FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Center for Student Success Created to Support Two-Year Colleges
Overcoming Barriers to Student Success Is Focus of Winthrop Rockefeller Grant

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (May 17, 2010) – A grant to the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges, awarded recently by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, will help two-year colleges in Arkansas leverage nearly $4 million currently invested by the Foundation in student support efforts.

The two-year, $200,000 grant was approved by the WRF Board of Directors to create a Center for Student Success, which will support coordination of existing student success initiatives, collection of best practices at two-year colleges and expansion of the capacity of two-year colleges to attract new federal and state resources. When successes and best practices are identified, the Center will work to advocate for state policy changes that can ultimately result in higher student retention and graduation rates across Arkansas.

“Arkansas’s two-year colleges have made significant strides in increasing student success in recent years,”   said Dr. Sherece West, President and CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. “By promoting best practices that ensure student success and enhancing the ability of two-year colleges to attract public and private resources, we have the opportunity to increase vocational and college graduation rates in the state.”

Arkansas has 22 two-year colleges, with 47 locations statewide. These two-year colleges serve 59,000 credit students annually. Almost half of these students are considered nontraditional. There are a number of programs to assist these students, including Achieving the Dream, Career Pathways, Foundations of Excellence, Arkansas Works, and Centers for Working Families. The Center for Student Success will lead the work to capture what is being learned from these initiatives and develop policy options that support best practices in higher education.

“The Center for Student Success will allow two-year colleges to learn from each other and create positive change for students,” said Dr. Ed Franklin, Executive Director of the Arkansas Association for Two-Year Colleges. “The Center will also provide opportunities for the colleges to seek grant funding under the American Graduation Initiative and other sources to expand proven strategies and pilot new initiatives aimed at stimulating innovative practices that improve student success.”  

About the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges
AATYC is a private, non-profit higher education membership organization serving the educational needs of two-year college students and the business/industry needs of the State. AATYC represents all twenty-two (22) public two-year colleges in Arkansas. AATYC facilitates the sharing of ideas, resources, and opportunities among its members, and advocates on behalf of members' students.

About the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
For 35 years, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation has worked to make a difference by helping to build and sustain the organizations that serve and strengthen Arkansas. Through grantmaking and strategic partnerships, WRF is working even harder to help close the economic and educational gaps that leave too many Arkansas families in persistent poverty.  The needle can and must move from poverty to prosperity for all Arkansans. For more information on the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, go to www.wrfoundation.org.


Contacts:
Angela Kremers
Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
(501) 918-4059
akremers@wrfoundation.org

Dr. Ed Franklin
Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges
(501) 371-0404
efranklin@aatyc.org