UA System board of trustees, which wrapped up its two-day meeting Thursday.
As host campus, Rich Mountain had the opportunity to talk about itself.
The college is based in Mena, on the west-central edge of Arkansas, amid small, winding roads. It is approximately 1.5 hours from any larger city.
At 679 students, it had the smallest enrollment of any two-year public college in Arkansas, according to the state Division of Higher Education report on enrollment for the fall 2022 semester.
Rich Mountain, originally established by what was then the state Department of Vocational Education as a vocational-technical school in 1973, started offering vocational-technical education classes in 1975.
In 1976, Henderson State University partnered with Rich Mountain to offer two years of general education. Rich Mountain became a community college in 1983. It joined the UA System in 2017.
The college now has a dozen athletic programs for men and women, including esports -- which will debut this fall -- and will add shooting sports in the fall of 2025, which are "big" in the state and community, Wilson said during the meeting last week. The college is also adding on-campus housing for athletes, and "we'll ultimately be able to house 190 students."
"Academics come first," he said, adding that UA-Rich Mountain is sending more transfer students to other schools than ever before while also retaining students at the highest rate in five years, he said. The college is also leaning into vocational education again, because "that is what puts people to work."
For two-year schools, UA-Rich Mountain reported the highest on-time graduation rate with the most recent cohort, fall 2020, at nearly 48%, far outpacing the state's other community colleges. The second-best rate was Arkansas State University Mid-South's 30.8%, according to the Arkansas Division of Higher Education.
Mena aims to become the "downhill, gravity-fed mountain biking capital of the country, [with] world class-level trails," which will draw tourists, Wilson said. "It thrills me that my institution will be in the middle of this, and it will grow my institution."
Every UA System school has to focus on its unique value proposition, and UA-Rich Mountain is doing that adroitly, said trustee Ted Dickey. It's leveraging sports to attract students, the naturally beautiful surroundings also aid in recruitment, and the programs offered by the college lead to quality jobs, which makes it valuable.