News Release – For Immediate Release

Two-Year Colleges in Arkansas Recognized for Student Success
 

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (December 12, 2011) – The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation is honoring Pulaski Technical College (PTC) and the Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas (PCCUA) during a reception at the WRF offices at 225 East Markham Street in downtown Little Rock on Monday, December 12, at 1 p.m.

Both institutions are being recognized for their recent designation as leader colleges within the national Achieving the Dream initiative.  PTC and PCCUA join a group of only 52 colleges in the United States that have earned this designation by demonstrating progress on four principles of Achieving the Dream: committed leadership, use of evidence to improve programs and services, broad engagement and systemic institutional improvement.

During the reception, Dr. Steven Murray, chancellor at PCCUA, Dr. Dan F. Bakke, president of PTC and Sherece Y. West, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, will discuss the significance of Achieving the Dream to the educational landscape in Arkansas. Students from both institutions will recount their success stories as well.

Achieving the Dream, Inc. is a national nonprofit that is dedicated to helping more community college students, particularly low-income students and students of color, stay in school and earn a college certificate or degree. Goals of Achieving the Dream are to enable institutions in the initiative to improve outcomes for students, including a greater percentage of students who:

• successfully complete the courses they take;
• advance from remedial to credit-bearing courses;
• enroll in and successfully complete gatekeeper courses;
• enroll from one semester to the next and earn degrees and/or certificates.

A total of 160 community colleges in the United States are involved in the Achieving the Dream initiative.  The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation funded involvement for a five-year period for PTC in North Little Rock, PCCUA in Helena, National Park Community College in Hot Springs and College of the Ouachitas in Malvern. Funds have been used to support interventions that result in improved student outcomes. At PTC, interventions have primarily focused on developmental math and academic advising.  At PCCUA, interventions include an early warning system for students, enhancement of the Freshman Seminar first-year experience course and establishing a student success center.

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.  Working together, the needle can and must move from poverty to prosperity for all Arkansans.

Contacts

Mr. Cory Anderson
Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
(501) 376-6854
canderson@wrfoundation.org

Ms. Melissa Hendricks
Pulaski Technical College
(501) 812-2752
mhendricks@pulaskitech.edu

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