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UAPB CHANCELLOR EXPECTS INCREASED ENROLLMENT

By Larry Fugate/SPECIAL TO THE COMMERCIAL
Saturday, August 22, 2009 9:23 PM CDT

Chancellor Lawrence A. Davis Jr. is confident enrollment at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will rise significantly this fall.

Lawrence A. Davis Jr.

Enrollment last fall reached 3,525 — 10 percent above enrollment for the same semester in 2007. He anticipates a similar increase this year, noting spring enrollment and the number of students in the two summer sessions was also up.

“Everything is looking very good,” he said during an interview recently, adding the campus is “maxed out” on housing and UAPB has contacted a number of local motels to handle the university’s projected overflow.

Students returning to the campus will find a number of changes they have requested, he added, including more recreational facilities at the L.A. Davis Student Union and revamped dorms.

The Harrold Complex is classified as a “living and learning center” with improvements students have been seeking, Davis said on a tour of the facilities, showing off the dorm rooms, exercise facilities and improved security in a complex designed to house 515.

The slightly smaller Johnny B. Johnson Complex can house almost 300 students.

The theme for the 2007-08 university year was “student engagement,” he explained. “The students wanted to know what we had done for them.”

“It doesn’t do any good to recruit students if they don’t stay,” the chancellor added during the tour. As a result, the intramural program was revamped at the old gym, the marching field for the band and flag football programs.

Emphasis has also been placed on technology, Davis said, noting “if you are not current in technology, you are way, way behind.” He said UAPB technical services are among the top five among Arkansas’ institutions of higher learning, including the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Arkansas State University, University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

“Living and learning centers” have computer labs, along with tutors, with time reserved for studies.

The “discipline” theme for 2008-09 meant emphasis on academics and social practices, with zero tolerances in a number of areas, including no smoking on the campus.

“We had a banner year,” Davis said proudly,” with the choir traveling to Europe, the cheerleaders ranking among the top three squads in the nation and the marching band participating in the inaugural parade for President Barack Obama.

It seems only natural that the theme for 2009-10 is “accentuate the positive.”

Davis points with pride to the fisheries research and regulatory science programs, long-distance learning sites, the business incubator in downtown Pine Bluff, and UAPB Plaza.

If everything goes as planned, the university can launch the doctorate program in aquaculture and fisheries next fall. The master’s program was started 12 years ago.

Davis, who has lived on the campus since he was 4 — with the exception of time off for studies and teaching at other colleges and universities — appears better qualified than most to observe the changes at UAPB.

“If you have one short leg and one long leg, you will never be equal,” the chancellor noted.

His ultimate goal for the university is becoming “an institution of choice for all students … a premier HBCU (Historically Black College and University).”

UAPB must become “a more aggressive partner” with Pine Bluff, Jefferson County and Southeast Arkansas, Davis observed. “Education means building a foundation so when the world changes, you can change.”

Davis said he has too many projects on the campus to even consider retiring. “I’m younger than most people my age,” he quipped.

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