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SEARK MARKS 50TH ANNIVERSARY

By Scott Loftis/Of the Commercial Staff
Thursday, November 19, 2009 11:06 PM CST

As Southeast Arkansas College continued its 50th anniversary celebration Thursday, the school’s president reflected on where the college is today and what the future might hold.

Dr. Phil Shirley, president of Southeastern Arkansas College, with a smile on his face looks over the crowd during the video presentation at the 50th anniversary reception held at the Technology Center Thursday afternoon on the SEARK campus. Pine Bluff Commercial/Ralph Fitzgerald

Dr. Phil Shirley said things are going very smoothly for the college, which opened as the state’s first vocational-technical school in 1959.

“Things are going well,” he said. “Things are excellent.”

As evidence, Shirley pointed to facilities like state-of-the-art technology center. Shirley said SEARK built the technology center and funded many other improvements without going into debt and without the benefit of a local tax. The school began with 15 acres and a single building and now encompasses 43 acres and a dozen buildings.

“We have built and maintained all this without incurring any indebtedness and with no local tax,” Shirley said. “This accentuates the fact that we’re doing well even though we are uniquely underfunded.”

There are 22 two-year colleges in Arkansas. Only five, including SEARK, do not receive funding from local property tax or sales tax.

SEARK’s anniversary celebration included campus tours on Thursday, followed by a reception in the school’s Technology Center.

Asked about what the future might hold for SEARK, Shirley said the only limit is one’s imagination.

“I think the next 50 years are totally unpredictable,” he said. “I say that from the standpoint of the last 50 years and the things that have happened in that time. We were teaching typing on old Underwood typewriters, and not one of us could have forecasted for you to never to correct a composition by retyping it.”

Shirley, who was named SEARK’s second president in 1999, pointed to emerging technology such as lasers and robotics.

“We had no idea about those things 50 years ago,” he said. “It’s easy to speculate that the future is absolutely a blank slate. I do believe that the only thing that would be a common denominator is that we would still be learning.

“I can’t tell you how we’ll be learning and I can’t tell you what we’ll be learning, but we will always need to learn.”

Earlier Thursday, Shirley told members of the SEARK Board of Trustees that construction on a new library building has been completed and the building should be open for the start of the spring semester in January.

Speaking at the board’s November meeting, Shirley said construction fencing around the new library has been removed and the building is being furnished. It still must pass inspection before it is opened.

The old library will be renovated and used in conjunction with the school’s nursing program.

Shirley also said the college will be working to upgrade its information technology systems with the help of approximately $500,000 in federal stimulus funds.

“We’ll utilize that money first and try to bring our IT system up to date,” Shirley said.

Shirley said Jim Purcell, director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, visited SEARK earlier this week and was very impressed.

“He told me ‘There are a lot of colleges that I have to nurture and coddle and have to help essentially every day, but I hardly ever hear from you all,’ ” Shirley said.

Shirley also told the board that the school has applied for a $1 million grant through the Department of Labor for the Allied Health and Nursing program.

“We’re very excited about that possibility,” he said.

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