MAGNOLIA – The Southern Arkansas University System Board of Trustees met in regular session on Thursday, October 13, at the SAU campus in Magnolia. The Board heard a variety of agenda items, including campus highlights and updates, two resolutions for the SAU Tech campus, and 2021-22 Minority Recruitment and Retention reports from SAU and SAU Tech.
With much excitement regarding SAU’s historic record-breaking fall enrollment, Dr. Trey Berry, SAU president, opened the meeting with highlights from the SAU campus. Berry shared that there are now 5,094 Muleriders, which is a 15% increase from the fall of 2021. Other highlighted increases included a 10% increase in the freshmen class, a 53% increase in transfer student enrollment, a 54% increase in graduate enrollment, a 3.3% increase in students residing on campus, and a 7% increase in freshmen to sophomore retention.
“These are all tremendous numbers, especially in the climate that we are in nationally,” Berry noted. “We could not be more thankful for where we are. This was an unbelievable team effort on behalf of our faculty, our students, and our staff, who have worked tirelessly over the past year to make this happen.”
Dr. Trey Berry, SAU president.
Berry noted that while fall 2022 enrollment results were very positive, planning for the class of 2023 starts just as soon as the fall gets kicked off. The Enrollment Services team has been traveling extensively in the Ark-La-Tex to share the opportunities that SAU offers future students. In addition to college fairs, individual high school visits, personal campus tours, transfer Fridays, Preview Days, and many more events have been ongoing in efforts to continue to recruit the next class of Muleriders. With these efforts, SAU is already seeing increased applications and acceptances for the coming year.
With the reduced number of Covid-19 cases, SAU has returned to a more typical fall than has been experienced in several years. With much thankfulness for these resumed activities, Berry highlighted that the recent Family Day and Homecoming events brought record numbers of visitors to the SAU campus. At Mulegating before both of these games, there was an estimate of over 2,000 people in attendance. The SAU athletic department has reported an attendance of 5,225 people in the stands at Family Day and 5,075 people in the stands at Homecoming.
During the Homecoming events, SAU was pleased to host a dedication ceremony to honor the legacy of Dr. Kathleen Jordan Mallory with the renaming of University Hall to Mallory Hall. “On this campus, Dr. Mallory was a pioneer, a trailblazer, a mentor, an exceptional teacher, and we are so excited that this building will bear her name,” Berry said.
As SAU is accredited through the Higher Learning Commission, the accreditation process includes a comprehensive evaluation of the University every ten years. The Quality Executive Council Leadership Team has been actively preparing for the review. This team has worked tirelessly in leading the campus in preparations for this site visit on November 14 and 15.
Berry moved into academic highlights for the SAU campus. In addition to the increased statistics for fall referenced previously, The College of Liberal and Performing Arts is proud to share that the Mulerider band is the largest in the University’s history. The band is now comprised of 195 students. Director of Bands, J.P. Wilson, indicated earlier this fall that this number makes SAU’s band one of the largest marching bands in Arkansas.
As SAU is committed to student excellence, this is evident as the SAU nursing program is delighted to share that the nursing students completed the 2022 NCLEX with a first-time pass rate of 100%, which ranks first in Arkansas among Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs. The nursing department recently received a private gift of $100,000 for new nursing simulation equipment to even further enhance the simulation lab. Additionally, SAU acquired a $100,000 grant for engineering equipment. On another proud note, SAU is pleased to announce a 100% acceptance rate of SAU students applying to medical school in 2021 and 2022.
Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, Erica Woods.
The Rankin College of Business has actively engaged the SAU students in experiences that will enhance their classroom activities. Recently, the Backpack to Briefcase series was hosted, which brought back former SAU business students to speak about career possibilities for current students upon graduation. Also, the RCB on the Road Program is actively traveling and sharing real-world exposure in business settings for the students. “This group of students were able to visit different businesses in Houston, go to the Johnson Space Center, and then have dinner with a lot of SAU alumni from the College of Business,” Berry reflected. “This was great to make that connection between the two groups.”
As a 17-year tradition, University Advancement will host the Annual Farmers Bank and Trust Distinguished Speaker Series on Thursday, November 10. The guest speaker for this year will be Archie Manning.
