Colleges & Universities

Arkansas Baptist College

Arkansas Baptist College, an Historically Black College (HBCU), was founded in 1884 with a mission to “Serve the Underserved.” The College, located in the heart of downtown Little Rock, is a four-year Liberal Arts Christian institution offering degrees in Business Administration, Human Services, Criminal Justice, and Religious Studies, and offers a two-year Associate Liberal Arts degree.

The college also offers certificate programs and an athletic program. Through ABC’s commitment to literacy development and an affordable tuition structure, students will find a place where they can get a GED or the remediation they need to earn a certificate, a two-year degree or a four-year degree.

Arkansas State University/Little Rock

Arkansas State University has a reputation as a quality regional institution of higher education and is recognized for offering special services to the people of the Arkansas Delta. Dedicated to teaching, research and service, the university provides students with the broad educational foundations that help develop critical thinking and analytical skills, decision-making capabilities, and communication skills.

Programs at the specialist's, master's, bachelor's and associate's degree levels are available through the various colleges: Agriculture, Business, Communications, Education, Engineering, Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Nursing and Health Professions, Sciences and Mathematics, and University College. Classes also are offered through The Honors College and the independent Department of Military Science.

The ASU system includes campuses at Jonesboro (Craighead County), which offers degree programs through the doctoral level, Beebe (White County), Mountain Home (Baxter County), and Newport (Jackson County), where associate degree programs are offered, and at Heber Springs, Marked Tree and Searcy. The Beebe campus in central Arkansas offers Associate’s, Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees.

Arkansas State University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association, as well as 18 specialized accrediting organizations.

Harding University MBA Program

Harding University is a private Christian institution of higher education committed to the tradition of the liberal arts and sciences. It is located in Searcy, Arkansas, a community of 20,000 50 miles northeast of Little Rock. The enrollment consists of more than 6,000 students representing 49 states and 53 foreign countries although the primary constituency for students and financial support is the fellowship of the churches of Christ. Harding employs 217 full-time faculty members, 69 percent of whom hold a Ph.D. or professional degree.

It is composed of the following academic units: a College of Arts and Humanities, a College of Bible and Religion, a College of Business Administration, a College of Education, a College of Nursing, a College of Sciences; and graduate programs in business, education, marriage and family therapy, physician assistant studies, and religion.

The board of trustees, the administration and the faculty believe that the freedom to pursue truth and high academic achievement is compatible with the Christian principles to which the University is committed. The faculty is dedicated to excellence in teaching, scholarship and service, and to their role as models of Christian living. The University community seeks to provide an environment that both supports students and challenges them to realize their full potential. Harding's mission is to provide a quality education that will lead to an understanding and philosophy of life consistent with Christian ideals.

U.S. News & World Report ranked Harding in the annual “Best Colleges” issue as one of the best regional universities in the South along with such prestigious institutions as James Madison University, Loyola University and The Citadel. Harding has been ranked for 13 consecutive years. Harding was the highest-ranked Arkansas school in the category and was also named a “best value.”

Hendrix College

Hendrix College, founded in 1876, is one of the country’s leading undergraduate liberal arts colleges. The Princeton Review, a New York-based education services company, named Hendrix one of the nation’s best value colleges in its 2007 edition of America’s Best Value Colleges (Random House).

With an enrollment of about 1,100 students, the four-year private college is quickly gaining a reputation as a leader in experiential learning. Hendrix’s curricular program, Your Hendrix Odyssey: Engaging in Active Learning, encourages “outside of the book” learning. Every Hendrix student will participate in at least three active learning experiences before they graduate in categories such as global awareness, artistic creativity, research and service to the world. Students receive transcript credit for each Odyssey project.

Located in the heart of the state in the city of Conway, Hendrix shelters a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest honor society with chapters at 270 of America’s best colleges and universities. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884.

As a collegiate community, Hendrix is dedicated to the cultivation of whole persons through the transmission of knowledge, the refinement of intellect, the development of character and the encouragement of a concern for worthy values.

Hendrix fosters a spirit of open inquiry through the size of classes (half with 15 or fewer), the 11-to-1 student-faculty ratio and the fact that more than 80 percent of students live on campus.

Hendrix offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in 29 majors, 32 minors and a master of arts degree in accounting. Students receive an exceptional education that prepares them for successful careers or for graduate studies. More than 60 percent of Hendrix graduates later complete graduate degrees.

Hendrix is consistently recognized in numerous national publications for excellence and value. The college has been named one of the top 100 liberal arts institutions in the country by U.S. News & World Report for 14 consecutive years. The 2006 edition of The Princeton Review’s America’s Best Value Colleges listed Hendrix as the #4 best value college in the country and the 2006 edition of Fiske Guide to Colleges recognized Hendrix as one of the 45 best buy colleges in America. Hendrix is one of only 40 colleges nationwide included in Colleges That Change Lives by Loren Pope.

Student interest in pre-med is consistently high at Hendrix. Each year, 10 percent of the students in the graduating class go on to attend medical school. One in eight of the licensed physicians practicing in Arkansas earned a bachelor’s degree at Hendrix. One- third of the students major in the sciences.

John Brown University

Established in 1919, John Brown University (JBU) is a private, Christian university with more than 2,000 students from 39 states and 43 countries. It is a Christian university committed to providing quality academics within a distinctly Christian community. The university has no denominational affiliation and admits students of any faith. Its mission is “To provide Christ-centered education that prepares people to honor God and serve others by developing their intellectual, spiritual and professional lives.”

