Press Releases
July 7, 2010
NORTHARK PRESIDENT JEFF OLSON TO RETIRE JUNE 30, 2011
Dr. Jeff Olson will retire as president of North Arkansas College on June 30, 2011, at the end of the 2010-2011 academic year. The 66-year-old Wisconsin native has served as Northark’s chief executive officer since July 1, 2001.
“As I reflect on my years of service to North Arkansas College, I am proud of that service and pleased with the growth and development of our college,” Olson said. “Northark is the preeminent force for economic, community, and workforce development within our service area, and our programs and our graduates are highly regarded.”
College trustees are scheduled to begin organizing the search for the next college president during their July board retreat.
During Olson’s tenure, enrollment at North Arkansas College has increased nearly 34 percent, from 1,817 in the fall of 2000 to a record enrollment of 2,429 students this past fall. According to the college’s admissions office, registration numbers are currently running about 200 students ahead of last fall’s pace.
Under Olson’s leadership, Northark added an 11,000-square-foot, $3.8 million Allied Health Addition in 2009, and on August 26 will dedicate the newly renovated Bradley Student Center on its South Campus. The college also purchased the former Regions Plaza in 2005 and renovated the bank portion of the facility into the L.E. “Gene” Durand Center, a 22,000-square-foot multipurpose facility which was completed in 2008. That same year, Northark opened its Carroll County Center in Berryville.
Northark has been very successful in resource development during Olson’s time as president. The college received a $2 million, five-year federal Title III grant in 2006 to promote student success and retention. The highly competitive award has funded programs and equipment enhancing instructional technology, faculty development, and student and academic support.
More than $1.2 million in federal appropriations have come to North Arkansas College under Olson, the first federal earmarks in the college’s history. Northark also has received more than $2 million in state general improvement funds over just the past two legislative sessions, and private giving through the North Arkansas College Foundation has topped $4 million during Olson’s time in Harrison.
Through retirements and reorganization under Olson’s leadership, the college reduced its number of senior administrators from six to four, and reorganized its academic staff, replacing division chairs with deans and creating lead instructors in various disciplines.
Olson is the second president in Northark’s history. He followed Dr. Bill Baker, the college’s founding president, who started March 1, 1974, and retired June 30, 2001.
Prior to coming to Northark, Olson served six years as president of Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Previously, he was dean of occupational education at Coastal Carolina Community College from 1989 to 1991 and vice president of instruction at the same institution from 1991 until accepting the presidency at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College in 1995.
A graduate of the prestigious Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas in Austin with a Ph.D. in educational administration, Olson's first degree came from a community college. He majored in marketing and received an associate of applied science degree from Milwaukee Area Technical College in 1967. He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a master of science in business education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Early in his 38-year community college career, Olson taught for nine years at a two-year college. He was a classroom instructor at Northcentral Technical College in Wausau, Wis., teaching several different business-related classes, before moving into academic administration.
May 18, 2010
270 Students Named to Northark Dean’s List
A total of 270 students have been named to the Dean’s List at North Arkansas College in Harrison for the 2010 spring semester. That number includes 191 students who were named to the Dean’s List for full-time students and 79 students who made the Dean’s List for part-time students.
In order to qualify for the full-time Dean’s List, a student must complete 12 or more semester hours with a grade point average of 3.7 or higher for the semester. To make the part-time Dean’s List, a student must post a GPA of 3.7 or higher for six to 11 hours during the semester and must have accumulated 12 or more hours with a GPA of 3.7 or above.
Of the students on the Dean’s List, 166 posted a perfect 4.0 grade point average for the spring semester. That number includes 94 full-time students and 72 part-time students.
Registration is available beginning June 4th for the fall semester at Northark. Classes start August 18th, 2010. For more information, call 391-3222.
March 2, 2010
FREE Refreshments
Scholarship & Prize Drawings
GRAND PRIZE: One-Semester Full Tuition Scholarship
Lots of Displays, Demos, Information, and more.
February 15, 2010
Anne Mitchell, crowned Northark Homecoming Queen Monday, February 15, 2010.
WOULD YOU GO TO COLLEGE
IF YOU HAD FINANCIAL AID?
DO YOU NEED HELP COMPLETING THE FAFSA?
