Over the last five years of my administration, we鈥檝e had a lot of hard work to do to right this ship and get it turned in the right direction. For a number of years prior, I would say that we were adrift, trying to find our place in a rapidly changing environment, unable to focus on the horizon, and often trying to do too much with too little. So, we needed to start the conversation about our core purpose as an institution of higher education, about our institutional priorities, and about how to meet the needs and expectations of our community. In a word, we needed focus. And we needed to infuse that into everything we did from there on.

Fast forward five years and now we can begin to see the results. Although there is still plenty of work to do and things to fix, I stand before you today to say that this ship HAS turned around and is sailing forward with a strong hull, an experienced crew, and a clear destination. There are several key indicators that should give us cause for optimism.

First, and foremost, we have demonstrated that in spite of strong headwinds, we CAN increase enrollment, we CAN bring people back to campus, and there is still a significant number of people in the State of Arkansas who believe in the value proposition of a college education. When we make it affordable, and reduce other barriers to entry, they will make this investment in their future. We are seeing that now with a 29% increase in new first-time freshmen this fall, an 18% increase in new transfer students, a 1% increase in undergraduate retention, and a 9.3% increase in residence hall occupancy. Residence hall occupancy is at its highest level in years.

A second key indicator is that we have demonstrated that we can live within our means and end each year in the black by a comfortable margin. While we still have to be prudent, we still have to budget carefully and be prepared for setbacks, I can reassure you that we are financially stable and will remain so as long as we maintain our current approach.

A third indicator supporting a positive outlook is the increasing level of investment that external entities have made in this institution. Over the last four years, our revenue from grants and contracts has increased by 45%. We鈥檝e gone from an annual award level of around $30M to a level of around $45M. This fiscal year, just three months in, we鈥檙e already at $13M and projected to top $40M. This is a testimony to the exceptional work of our research faculty and public service personnel. It is also reflective of our growing reputation as an institution of excellence. Word is getting out and our grant revenue is growing.

Our revenue from private donations has been equally impressive. Five years ago, we had a fledgling unfocused capital campaign with loosely defined objectives. We threw out the old campaign and started over by rebranding the new campaign as this institution鈥檚 Centennial Campaign for a new generation, and we made sure our donors understood that we were raising money for institutional priorities like access and affordability, program excellence and experiential learning opportunities, improving the living and learning environment, research support, and community engagement. Our donors connected with these priorities and we鈥檝e seen the results.

Today, we鈥檝e raised record levels of funding. As many of you know, our current capital campaign has a goal of $250M. Christian is planning a big milestone announcement very soon, so I won鈥檛 steal his thunder, but I can tell you that we are very confident that we will reach our goal and then some. The endowment portion of our foundation funds has grown from $84M five years ago to over $141M today. That鈥檚 an increase of nearly 68%. Today we average well over 7,000 unique donors each year with corporate investment (which we had very little of before) now at a level of $13M.

All of this investment in 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, both in grants and private giving, shows that we have earned the confidence and trust of our community. People are now asking us; how can we help.

And now, after years of cutting, we鈥檝e been able to invest these new dollars into improving our infrastructure, expanding our scholarship base, supporting student success, and supporting faculty excellence. These investments have helped us turn around enrollment and reinvigorate the campus experience. In addition to the beautiful new Trojan Way and the Library Learning Commons, we have refurbished 20 classrooms through corporate donor contributions and the Provost has upgraded labs and other academic spaces with a combination of different university resources. As our annual grant fund revenue has increased, we鈥檝e been able to commit an additional $500K to the research office to better support our research enterprise.

As heartening as this has been, we have struggled to make progress on one of our most important challenges鈥攅mployee salaries. Individual units and divisions have reorganized and restructured their operations in order to raise salaries for positions that were no longer attracting applicants and to address internal equity issues. We did a faculty salary study a few years ago, and were able to raise below median salaries to the median by rank and discipline using salary savings in the instructional reserve. We have a salary committee working on an equity analysis for staff. And finally, this year, using last year鈥檚 increase in student semester credit hours, we took the first step in raising salaries across the board with a $1,000 raise for all full-time employees.

We鈥檙e not done.

With this fall鈥檚 enrollment increase and the projected enrollment for the rest of the year, I am pleased to announce that we will implement an additional raise of $2000 for all eligible full-time employees effective November 1st of this year.

And we will keep working on this. That is my commitment to you.

I hope you are as encouraged by our progress as I am. I think we鈥檝e come a long way in five years. Nevertheless, it is important to understand that it鈥檚 not magic, and it鈥檚 not just hard work, although there鈥檚 plenty of that. It鈥檚 a matter of understanding who we are, what we have to offer, and what the world needs from us. If we can stay focused on our priorities, and if we can keep telling our story, tell people about what we do really well, to everyone who needs to hear it, we can keep sailing forward, getting stronger and getting better every year. We can do this, we are doing it, and I am deeply grateful to each and every one of you for your commitment to this journey. Thank you.

