Administration of ASU Technical Center at Marked Tree will transfer to ASU-Newport

Dec. 7, 2007 -- Administrative oversight and direction of the Arkansas State University Technical Center at Marked Tree will transfer to ASU-Newport, effective Jan. 1, 2008.  The change was authorized today by action of the ASU Board of Trustees during its meeting in Heber Springs.

The Marked Tree campus has been administratively aligned with Arkansas State University in Jonesboro as part of the ASU System since 2001.  The change includes the Jonesboro operations of the Technical Center.

The primary reason for the change is that the mission of the Marked Tree campus fits much better with the mission of ASU-Newport, according to ASU System President Les Wyatt, who recommended the change.

ASU Technical Center currently offers technical programs through which students earn certificates pertinent to needs in the workforce.  These programs are more typically aligned with two-year institutions instead of university campuses.

Wyatt said that ASU-Newport has been very successful with developing and operating technical and workforce programs, and would thus be very capable of managing the subsequent development of the ASU Technical Center.

ASU-Newport will be in a better position to implement a wider range of technical center programs to serve the workforce needs in the region, and to establish the Marked Tree campus as the “premier deliverer and provider” in the region for workforce training initiatives, technical training programs, and other workforce development initiatives.

ASU-Newport will develop additional Associate of Applied Science degree and technical certificate degree programs.  It will not develop additional Associate of Arts or Associate of Science college degree programs; those programs will continue to be offered through ASU-Jonesboro.

The decision today was supported by a complete set of guidelines that details how the administrative transfer will be handled.  All current faculty and staff at Marked Tree will be retained through the transition to ASU-Newport.

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