Southwestern Bell Presents $150,000 Grant to College of Education

Southwestern Bell Arkansas presented the University of Central Arkansas with a $150,000 check Sunday at the dedication of the Brewer-Hegeman Conference Center. Southwestern Bell’s grant is part of a $150,000 commitment to support UCA’s vision to incorporate technology into the teaching and learning of faculty and students. It supports a three-year pilot program to increase the competency and use of compressed video technology among faculty and students in the College of Education. The funds will be paid in $50,000 installments. The goal of the grant is to support technology training for faculty and students in the UCA College of Education, as well as teachers across Arkansas. 
 
Demonstrating the use of technology, Southwestern Bell Arkansas president Cynthia Brinkley, Pres. Win Thompson and Mr. Daryl Bassett, Higher Education and Economic Development Liaison for Governor Huckabee, were at one location and presented the check to another site where Dr. Jane McHaney, Dean of College of Education, accepted on behalf of the university.
  
The money was donated through the Southwestern Bell Foundation. According to the company web page, the Southwestern Bell Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Southwestern Bell and its parent company SBC Communications, Inc., along with the SBC Foundation, addresses community needs in the areas of education, community economic development, health and human services, and arts and culture. Since its formation in 1984, the SBC Foundation has distributed nearly $352 million in grants, United Way support and employee outreach programs focused primarily within SBC's core service areas. It is an independent foundation funded by SBC Communications Inc. and its family of companies. 
 
Southwestern Bell is a subsidiary of SBC Communications Inc. SBC is a global communications leader. SBC's subsidiaries provide local and long-distance phone service, wireless and data communications, paging, high-speed Internet access and messaging, cable and satellite television, security services and telecommunications equipment, as well as directory advertising and publishing. In the United States, the company currently has 94.1 million voice grade equivalent lines, 11.7 million wireless customers and is undertaking a national expansion program that will bring SBC service to an additional 30 markets. Internationally, SBC has telecommunications investments in 22 countries. With more than 208,000 employees, SBC is the 13th-largest employer in the U.S., with annual revenues that rank it among the largest Fortune 500 companies. 

This is not the first time UCA has benefited from Southwestern Bell. The company is the major sponsor of the Daisy Bates Scholarship Program. According to the Southwestern Bell web page, the program is in its thirteenth year. Southwestern Bell, through its Foundation, presents each Bates Scholar a $2,500 renewable scholarship to attend a college or university in the state. The recipients are selected from a pool of more than 500 applicants based on their superior academic performance, community involvement, volunteerism, and leadership role at school.

"This year's Bates Scholars represent thousands of bright, active, young minority students that will help lead our state into the future," said Cindy Brinkley, president of Southwestern Bell Arkansas. "Helping young people receive an education furthers the work Mrs. Bates and her husband began more than 40 years ago, and it's our honor to present these scholarships in recognition for their good work." Through the Bates Minority Scholarship, nearly 90 Arkansas high-school students have received more than $815,000 since 1987 from the Southwestern Bell Foundation, the company's philanthropic arm. The scholarships are co-sponsored by the Arkansas Department of Education and the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. All minority students at Arkansas' public high schools are eligible for the scholarship. This semester, UCA has eight students attending classes who are Daisy Bates Scholars. Each one was awarded $2,500.00 by Southwestern Bell.