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Announcement from Chancellor Rogerson

Colleagues,

I have already spoken with many of you about the desire to change our university鈥檚 abbreviated name from 糖心Vlog传媒LR to 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. While our official name remains the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock represents one of our institution鈥檚 greatest strengths, our location in Arkansas鈥檚 capital city. This new name also corresponds with our Athletic Department鈥檚 name change a year ago to . 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock also reflects the university鈥檚 commitment and long-standing partnership and service to our community – Little Rock and central Arkansas. For out-of-state student and employee recruitment and other initiatives, having a name that represents the location of our university is also an advantage.

Please join me in welcoming and embracing our new short-form name, 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. As members of the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock family, you will be key in helping to spread this announcement and the successful transition to this name. The name change necessitates a revision of our logo from the 糖心Vlog传媒LR initials to 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, which I am excited to share with you in this email. The creative work on the logo revision is a collective effort by graphic designers in the Office of Communications and Marketing and the Department of Art. I applaud them on this new design, which retains our same colors and elements from the 糖心Vlog传媒LR logo.

We will roll out our name change and updated logo in a responsible way that will not create budget concerns. The new logo was created at no cost. The Office of Communications and Marketing is developing the revised graphic identity guidelines now with messaging to support these changes. When complete, the standards will be placed on the university website and shared with you in the coming weeks.

I urge you to continue to use your existing brochures, business cards, promotional items, and other 糖心Vlog传媒LR branded items until your supplies are exhausted. When it is time to reorder or produce new materials, please refer to the new graphic standards and consult with the Communications and Marketing staff for help. We will approach other changes, such as signage, in the same responsible manner.

For now, let鈥檚 celebrate our new name and logo.

Go 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock – and Go Little Rock Trojans!

Andrew Rogerson
Chancellor

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Beard accepted the position of head coach at UNLV after one year with Little Rock.

Read the full .

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The 2015 Spectac糖心Vlog传媒LR event benefiting 糖心Vlog传媒LR Athletics was a tremendous success.  New York Knicks head coach and former Trojan Basketball player Derek Fisher was this year’s honoree. The event was the largest Spectac糖心Vlog传媒LR to date. 

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John Bacon, CEO for eStem, said the collaboration is the 鈥渕ost exciting and promising proposal鈥� he has seen for students and the Little Rock community in his 20 years in education.  鈥淔or us, the concept of partnering with 糖心Vlog传媒LR is just incredible,鈥� Bacon said. 鈥淭he outcome is limitless. What we鈥檙e creating, frankly, is something that doesn鈥檛 exist.鈥�

This collaboration will function as a type of learning laboratory model that could boost STEM education in ways that will benefit other high school systems in the state, said 糖心Vlog传媒LR Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Dr. Zulma Toro.

Toro said this project is part of a larger effort to improve STEM education in Arkansas, equipping students with the skills they鈥檒l need to succeed after graduation and providing Arkansas companies the workforce they require to thrive in the state.

糖心Vlog传媒LR students and faculty will also be involved with the high school in a number of ways, ranging from volunteering to student teaching. Dr. Zulma Toro, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, said, 鈥淭he partnership will afford the eSTEM students many benefits such as decreased time to college degree completion, and it will also contribute to 糖心Vlog传媒LR鈥檚 goal of producing career鈥搑eady graduates by providing experiential learning opportunities for 糖心Vlog传媒LR鈥檚 students not only in the STEM disciplines and education, but also in social work, counseling, health sciences, nursing, psychology, audiology and speech pathology, and many more,鈥� Toro said.

eStem students and employees will have the benefit of utilizing 糖心Vlog传媒LR facilities. In addition, students will have the option to graduate with an associate degree along with their high school diploma. The partnership between eStem and 糖心Vlog传媒LR will help strengthen STEM education from Kindergarten through graduate school.  鈥淯niversities across the country talk about 鈥榮eamless K-12 through college鈥� education, but almost nobody really succeeds at it, ” said 糖心Vlog传媒LR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson.  “Having a strong high school with a STEM emphasis on campus will make it easier to collaborate in planning, coordinating, and offering a seamless curriculum in each discipline.鈥�

The partnership and sale of land to eStem was approved today by the Building and Grounds Committee of the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees. The final level of approval necessary to proceed must be given by the Arkansas State Board of Education.

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The 71,000 square foot facility will bring together under one roof the Applied Design program now located at University Plaza and the visual arts programs in the current Fine Arts Building.

“Students will not only have access to the talented instruction of our faculty, but also a first-rate facility in which to learn,” said Chancellor Anderson.  “We are truly grateful to the Windgate Foundation trustees for their long-standing support of the arts at 糖心Vlog传媒LR, and throughout the state of Arkansas.”

A video of the design of the new building can be viewed here.

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