UALR has partnered with the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope (UACCH) to offer courses at its Texarkana branch for students in Miller and surrounding counties.

Shortly after UACCH opened its Texarkana branch in fall 2012, community and business leaders expressed the need for bachelor’s degree offerings in areas like business, construction management, and social work to prepare more people for jobs, according to UALR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson.

Full-time UALR faculty are currently offering business courses in a hybrid format. Hybrid courses are taught partly online and also include face-to-face instruction. In addition to business courses, construction management courses will be offered beginning fall 2015.

Following a market analysis, it became clear that UALR provided a great fit as a UACCH partner, Chancellor Anderson said.

The goal is to expand the university’s course offerings to help students more easily transition to a bachelor’s degree.

“Many students in the southwest part of the state attend Texas universities to earn their bachelor’s degree because those institutions are often geographically closer,” Anderson said.

“This partnership will allow students to stay in Arkansas and take advantage of scholarship programs, like the Academic Challenge, that are not eligible for use out-of-state.”

UALR courses will be offered in new, state-of-the-art facilities constructed by UACCH in partnership with the city of Texarkana.

Anderson added, “We are quite pleased to be a partner in making four-year degrees more readily accessible to citizens in the Texarkana area.”

Oversight of the partnership will be provided by a new director of distributed learning and continuing and professional development who will report directly to UALR Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Zulma Toro.

For more information, contact Laura Clark at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope at 870.722.8202 or laura.clark@uacch.edu.