If you don’t know what a FAFSA is or you answered yes to either of these questions, you need to come to College Goal Sunday on February 21st from 2:00 P.M.-4:00 P.M. in the John Paul Hammerschmidt Conference Center on the South Campus of North Arkansas College. There will be step-by-step assistance provided to answer all your questions about obtaining financial aid. You will leave with a completed FAFSA application and the satisfaction of taking the next step toward a college education. For more information call 391-3240 or visit www.arcollegegoalsunday.org
Students should bring:
2009 Federal Income Tax Forms
2009 W-2 Forms
Amounts of untaxed income for 2009.
(Social Security Benefits, Child Support, Alimony and Veterans Benefits)
Social Security Numbers of student and a parent
Previously applied PIN# from www.pin.ed.gov
February 3, 2010
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Cave Region Review Journal Submissions Requested
Cave Region Review, a journal of visual and literary arts, published by North Arkansas College, invites writers and artists in the Ozark region to submit fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, art, one-act plays, and essays for the spring issue. Deadline for submissions is March 15, 2010.
Please limit submissions to your five BEST works (any combination of mediums listed above). However, please submit only one each of the following: plays, short stories, and essays (you may send up to five poems or five pieces of art work but only send one of each of the longer genres).
Artwork must be submitted in digital format either by e-mail or CD-ROM. If artwork is selected for publication, high quality digital images will be requested (minimum resolution 300 dpi) JPEG or TIFF.
When submitting, please include a cover letter containing name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and title(s) of submission(s). A short bio paragraph would also be helpful. Bio should include any pertinent experience and previous publications. Mail submissions to: Cave Region Review, c/o North Arkansas College, 1515 Pioneer Drive, Harrison, AR 72601.
Submissions can also be made via e-mail. Send cover letter and submissions as separate attachments to info@caveregionreview.com, or visit our website at www.caveregionreview.com.
All published contributors will receive a complimentary copy of the spring issue.
January 25, 2010
Rotary Four-Way Speech Contest Participants
Students from local high schools recently participated in the annual Rotary Four-way Test Speech Contest. Each student was presented a scholarship to North Arkansas College in recognition of their participation by Dr. Jeff Olson, president. Shown from left to right are: Jessica Lira from Alpena, John Horton from Valley Springs – Second Place, Olivia Iske from Omaha – First Place, Jordan Cecil from Harrison, Kayla Powers from Bergman, Amanda Anderson from Lead Hill – Third Place, and Dr. Jeff Olson, president of North Arkansas College.
January 14, 2010
220 Students Named to Northark Dean’s List
A total of 220 students have been named to the Dean’s List at North Arkansas College in Harrison for the 2009 fall semester. That number includes 167 students who were named to the Dean’s List for full-time students and 53 students who made the Dean’s List for part-time students.
In order to qualify for the full-time Dean’s List, a student must complete 12 or more semester hours with a grade point average of 3.7 or higher for the semester. To make the part-time Dean’s List, a student must post a GPA of 3.7 or higher for six to 11 hours during the semester and must have accumulated 12 or more hours with a GPA of 3.7 or above.
Of the students on the Dean’s List, 160 posted a perfect 4.0 grade point average for the fall semester. That number includes 110 full-time students and 50 part-time students.
Full-Time Student's Dean List
Part-Time Student's Dean List
Dr. Michael Pakko Speaks at Northark Economic Update Breakfast
According to the economic forecast, the recession has ended. The formal announcement is expected to be released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics within the next few weeks. Data suggests the end date of the recession will be pinpointed to June 2009.
Dr. Michael Pakko, Chief Economist and State Economic Forecaster at the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, spoke to a crowd of business people during the second of a series of Economic Update Breakfasts hosted by Northark in the L.E. “Gene” Durand Center and sponsored by Centurion Financial Services and Porterfield Killingsworth CPA.
“Arkansas fared well in comparison with other states in the nation,” Dr. Pakko stated. “The Arkansas unemployment rate fluctuated between 7-7.5% while the nation hovered at 10%. That is due to a combination of factors and the standard explanation is that our state doesn’t experience the peaks or valleys of other states economies. He continued by saying, “problems in the nation aren’t homegrown in Arkansas and a changing industry mix of growth continued in areas that are diverse and increasingly important to the Arkansas economy. The education, healthcare and government sectors experienced continual growth throughout the recession.”
