SAU Honors College

The SAU Honors College was founded in 2003 by Dr. David Rankin, president of SAU. Dr. Lynne Belcher served as founding director and is retired from SAU. The Honors College seeks and admits qualified students who seek to pursue a serious academic program with equally gifted peers and committed teachers. Honors classes are small and provide academically enriching opportunities for students and the faculty who teach them. Currently, SAU enrolls nearly 170 honors students and graduates about 66% of admitees in four years or less. Anyone interested in applying to the Honors College or seeking further information should contact the director, Dr. Edward P. Kardas at epkardas@saumag.edu or at 870 904-8897.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Long, Alyssa: President


Presidents of universities or colleges have many responsibilities and challenges. They also have the opportunity to improve their college institutions by many means. If I were president of SAU, I would increase parking, add additional graduate study programs, and increase the recruitment of high school students to Southern Arkansas University.
            
Parking at SAU is awful. The Reynolds Campus and Community Center parking lot adds tons of parking to the campus, but around dorms parking is scarce. Students constantly search for parking spaces, and there is honestly not enough; it is very frustrating. If parking spaces were added around the dorms at SAU, students would be ecstatic at the prospect of not walking half a mile to their dorm. With happier students along with SAU’s reputation as a great place for living on campus, more students may be encouraged to leave home and stay on campus. With more students, more revenue for the university would be available for scholarships and other necessities for running a university.
            
As president of Southern Arkansas University, I would also add a greater variety of graduate degrees. Many undergraduate students live around this area and would love to stay here for graduate school. If SAU offered graduate programs in their chosen fields, students would be more inclined to further their education at SAU; thus, SAU would raise the level of higher education in the area, benefiting the local communities and its own prestige as well.

A university is nothing without students to attend it. So as president, I would increase the recruiting of high school students. To recruit students, I would implement days that current students of the university could travel to local high schools to share their educational experiences with high school students and try to get them enrolled at SAU. An example of this would be sending some Honors College students to share their experiences with high school students. These university students would help the high school students to see aspects of the university’s various societies and programs. Another aspect of recruiting new students would be making it known to high school students which credits would transfer from AP and concurrent courses. Making those credits known would help students to prepare for college and which colleges would offer them the most credit for their hard work in high school.
            
In conclusion, as president of Southern Arkansas University I would increase parking, add a greater variety of graduate study programs, and send students to help with the recruiting process.

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