Student Resources

UCA’s Upward Bound Program Provides Excellent Results

Upward Bound at University of Central Arkansas, one of more than 2800 federal TRiO programs in the country, serves students in grades 9 through 12 from Bigelow, Nemo Vista, Perryville, Mayflower, and Morrilton who are low-income, first generation, and/or students at high-risk for academic failure.

The ultimate goal is college access and post-secondary success for participants. Upward Bound currently has 49 prior participants (cohort year of 2007 and later) who are attending college right now, 30.6% of whom are currently enrolled at UCA.

The program recently submitted its 2015-2016 Annual Performance Report (APR) to the U.S. Department of Education. The annual APR assesses how the program is performing against its assigned objectives. In order to keep the university apprised of the work being done, a summary of the results is provided below.

Funded to Serve: 58

Participants Served: 60 (103%)

2/3 Eligibility Requirement (2/3 of eligible participants must be first-generation AND low-income AND/OR at high-risk for academic failure): 39

2/3 Eligibility Served: 42 (70%)

Objective 1: 60% of participants served during the project year will have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or better on a four-point scale at the end of the school year.

Actual Attained Rate: 92%

Statistical Significance: The state average according to ADE in 2015 was 69.5%.

Objective 2: 65% of UB seniors served during the project year will have achieved at the proficient level on state assessments in reading/language arts AND math.

Actual Attained Rate: 67%

Statistical Significance: The state average of proficiency per subject area according to ADE in 2016 for the ACT Aspire was Math (20%), English (55%), Reading (40%), and Writing (50%).

Objective 3: 95% of project participants served during the project year will continue in school for the next academic year, at the next grade level, or will have graduated from secondary school with a regular secondary school diploma.

Actual Attained Rate: 100%

Statistical Significance: The average cohort dropout rate for UB’s target schools in 2015 (according to ADEDATA) was 22.1%.

Objective 4: 75% of all current and prior year UB participants, who at the time of entrance into the project had an expected high school graduation date in the school year, will complete a rigorous secondary school program of study and graduate in that school year with a regular secondary school diploma.

Actual Attained Rate: 85%

Statistical Significance: The average percentage of students graduating with a rigorous curriculum from UB’s target schools was 52.2% (ADE, 2015).

Objective 5: 70% of all current and prior UB participants, who at the time of entrance into the project had an expected high school graduation date in the school year, will enroll in a program of post-secondary education by the fall term immediately following high school graduation or will have received notification, by the fall term immediately following high school, from an institution of higher education, of acceptance but deferred enrollment until the next academic semester (e.g., spring semester).

Actual Attained Rate: 77%

Statistical Significance: The average college-going rate for UB’s target schools was 52.4% (ADE, 2015).

Objective 6: 50% of participants who enrolled in a program of post-secondary education, by the fall term immediately following high school graduation or by the next academic term (e.g., spring term) as a result of acceptance by deferred enrollment, will attain either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree within six years following graduation from high school.

Actual Attained Rate: 50%

Statistical Significance: Only 26.1% of 2009 target school graduates who enrolled in college the following fall completed a two or four-year post-secondary degree within six years (National Student Clearinghouse, 2016). In UB’s target area, only 16% of adults have a bachelor’s degree (2014 Census, American Community Survey).

For more information about federal TRiO programs or our program in particular, call or email the director of Upward Bound, Michelle Hardin, at (501) 450-5858 or mhardin@uca.edu. You can also visit the website for Council for Opportunity in Education at http://www.coenet.org/trio.shtml for a more detailed overview.

National Endowment for the Arts Awards $25,000 to the Oxford American

Today the National Endowment for the Arts announced the latest recipients of Art Works grants. The Oxford American is proud to be one of five grant recipients in the state of Arkansas. The award of $25,000 will fund the publication of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in 2017.

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $30 million in grants as part of the NEA’s first major funding announcement for fiscal year 2017. Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $25,000 to the Oxford American to support the publication and promotion of the magazine in 2017.

“We are honored to receive National Endowment for the Arts funding through their Art Works program,” said Oxford American executive director Ryan Harris. “Art Works excels at providing democratized support opportunities for organizations like the Oxford American to continue their work. We are humbled to be amongst a select group of grant recipients.”

The Art Works category focuses on the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts.

“The arts are for all of us, and by supporting organizations such as the Oxford American, the National Endowment for the Arts is providing more opportunities for the public to engage with the arts,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “Whether in a theater, a town square, a museum, or a hospital, the arts are everywhere and make our lives richer.”

