Marine Pursues Medical Career

David Eisenhart, ASU-Beebe Student

David Eisenhart will transfer from Arkansas State University-Beebe this fall after earning two associate degrees to pursue his dream of becoming a surgeon.

Becoming a doctor was not always Eisenhart’s dream.  During high school, Eisenhart was a C student and had very little interest in college.  This prompted him to join the Marines after high school.  Eisenhart was an Infantryman and served three tours in Iraq between 2002 and 2006.

After leaving the military, Eisenhart decided to continue his education.  “I chose ASU-Beebe because of convenience but stayed because the smaller atmosphere allowed me to have personal relationships with my professors,” Eisenhart said.

While in the military, Eisenhart received the Presidential Unit Citation for the operation that included the rescue of Jessica Lynch.   At ASU-Beebe, Eisenhart has served as an ambassador in the Admissions Office and tutored in the Learning Center.   He received the ASU-Beebe Campus Award in 2008 and the Math and Science Division Award in 2010.

Eisenhart received his Associate of Arts in Spring 2009 and his Associate of Science in Health Sciences this spring. He has 76 hours at ASU-Beebe and has maintained a 4.0 grade point average.

“I love school,” Eisenhart said.  “Getting my medical degree will keep me in school a long time, and when I am finished I will be able to help people.”

AATYC Establishes “Center for Student Success”

Through a grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, AATYC recently established the “Center for Student Success” to identify and implement new practices and policies to improve the success rates of Arkansas two-year college students.

Nearly half of two-year college students are nontraditional and/or the first-generation in their families to attend college.  These students are more likely to be women, employed full-time, and to support dependents living at home.  Unfortunately, they face additional barriers to success, including financial hardships, problems with child care and transportation, and family and work responsibilities.  Without extensive support services such as individual counseling and encouragement, these students are more likely to fail.

Over the past few years, significant progress has been made toward improving student success through such initiatives as Achieving the Dream, Career Pathways, Foundations of Excellence, Arkansas Works, Centers for Working Families and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement.  However, this work is not yet comprehensive in scope – that is, it is not addressing all the critical barriers to student success, such as developmental education reform. 

The intent of the new Center is to build upon this important collection of work – to more strategically coordinate and expand this work so that it may have a broader and deeper impact on retention and graduation rates at two-year colleges in Arkansas.

The more specific goals of the Center are fourfold: 

1. Better coordinate and establish synergies between existing student success initiatives.
2. Coordinate the gathering and dissemination among all Arkansas two-year colleges of lessons learned and best practices from existing and new student success initiatives. 
3. Seek federal, state and private grant and other funding opportunities to expand proven initiatives and pilot new initiatives aimed at stimulating innovative practices to improve student success. 
4. Coordinate the translation of learnings and best practices from all student success initiatives into state policy change, aggregate and present data (in policy briefs and reports) from all colleges for state policy change purposes, and advocate for specific policy changes.

In the end, the Center will better position Arkansas’ two-year colleges to tackle a leading challenge facing higher education today: how to improve retention and completion rates of two-year college students. 

In addition to the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Southern Bancorp is a founding partner for the Center.  Southern Bancorp is a community development bank holding company that makes a variety of investments in education and other areas to improve communities in south and east Arkansas.  

Overcoming Obstacles

Stephanie Barragan, UACC-Hope Student

It’s never too late or too hard to go back to college. Just ask 34-year-old University of Arkansas Community College at Hope (UACCH) Practical Nursing student Stephanie Barragan, who came to UACCH in 2009 after being a stay-at-home mom for 11 years.

With a passion for caring for others and an interest in nursing, Stephanie began calling local colleges. After talking with several schools, she decided to attend UACCH. “The conversation I had with the UACCH nursing instructors went so well, I knew immediately where I was going. They genuinely cared about my interests and made me feel wanted,” she said.

By receiving the Pike County Single Parent scholarship and the Ned Ray Purtle Family LPN Scholarship at UACCH, Stephanie got a jump-start on paying for her education. And after completing all her prerequisites in just one semester, things were looking up. “I was passing my classes and managing to make some time for my family. Things started looking up. I thought, ‘I can do this. I can be a nurse and fulfill my passion for helping others.’” Stephanie admits that going back to college was rigorous. “You’re not going to skate through without any problems, but with hard work and help from your teachers and classmates, you can succeed,” she said.

Stephanie graduated this spring with a Technical Certificate in Licensed Practical Nursing. She was highly involved on campus as a member of Campus Crusade for Christ, Phi Theta Kappa, Arkansas Licensed Practical Nurses Association, TRiO Student Support Services, and served as president of the UACCH Practical Nursing Club. It’s no wonder several area hospitals offered Stephanie jobs before graduating. After all, she finished in the top of her class.

Barragan managed to accomplish all these academic achievements, including a 3.9 grade point average while still caring for her three children and driving an hour one way to class. “There can be many obstacles in the way of getting an education; don’t let them be an excuse,” she said.

Entrepreneurs Wanted

Arkansas two-year colleges are working together to prepare entrepreneurs for business success.  The AATYC Entrepreneurship Training Consortium, formed in 2008, combines the efforts of two-year colleges to foster economic development through entrepreneurship education.

Why are entrepreneurs important to Arkansas?  Entrepreneurs are vital to economic growth, innovation, and higher standards of living. They provide products and services that people need, they hire employees, and they conduct business with local banks and retailers.

Why is entrepreneurship education essential?  In addition to having a “good idea” for a start-up business, adequate planning, financial literacy, and management skills are essential to the success of entrepreneurs- and that is where two-year colleges come in.  Ten of the AATYC Entrepreneurship Consortium colleges have collaborated to deliver the same seven courses with common curriculum, textbooks and faculty.  Each course counts towards a Technical Certificate in Business and/or a two-year Business Degree. 

In addition to a “traditional” student approach, entrepreneurship courses are now imbedded in technology programs such as welding, automotive, hospitality/tourism, retail, and cosmetology. These courses are designed to provide the skills necessary for starting and managing a business.  Noncredit short courses are also being developed for existing small business owners/employees and dislocated workers that have no time for semester-based instruction.

Entrepreneurship may be especially important in revitalizing rural Arkansas communities, where talented citizens often move away to larger cities with more job opportunities.  Through entrepreneurial education and training, rural communities can become economically independent of factories and other rural industries, as well as retain talented citizens and potential community leaders.

“Governor Beebe talks about the importance of education and economic development, and entrepreneurship education is the key to this philosophy,” says Ed Franklin, Executive Director of AATYC.  “Only by educating people about how to start, promote, and successfully manage their own businesses will rural Arkansas expand their existing economy.”

The ten “common curriculum” colleges are Arkansas State University-Beebe, East Arkansas Community College, North Arkansas College, NorthWest Arkansas Community College, Ouachita Technical College, Pulaski Technical College, Southern Arkansas University Tech, South Arkansas Community College, Southeast Arkansas College, and the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville.