Happy October, friends! We are well into the new semester and enjoying all things fall on campus.
We welcomed 1,273 first-year students this fall! Our college’s total enrollment surpassed 6,000 students again, three years in a row. Students are our top priority, and they are thriving in our diverse programs across the college’s six departments. We continuously strive to provide meaningful and transformative experiential learning opportunities that immerse them in real-world environments as part of their studies. I am happy to share that this fall alone, 1,857 students are completing internships and clinical practicums, equipping them for work after graduation while serving many communities in Arkansas and beyond.
We are also excited to have received record external funding. The 73 awards, totaling more than $30 million during the 2024 fiscal year, have significantly increased our ability to improve people’s everyday lives. The funding includes $10 million from the U.S. Department of Education to help improve the economic self-sufficiency of youth with disabilities and $2.5 million from the National Institutes of Health to study how exercise can mitigate the decline of tissue function with aging. Other external funding will allow us to advance the nurse education workforce in rural communities and expand support to early childhood education providers.
The quality and rigor of the college’s academic programs were again reaffirmed in rankings and accreditation. The Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) awarded full reaccreditation to the Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders program through March 2031. The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) granted a five-year accreditation to the college’s public health program. The online R.N. to B.S.N. program was ranked among the top 10 such nursing programs in the United States by the Forbes Advisor, a global platform operated by Forbes magazine. The Princeton Review included the online Ed.D. in Educational Leadership in its rankings of Best Online Doctor of Education Programs for 2024.
We’re looking forward to some great events this fall, including our Scholarship Recipients and Benefactors Luncheon, a WE CARE Speaker Series lecture, the Dean’s Executive Advisory Board meeting, and more. The college is also ready to hit the road this month on our latest WE CARE-A-VAN tour across Arkansas. The inaugural trip was last October, and we also traveled across the state in the spring, visiting various towns in Southwest Arkansas. In mid-October, we’re caravanning to Southeast Arkansas. These tours help us build new partnerships, strengthen relationships, and care for communities across the state.
If you haven’t already, please follow us on social media to keep up with the college in real time. You can find us at @uacoehp on Facebook, X, and Instagram and at University of Arkansas – College of Education and Health Professions on LinkedIn.
With care,
Dean Kate Mamiseishvili