In regional data specific to Arkansas, he noted Pine Bluff had experienced the highest unemployment rate at 9.2%, in contrast to Hot Springs and Jonesboro who enjoyed growth in the employment sector. Boone County’s employment rate was 4.5% in June 2008 and rose to meet the state average of 7.5% by the end of 2009. The largest sectors of employment were identified by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as information, most notably being twice as important to the Boone County economy than the rest of nation. Following was the trade, transportation and utility sector and finally government jobs.
Pakko noted according the FDIC there were 161 bank failures nationwide and only one had occurred in Arkansas.
He expects to see a gradual recovery in the housing market and a full recovery by the end of 2010.
In addition to his responsibilities at UALR, Dr. Pakko is the host and moderator for the Arkansas Economist blog at www.arkansaseconomist.com. He received his B.A. from Michigan State University in 1984 and a PhD from the University of Rochester in 1994.
From 1993 until 2009, Dr. Pakko was a research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, where he published research on a variety of topics, including international trade, economic growth, macroeconomics, and public policy. During his time in St. Louis, Pakko also held occasional positions as Adjunct Assistant Professor at Saint Louis University’s Cook School of Business, and as Research Fellow at the Show-Me Institute—a public policy think tank.
Before moving to Arkansas, Dr. Pakko served from 2006 until 2009 as the “Little Rock Zone Expert” for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, monitoring and reporting on economic conditions in the state of Arkansas.
North Arkansas Partnership for Health Education (NAPHE)
Awarded Grant to Address Chronic Disease
Harrison, AR - North Arkansas Partnership for Health Education (NAPHE) has received a grant to implement a project that will impact the health status of residents in Boone and Newton County. The Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas is proud to provide NAPHE an award of $117,371 to implement the project entitled, “North Arkansas Chronic Disease Self Management Initiative”. Dr. Ray Bredfeldt, Regional Medical Director, Northwest Region, Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield presented the check to members of the grant advisory committee and NAPHE Board on Wednesday.
With input from the grant advisory committee which consists of people involved in the prevention and treatment of chronic disease in the two counties, NAPHE will implement this initiative to address the issue of chronic disease.
“Specifically, the 2010 initiative will focus on developing comprehensive and integrated chronic disease self management education support services to meet the needs of the area medical community and establish a referral system with the area medical community to refer those who are diagnosed with a chronic disease”, Dr. Rick Hinterthuer, Executive Director, NAPHE.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 80percent of older Americans have at least one chronic condition and 50 percent have at least two, accounting for nearly one third of the nations’ healthcare expenditures.” Chronic diseases include but are not limited to diabetes, arthritis/chronic pain, COPD, cancer, heart disease, hypertension and movement disorders.
For information on services offered to benefit people with a chronic disease, call the Community Health Resource Center at 870-391- CHRC (2472).
January 12, 2010
January 7, 2010
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$3.8 Million Allied Health Addition Dedicated
Construction is complete on an 11,000-square-foot, $3.8 million Allied Health Addition on the South Campus of North Arkansas College. The structure was added to the current building on its southwest side. The new area will house classrooms and labs for medical laboratory technology, surgical technology, and nursing, plus a computer lab for allied health students. The architectural firm of Wittenberg, Delony & Davidson, Inc. of Fayetteville designed the project, and was built by GAG Builders, Inc., of Cabot.
Funding sources for the project include $2 million from Arkansas Higher Education Savings Bonds. The college also is using state general revenue monies, a federal earmark, and proceeds from local millage receipts to pay for the new facilities.
According to the Arkansas Legislative Nursing Commission, the state is producing less than half the annual number of nurses it needs. By the year 2010, Arkansas will require 27,303 registered nurses and 16,031 practical nurses, according to a Nursing Commission study.
Allied health students make up almost one-third of North Arkansas College graduates. The college offers career tracks for allied health students in Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN), Registered Nursing (RN), Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Radiologic Technology, Medical Laboratory Technology, Surgical Technology, Phlebotomy, and Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic.
Traditionally, the Allied Health programs have experienced long waiting lists and limitations of space for exercises. Northark’s nursing programs have doubled in size since its facilities were finished in 1981. The Arkansas State Board of Nursing has capped enrollment due to space limitations. The nursing program at Northark enjoys a 100% pass rate on its exams and graduates are highly sought after because of the history of well trained graduates.
Although the addition will not provide the space the college needs to dramatically expand its programs, it will provide Northark nursing and allied health students with an opportunity to learn in a safe, non-stressful environment before practicing their skills in live clinical settings.