JBU offers more than 50 undergraduate degree programs, three degree completion programs and six graduate degree programs. All of JBU’s academic programs are fully accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

The University has more than 180 faculty members, with 68% of the faculty holding a Ph.D. or an appropriate terminal degree, making the student to faculty ratio 13 to 1. In 2005-2006, the University awarded 500 undergraduate degrees and 50 graduate degrees.

In addition to the main campus, JBU offers an adult degree completion program at sites in North Little Rock, Ft. Smith, Harrison, Hot Springs, El Dorado, and Rogers, Arkansas. Students who have 60 transferable credits, a GPA of 2.0 or better and are 23 in age with a minimum of two years work experience may be eligible to enter the program. These students can complete a bachelor’s degree in 18 to 20 months attending classes held just one night per week.

Philander Smith College

Established in 1877, Philander Smith College is one of the oldest private, historically black institutions of higher learning in Arkansas. Affiliated with the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church, the four-year liberal arts college is one of 11 institutions supported by the church’s Black College Fund. Philander Smith is also one of 39 United Negro College Fund member institutions—the only UNCF school in Arkansas.

The college is neatly nestled on 25 acres near the progressive epicenter of downtown Little Rock. The campus’ landscape features state-of-the-art facilities including a modern Residential Life Center and the impressive Donald W. Reynolds Library and Technology Center along with the Harry R. Kendall Science and Health Mission Center.

The faculty at Philander Smith College—80 percent of whom hold appropriate terminal or doctoral degrees—prepare the nearly 600 students enrolled for future success through a stimulating and engaging academic program which offers undergraduate degrees in business and economics, natural and physical sciences, the arts and humanities, education, sociology and social work. The college’s academic programs are accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, the Association for Collegiate and Business Schools and Programs and the Council on Social Work Education.

Philander Smith recently updated its mission to reflect its focus on graduating academically accomplished students grounded as advocates for social justice who will intentionally change the world for the better—a mission that complements the institution’s new emphasis on social justice. Going forward, the college aims to develop a new cadre of leaders to address the pressing needs within our communities, a new generation of leaders who will “Think Justice” in all that they think and do.

University of Arkansas System

The University of Arkansas System is a comprehensive, multi-campus, publicly aided institution dedicated to the improvement of the mind and spirit through the development and dissemination of knowledge.

Embracing and expanding the historic trust inherent in the land-grant philosophy, the University of Arkansas provides communities in Arkansas with access to academic and professional opportunities, develops intellectual growth and cultural awareness in its students, and applies knowledge and research skills to an ever-changing human condition.

Providing the state's only legal, medical and architectural education, as well as the primary engineering education in the state, the University of Arkansas also offers 188 graduate programs in 24 academic areas including teaching, business, engineering, medicine, law and agriculture.

As the sole source of comprehensive agricultural research and extension services, the University conducts most of the state's federally funded research. With over 42,000 students and 13,700 employees, the University of Arkansas System has an aggregate annual budget of more than $1.1 billion.

University of Arkansas at Little Rock

A powerhouse university in Arkansas’s capital city, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock plays an integral role in the economic development of the central Arkansas region by preparing well-rounded, technologically astute students to meet the needs of a vibrant and growing community.

UALR combines traditional classroom methods with hands-on, real-world experience that benefits more than 12,000 students – as well as the community – by adding value to central Arkansas’s businesses, governments, non-profits organizations, schools, and citizens through service learning.

UALR’s mission guides faculty, staff and students as they create partnerships with community organizations to find solutions for community challenges. For example, UALR works with St. Vincent Health System to develop new programs that are drawing more students into the nursing profession through scholarships, on-site clinical classes, and classes at the UALR Benton campus.

When the region’s telecommunications and information technology industries saw the need for highly qualified graduates in computer science, information technology, and systems engineering, they turned to UALR to create the world-class Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology (EIT) and recruit internationally known scholars from top engineering schools like MIT and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Now, UALR is producing top-notch graduates and cutting edge research to help those same industries advance. A funding partnership with the Trinity Foundation has expanded UALR’s engineering programs to include mechanical and electrical systems engineering as the foundation to increase the power of central Arkansas’s economic engine.

Now, UALR is helping Arkansas advance into the new world of nanotechnology, progress that holds the promise of remarkable new discoveries to fuel incredible economic development. The Nanotechnology Center at UALR currently conducts research into this new science that deals with the properties of subatomic-size particles – properties that can change the structure of other molecules. The Nanotechnology Center also helps convert nanotechnology research into new commercial applications that can create important economic development opportunities for Arkansas.

UALR’s partnerships, among other things, are helping to provide more PreK–12 teachers for Arkansas classrooms – including in the critical areas of math and science – to produce significant literacy advancements for children struggling to read. The University also partnered with state government to help Arkansas earn a $13 million grant to improve training for Advanced Placement teachers of science and mathematics throughout the state. UALR not only educates students for the jobs they need, but helps create the jobs the state needs to progress. The university focuses on research that is significant here and everywhere. A university committed to an empowered community, region, and state, UALR not only helps identify problems but helps solve them.

University of Phoenix

University of Phoenix has been providing educational opportunities to the working adult population for over 25 years. The University’s original model was founded to address several key problems regarding the availability and applicability of traditional teaching and service methods with respect to the working adult student. The result was a unique learning experience that allowed working adult students to develop both affective and cognitive skills through intense and concentrated courses. These courses meet in physical locations during the evening and weekend hours. At the University of Phoenix Arkansas Campus they offer day, evening, weekend, and online classes designed for busy working adults – all offered at one location, 10800 Financial Centre Parkway. With scholarships, flexible financing options, and financial aid, the University can help virtually every student. Many of their students receive tuition reimbursement from their employers. They offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of Business, Health Administration, Management, Technology and more. The University of Phoenix is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Fall 2007 Enrollment