The College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics supports the mission of the University of Central Arkansas through the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Physics and Astronomy, and the Arkansas Center for Mathematics and Science Education. The college mission is to provide current, superior learning opportunities for students of the university and for the public; to advance knowledge of our disciplines; and to furnish professional services locally, regionally, and nationally.

• To help students of the university develop life-long competencies in critical thinking, oral and written communication, analytical and quantitative reasoning, and problem solving.
• To provide high quality, rigorous programs that prepare students to enter the work force as practitioners or teachers of mathematics, the natural sciences, or computer science, and other professions; to further their education through graduate programs; or to attend professional schools.
• To provide opportunities for advanced studies in biology, computer science, and mathematics through master's degree programs.
• To serve students majoring in other programs that require solid foundations in mathematics and the natural sciences, such as teaching and the health professions.
• To acquaint all students with the complexity and diversity of the contemporary world, in the context of the mathematical and scientific branches of human learning and ways of knowing, through general education courses.
• To provide, promote, and encourage professional growth opportunities for faculty and staff, including scholarship activities that advance and disseminate knowledge of the disciplines.
• To serve the public by consulting with schools, businesses, industries and governmental agencies, delivering in-service training for teachers, making presentations to school children and the general public, and supporting professional organizations.

The College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics is planning a new Science Education Building to replace the Lewis Science Center.  This building will provide new space designed to improve our ability to educate Arkansans for the knowledge based jobs of the future.  Instructional space will reflect the results of years of research into what works in science education.

This building will integrate the College's efforts to provide quality instruction in the sciences with our goal of training the best prepared science educators for grades K-12 and then supporting them once they graduate and move into the classroom.  The new building will house the secondary science education program along with the The UCA Institute for STEM Professional Development and Education Research.  These two programs will be able to share space providing an aspiring science teacher a familiarity with the STEM Institute before they graduate.

Outreach to the community is another important aspect of the planning for the new building.  A new 100-seat digital planetarium will be a prominent part of the building.  This facility will be more flexible than our current planetarium.  The digital projection system provides more variety in the types of astronomical presentations compared to our current mechanical projection system.  Even more exciting, the digital system can be used to present any kind of science, not just astronomical.  Programs exist that allow a 3-D image of the human anatomy to be projected overhead.  A class can take a guided tour of the nervous system or the circulatory system.  This kind of classroom experience is not available anywhere in Arkansas currently.

You can help achieve this goal.  If you would like to talk with us about how you can help, we invite you to contact the Dean's Office at (501) 450-3199 or cnsm@uca.edu or you can send donations to the UCA Foundation care of the Science and Mathematics Education Building and Planetarium Fund.  Watch for more information about the building and how you can help.