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TRUSTEES REVIEW PLANS FOR UAPB’S DOCTORAL FISHERIES PROGRAM

By Wes Clement/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Friday, June 26, 2009 11:26 PM CDT

An aquaculture/fisheries doctoral program proposed by the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff gained the respect of professionals charged with critically reviewing the program.

Catfish Farmers of America President Wayne Branton addresses the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees Friday at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff during a briefing on UAPB’s proposed aquaculture/fisheries doctoral program. Pine Bluff Commercial/Wes Clement

“They will be an incredibly competitive program,” said Bobby McGhee, dean of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Graduate School. “They’ll be able to select from the best.

“If they gave Nobel Prizes for aquaculture, there would be four or five on this campus. The faculty is stellar when stacked against any school in the nation.”

McGhee has reviewed more than 100 proposed Ph.D. programs and he has been involved in launching six doctoral programs. He said UAPB’s proposed program is the most exciting one he has known.

The aquaculture department has been working for about 10 years to build a Ph.D. faculty and upgrade facilities in preparation for the program.

“This will not be a token partnership,” McGhee said. “We are fully on board.”

He said UAMS would give fisheries students opportunities to work in facilities such as a microbiology laboratory to learn from the expertise of a wider variety of Ph.D.s in practice.

The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees and the Arkansas Department of Higher Education must approve the proposal before students are enrolled and the education department must approve changes to the university’s “range and scope” that would allow it to be an institution offering a doctoral degree.

McGhee said since Ph.D. students are in a sense paid to go to school, the cost of educating a doctoral student for one year is about $30,000.

The issue of funding was raised several times since doctoral programs are much more expensive to operate.

“Doctoral programs are not just masters degrees with a few more classes added, they are very different animals,” Dan Farritor of the University of Arkansas System said. Farritor was given the assignment of reviewing the program internally.

He earlier recommended to UAPB Chancellor Lawrence A. Davis Jr. that the aquaculture department partner with other schools in the university system that have Ph.D. programs to gain insight.

Farritor said when he reviewed the program he saw the department had a strong faculty, research, funding and publication.

“Then we looked at the master’s students it was turning out,” he said. “They had done research and publication I would expect a Ph.D. student to do.

“The only logical step,” Davis said, “is to add the doctoral program.”

Dr. Carole Engle, aquaculture/fisheries department head, said although the department has not advertised any program and has not mentioned it on the university’s Web site, students have called her wanting to enroll in the program. Engle said the high caliber of Ph.D.s employed by the department attracts students to the school.

Board members toured the campus and aquaculture department prior to the meeting.

The meeting was held in response to the request of Engle and Davis that the board look closely at the program.

Approval by the Department of Higher Education is pending and the board of trustees will continue to consider the proposal. By Ray King

OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies are asking for help in locating a Pine Bluff man who is a suspect in a homicide that occurred June 21 on Middle Warren Road.

Capt. Bernard Adams said Deaundre Cortez Jones, 26, should be considered armed and extremely dangerous, and anyone with information should contact Lt. Steve McFatridge or Investigator Mickey Buffkin at 541-5496.

Jones is being sought for questioning in the death of Vincent Rouse Jr., 23, whose body was found in the 7200 block of Middle Warren Road after a passing motorist reported seeing someone in a ditch.

Rouse was pronounced dead at the scene by Deputy Coroner John Lawson, who listed the cause of death as apparent gunshot wounds.

Sheriff’s Capt. John McNeil said it appeared that Rouse was shot at another location, then taken to Middle Warren Road where he was found.

Adams said Jones is also being sought after a circuit judge signed an order Friday revoking his bond on three felony warrants for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.

Jones, who has a gunshot wound to the stomach that is held together with staples, is 5-feet, 7-inches tall and weighs 150 pounds.

His last known addresses were 3202 Palm St., and 801 W. 15th Ave., both in Pine Bluff.

His wife drives a white, four-door newer model Toyota, Adams said.

Anyone with information about Jones should contact the Criminal Investigation Division at 541-5496, and all calls will be kept confidential.

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