A welcome note from the Interim Vice Provost of Research and the Dean of Graduate School
Students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock pursue excellence in a wide array of disciplines, honing their critical thinking skills under the leadership of our outstanding faculty. They work in labs, exhibit their art, care for museum collections, and conduct countless other projects as undergraduate and graduate students. Having experienced the caliber of both our students and our faculty first-hand, I am honored to serve as the Interim Vice Provost of Research and the Dean of Graduate School.
UALR students engage in a diverse range of disciplines, spreading across the arts, humanities, social sciences, engineering, technology, physical and natural sciences, education, business, and law. Led by passionate faculty, students frequently work both in their area of study and in interdisciplinary collaborations with students and professors from across campus. These research and creative activities are supported by funding from internal, private, state, and federal sources. Sponsors include the Arkansas Department of Education, Arkansas Highway Transportation Department, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Education, Department of Justice, National Institutes of Health, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Harris Foundation.
In addition to UALR’s dozens of exemplary undergraduate programs, the UALR Graduate School offers graduate certificates, master’s degrees, and doctoral degrees. While many begin a graduate program directly after their baccalaureate studies, many of our graduate students often come to us with years of professional experience on their resumes. Some choose to attend part-time while retaining fulltime professional positions; others devote themselves to a full course load. Whatever path is chosen, this commitment of time, resources, and energy pays off— US Census Bureau data points to the fact that an individual can expect to earn about 20% more over their lifetime with a master’s degree (as compared to their peers with bachelors’ degrees), and an additional 20% with a doctoral degree (as compared to their peers with master’s degrees).
Equipped with UALR graduate degrees, students have gone on to be industry and business leaders, entrepreneurs, researchers in national laboratories, and faculty in K-12 institutions and universities, to name just a few. The Graduate School offers 24 graduate certificates, 40 master’s-level programs, and 11 doctoral-level programs. As we look to the future, an effort is underway to embrace the accelerated BS-to-MS format, in which both degrees can be acquired in a shorter amount of time. Two programs–Information Quality and Information Science–are being offered in the fall of 2016 in this format, and we expect more to be offered soon.
Whether you’re an incoming freshman, an experienced professional, or something in between, the research and creative activity enterprise as well as graduate studies here at UALR has a lot to offer to you and a lot to gain from your participation. I look forward to hearing from you.
Abhijit Bhattacharyya, PhD, ASME Fellow
Interim Vice Provost for Research and Dean of Graduate School
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
axbhattachar@ualr.edu, Ph: 501.569.8659