The award granted to the Oxford American—a national magazine dedicated to featuring the best in Southern writing—will fund the publication of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by both emerging and established authors.

“An investment in nonprofit publications like the Oxford American is an investment in the future of American letters,” said editor Eliza Borné. “We are grateful to receive funding from the National Endowment for the Arts for the second year in a row.”

For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

ABOUT THE OXFORD AMERICAN

The Oxford American is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization and national magazine dedicated to featuring the very best in Southern writing, while documenting the complexity and vitality of the American South. The Oxford American is committed to the development of young individuals aspiring to work in the publishing industry and to the production and presentation of multidisciplinary arts events in and around Little Rock, Arkansas. Billed as “A Magazine of the South,” it has won four National Magazine Awards—including the 2016 Award for General Excellence in the category of Literature, Science and Politics—and other high honors since it began publication in 1992. The magazine has featured the original work of such literary powerhouses as Charles Portis, Roy Blount, Jr., ZZ Packer, Donald Harington, Donna Tartt, Ernest J. Gaines, and many other distinguished authors, while also discovering and launching the most promising writers in the region. The magazine has also published previously unseen work by such Southern masters as William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Walker Percy, James Agee, Zora Neale Hurston, James Dickey, and Carson McCullers. In 2007, the New York Times stated that the Oxford American “may be the liveliest literary magazine in America.” The Oxford American is published from the University of Central Arkansas. For more information, visit OxfordAmerican.org.

Alumna of Upward Bound at UCA Passes Bar and Receives MBA/JD

Delayna Griffin, a 2008 graduate of Morrilton High School, participated in Upward Bound at UCA throughout her high school years. She earned her BA in Political Science from UCA in May 2011 before enrolling at Texas Southern University in Fall of 2012. In August of this year, Griffin earned her MBA in Business Administration and Juris Doctor in Law. Having passed the Texas Bar Exam in July 2015, Griffin was sworn in as a licensed attorney on September 13 and is now working as the judicial law clerk for Judge Mike Engelhart of the 151st District Court of Harris County, Texas.

Griffin said, “I cannot reflect on my success and what I have accomplished thus far without crediting Upward Bound for laying the foundation and framework for me. The program, as well as the coordinators and staff, have always played a big role and influence in my life, without which I don’t know where I would be.”

Upward Bound at UCA has recently submitted its fourth grant proposal for possible renewal into the 2018-2023 grant cycle. The program would like to extend many thanks to everyone who provided letters of support to demonstrate the institutional commitment to the program’s success in serving low-income, first generation students in our surrounding communities of Bigelow, Mayflower, Morrilton, Nemo Vista, and Perryville.

The commitments and contributions made by individuals and departments on this campus play a big part in ensuring the success of students like Delayna Griffin who pass through the program and are beneficiaries of the time and resources invested.

Service-Learning Class Is “Hungry for Sustainable Solutions” to Food Insecurity in Arkansas

Each semester, UCA professor Amy Hawkins’ service-learning class, Cases and Campaigns, participates in a competitive senior capstone project. PRLS 4305 Public Relations Cases and Campaigns is the capstone course for all public relations majors at UCA.

“Since 2005 when I began teaching the class, we have worked with a different nonprofit client each fall and spring semester, ranging from organizations that serve disadvantaged populations to those that focus on the fine arts,” said Hawkins.

PR Cases and Campaigns is also a service-learning course in which students achieve the learning objectives of the course while simultaneously meeting real community needs. Students work in teams in a competitive agency model to develop comprehensive PR campaign proposals to raise awareness, change attitudes, and call target audiences to action. At the end of the semester teams each pitch their campaign proposal to the client who then selects a winning team.

This semester four teams worked with the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance led by Executive Director Kathy Webb.

Webb praised all four teams’ efforts, noting the caliber of work surpasses many graduate student projects she’s encountered over the past few years.

The winning team, consisting of Ashley Godwin, Ty Hollowell, Mayson Tunstall and Julia Woods, pitched a winning PR plan with the tagline “Hungry for Sustainable Solutions.”

For more information about the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, visit their website.

UCA Hosts Successful Bear Facts Day

On Friday, December 2, 2016, UCA hosted another successful Bear Facts Day!

Bear Facts Day is a great opportunity for high school seniors and transfer student to get a glimpse of UCA.

Main navigation

Student Resources