The University of Arkansas is continuing a multi-pronged plan for improvement that began in 2022 as part of the school's sesquicentennial. Yesterday, university officials explained the third phase, 150 Forward Reaching Higher. The three major pillars of the phase are the same as the first two: student success, research excellence and Employer of Choice.
This third phase includes goals: 80% six-year graduation rate, $500 million annual research expenditures by 2032. Chancellor Charles Robinson calls these core transformational goals.
"Now, the whys behind these just make sense," Robinson said. "First of all, 80% is better than we are right now, and it speaks to our focus on our students and ensuring that when they come to us, they don't just come spend their money and leave without a credential. But they come, they develop and they leave with the credential that sets them in a good place for that next step in life."
The current six-year graduation rate is about 73%. The chancellor says the 80% six-year graduation rate goal is not a six-year goal, but attainable.
"It's particularly tough when you will not abandon your land-grant mission. And I define the land-grant mission as reaching out more broadly to students who maybe don't have the highest GPA, but they have a strong GPA, and they have a lot of willingness to come here and learn and develop. That's what Arkansas is about, and that's what we will continue to serve in Arkansas.
"If we decided to go selective where, you know, you had to have a 3.8 to get in here, we could get to 80% pretty quickly, but we wouldn't be serving Arkansas. And it matters far more to me that we're serving Arkansas than that we show up, you know, in a publication with an 80% graduation rate. So we will get there, but we'll get there doing the work that we are commissioned to do, living by our mission, serving the state."
He says the $500 million research goal can help elevate the University of Arkansas standing beyond the campus.
"The research expenditure is a national kind of recognition of research success. So we are basing that, this research, our focus on this number because our peers and our aspirants do the same. And it's a reflection, not a total reflection, of our research excellence growing. We're about $252.9 million. We want to get to $500 million and we're going to do that. Do so with a strategy."
That strategy includes placing a priority for now on five research areas: materials, semiconductors and power electronics; food system and nutrition; metabolic health; contested logistics and supply chain; and something that would be rather new for the university, lithium and critical minerals.
Margaret Sova McCabe, vice chancellor for research and innovation, says basically, doubling research expenditures by 2032 will require focus, strategic investment and disciplined execution. She says the priorities listed should not be interpreted as exclusive. She says all disciplines on campus matter.
"My office has been working, as associate deans of research know, to recruit a faculty fellow who will focus their time on the arts, humanities and social sciences, and understanding what their needs are and how we support them," McCabe said. "We understand that may not be a research expenditure number. That may mean, how do we help them publish the next impactful book? How do we help that composition be heard by thousands, if not millions?"
An overarching theme of yesterday's presentation was integrative work: faculty, administration and students working together. Chancellor Robinson says it's the best, most affordable approach.
"The University of Arkansas has limited resource, not unlimited. And the best way to optimize is to make sure everyone is playing a role, a role that they can play to help facilitate the plan. So it's the best way to use resources, when everyone's contributing in a coordinated way in order to achieve those goals."
The graduation rate and research expenditure goals were far from the only topics covered during the 70-minute address. Student success goals include every student learning AI literacy, and every student having at least one kind of experiential learning opportunity like studying abroad or an internship. Also mentioned: increasing faculty initiatives and strengthening employee experiences and increasing graduate student enrollment.
Chancellor Robinson says the third phase of 150 Forward builds on successes of the first two phases. Student enrollment in fall 2021 was just more than 29,000, with 15,400 Arkansas students. Four years later, total enrollment was above 34,000 students, with more than 17,500 students from Arkansas. Since 2022, donor support has totaled more than $748 million, and the Land of Opportunity Scholarship, launched two years ago for the most needy Arkansas students, has collected $140 million toward a $200 million goal.
The new goals, simultaneously strengthening the university's national rankings while remaining dedicated to the land-grant mission, won't be easy.
"Not easy at all. But why do it if it's easy? I mean, the whole goal is to take on the hard stuff because Arkansas is worth the investment and that's what we're going to do. And we're going to roll up our sleeves and get busy and get to work and achieve those goals. In six years, you'll come back and you'll see worth $500 million."
Details about the pillars and goals of this third phase of 150 Forward can be found at reachinghigher.uark.edu. Yesterday's event can be viewed in its entirety on the University of Arkansas YouTube channel. This is Ozarks at Large.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
