Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Bachelor's Degree Offered

The University of Arkansas Community College at Hope (UACCH) will offer a bachelor of arts degree in January with an emphasis in criminal justice, psychology and technical writing.

Officials at the two-year community college were recently told that they will receive upper level courses this spring from the Univerwsity of Arkansas at Little Rock. The courses will be received on a two-way audio-video connection.

"This bachelor's degree with three different areas of emphasis will definitely fill an educational and a vocational need for southwest Arkansas," Robert Taylor, UACCH vice chancellor of academics, said. "We're grateful to be an asset to this community and an important part of the growth for the University of Arkansas system."

The first three UALR classes to be offered in Hope will be a seminar in community policing and crime prevention, technical writing and victimology.

"This is wonderful news, because I want to continue my education without moving to Little Rock," Alice Patton, a Hope business owner, who is studying criminal justice at UACCH. "This will allow me to be close to my family and stay in touch with the community."

More than 1,400 students are now enrolled at UACCH, which is a 15 percent increase over last year's fall enrollment. The new degree will be the second bachelor's degree offered since the college merged with the University of Arkansas system last year.

A bachelor's degree in human resource development from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is also being offered through classes by way of satellite at the new library-academic complex.

Jim Pedigo, public defender of Hempstead and Nevada counties, now teaches several classes in UACCH's associate degree in criminal justice. He said the addition of a bachelor's degree will enhance the skills of law enforcement officials and help those wishing to enter the profession.

"The associate's degree will get someone in the door for working in criminal justice," he said. "But a bachelor's degree will take someone as far as they want to go in the profession."