Front row from left: Dean Terry Martin, NWACC President Dennis Rittle and Dean Kim Needy; Back row: Jennifer Swartout, Karl Schubert, Jehiah Burchfield, Shane Carroll May and Christine Davis.
AU of A and NorthWest Arkansas Community College signed a memorandum of agreement on May 8 to align the schools’ data science curriculum and allow NWACC graduates who earned an associate’s degree in data science to seamlessly transfer to U of A to complete your bachelor’s degree. in data science.
“Data science is one of the fastest-growing career fields in the country, and creating a multidisciplinary data science program with NWACC will contribute to our state’s data science workforce,” said Dean Terry Martin. “Our partnership with NWACC also helps fulfill our land-grant service mission and expands access to higher education for Arkansans.”
“Our top priority is NWACC students, which is why we value and focus on elevating education and workforce opportunities,” said Dennis C. Rittle, president of NWACC. “We are honored to partner with the University of Arkansas to strengthen the field of data science in our natural state. As technology rapidly changes, community colleges must step up, offering the tools and skills needed to thrive in the job market . Through this partnership, we hope to develop the world’s leading STEM professionals.”
The agreement between the two schools is part of a statewide, multi-institutional effort to bolster Arkansas’ data science workforce. The Data Analytics That Are Robust and Trusted (DART) program is funded by a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)* and $4 million in support from the State of Arkansas.
“Data science is crucial for Arkansas to remain competitive in today’s technology-driven economy,” said Christine Davis, dean of business and information technology at NWACC. “The dynamic growth of Northwest Arkansas, home to major corporations such as Walmart, Tyson and JB Hunt, underscores this point. The multitude of companies supporting this growth will require a workforce with strong data analytics skills. NWACC is committed in equipping our students with the skills needed to fill these roles, which continue to grow.”
AU of A — which in 2020 launched a first-of-its-kind data science program involving the College of Engineering, the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, and the Sam M. Walton College of Business — will serve as one of DART’s three “core schools” program, along with the University of Central Arkansas and Arkansas State University. These central four-year schools will partner with Arkansas community colleges to establish a common data science curriculum and create affordable pathways for Arkansans to enter a cutting-edge, high-demand field with a growth rate expected to exceed far more than most other careers. 2030, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Martin and College of Engineering Dean Kim Needy signed the memorandum of agreement on behalf of the U of A. Rittle signed on behalf of NWACC.
The event was attended by representatives from the Arkansas Economic Development Council, the Arkansas Data Science Center, the Arkansas Department of Education, NWACC and the U of A.
Arkansas Economic Development Council
- Jennifer Fowler, NSF EPSCoR DART Program Manager
Arkansas Center for Data Sciences
- Bill Yoder, Executive Director
Arkansas Department of Education
- Tina Moore, Director of Workforce Development
Northwest Arkansas Community College
- Jehiah Burchfield, Data Science Program Coordinator
- Christine Davis, Dean of Business and Computer Information Systems
- Shane May, head of the Computing and Information Systems department
- Jennifer Swartout, Associate Vice President of General Education
University of Arkansas
- Karen Boston, Senior Assistant Dean, Walton College
- Jack Cothren, director of the Center for Advanced Space Technologies, principal investigator for NSF EPSCoR DART Science
- Alan Ellstrand, Associate Dean, Walton College
- Kristy Fink, assistant dean of the College of Engineering
- Kevin Hall, Associate Dean, College of Engineering
- Bryan Hill, Associate Dean for Student Success, College of Engineering
- Mike Malone, Vice Chancellor for Economic Development
- David McNabb, Associate Dean, Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
- Manuel Rossetti, director of the data science program
- Shantel Romer, DART Education Theme graduate research assistant, Master of Industrial Engineering student
- Karl Schubert, Associate Director of Data Science and Co-Leader of the NSF EPSCoR DART Education Theme
- Lee Shoultz, Assistant Director of the Data Science Degree Program, DART Education Theme Program Manager
- Kathryn Sloan, Interim Dean of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
*This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under award No. OIA-1946391. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas’ premier institution, the U of A offers an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to the Arkansas economy through teaching new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activities, while time offering training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation ranks the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. US News and World Report ranks the U of A among the best public universities in the country. See how the U of A works to build a better world in Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.