In his final statements, Berry informed the Board of new additions to the SAU athletic facilities. There is the recent addition of infield turf at Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field. Renovations to the former studio in the W.T. Watson Athletic Center provide Mulerider basketball and volleyball operations with new offices and meeting spaces. The golf and tennis teams welcome new facilities for offices and team locker rooms adjacent to the tennis courts. Excitement is among the athletic department over the planned Student-Athlete Academic Success and Athletic Operations Center. Berry noted that Murphy USA’s generous lead commitment of $750,000 for this facility is another excellent example of the partnership between Murphy USA and SAU. Not only do the athletes of SAU perform in the classroom and their respected athletic activities, but the athletes are also known as Muleriders in Magnolia. Through this volunteer initiative, the athletes currently are 5th in the nation in the NCAA DII Team Works Challenge. They have completed over 2,000 volunteer hours in the community since September 1.
Dr. Jason Morrison reported that enrollment trends are pointing in the right direction as SAU Tech continues to grow. There were slight increases in both the college core enrollment and concurrent enrollment.
Furthermore, the Arkansas Fire Training Academy and the SAU Tech campus continue to grow their relationship with one another, working together and moving both institutions forward. The two entities held a family night where over 350 people attended. “It was a tremendous night where the students showed off their skills, and their family was able to come down and check out the campus facilities,” Morrison remarked. Morrison included that improvements are being made to many of the degree programs, including the fire science degrees, by adding several certificates in instructor training, officers, arsons, and more.
SAU Tech’s new baseball field has progressed tremendously in the construction process. Currently, a total of $287,000 out of the $300,000 goal has been raised through fundraising. On Tuesday, October 18, at 10:30 a.m., the name of the park will be revealed. Morrison stated that their baseball team will be playing on their new field come February 1, 2023.
Gaye Manning, SAU Tech’s vice chancellor for finance and administration, is a finalist for the Arkansas Business CFO of the Year Award. Manning has served as the vice chancellor for 21 years and has been employed by SAU Tech for 38 years.
SAU Tech received a 1.1 million dollar grant that will be used to update their aviation program, welding programs, remodeling activity centers for additional training space, and much more.
Dr. Jason Morrison, SAU Tech chancellor.
In other business, two resolutions were passed by the Board. These resolutions are for the SAU Tech sidewalk grant and the Charles O. Ross building sale in downtown Camden. The residence hall sidewalk grant is a part of the federal-aid transportation alternatives program with 80% federal participation and 20% local match. These funds will be used to create an ADA-compliant sidewalk and highway crossing from the SAU Tech campus to the residence halls. The Charles O. Ross building was formerly used for classes and other events. At present, it is no longer utilized for these purposes.
In the later portion of the meeting, Dr. David Lanoue, SAU provost and vice president for academic affairs, and Dr. Edward Rice, SAU Tech vice chancellor for student affairs, presented the 2021-22 Minority Recruitment and Retention Reports.
This year, SAU has an increase of 3% in all minority categories across their campus, not including international student numbers, which are up tremendously. The most significant increase was in self-identified multiracial students, which increased this past year by over 100%. Additionally, minority faculty and staff have increased by 17%. Post-pandemic, unofficial numbers show that SAU is back above 70% overall in retention and has closed the achievement gap once again, where African American students are being retained at almost the same level as the overall group of students at SAU.
Diversity is one of SAU’s strategic initiatives for the strategic planning process, and in light of this, in April 2022, SAU hosted the first-ever Diversity Forum. Student groups, academic departments, groups from student affairs, and more all had over 20 tables of different organizations. “It was a great chance for people to talk among each other and share ideas and things that have worked,” Lanoue stated. “We are going to take this forum as our launching pad as we enhance our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts over the next year, to three, to five years.”
SAU Tech is excited that a diversity, equity, and inclusion component has been added to their Professional Development Module. Rice includes that by January, the first module should be held to be sure that faculty and staff on campus know how the colleges are everchanging with the amount of diverse, minority students. A total of 439 minority students enrolled at SAU Tech in fall 2021, which is 44% of the total student count. There were 186 minority graduates at graduation, 37% of the graduate population. For full-time faculty and staff at SAU Tech, there are 44 minority employees out of 150 employees in total.
After approving personnel recommendations in the executive session, the Board adjourned
Southern Arkansas University provides students the complete college experience in a caring environment of service, innovation, and community. With more than 100 degrees in four distinct colleges and the School of Graduate Studies, SAU initiates new degree programs to fit the needs of career and professional trends of today.
To learn more about SAU, visit www.saumag.edu.
