About the University of Central Arkansas

[1] University of Central Arkansas Statement of Mission and Principles

The mission of the University of Central Arkansas is to maintain the highest academic quality and to ensure that its programs remain current and responsive to the diverse needs of those it serves. A partnership of excellence among students, faculty, and staff in benefit to the global community, the University is committed to the intellectual, social, and personal development of its students; the advancement of knowledge through excellence in teaching and research; and service to the community. As a leader in 21st-century higher education, the University of Central Arkansas is dedicated to intellectual vitality, diversity, and integrity.

In carrying out this mission, the university is guided by the following principles:

• Teaching and learning flourish where disciplinary integrity and the focused explorations it allows are balanced by the connection-building of interdisciplinary collaboration.
• The search for knowledge entails both interaction and solitary reflection.
• Students accrue the greatest benefits when they master both trans-disciplinary skills--such as communication, critical thinking, and information literacy--and the specific bodies of information and ways of knowing particular to individual disciplines.
• Individual faculty may employ radically different methods in their teaching, scholarship, and other professional practice and be equally effective.
• Embracing diversity--e.g., political, racial, intellectual, cultural--strengthens and enriches a university.
• A vital component of a student's experience in the university is the development of personal and social well-being and maturity.
• A university maintains its viability by sharing the talents and resources of the university with the global community.

[2] History of UCA

The University of Central Arkansas was established as Arkansas State Normal School by the General Assembly of Arkansas in 1907, with statewide responsibility for preparing citizens to teach Arkansas children. Summer sessions were started in 1910.

The name of the institution was changed to Arkansas State Teachers College in 1925. By legislative enactment, the Board of Trustees was given authority to grant appropriate degrees. In January 1967, the name of the institution was again changed by the state legislature to the State College of Arkansas, expanding its statewide role to a multipurpose institution. On January 21, 1975, the governor of Arkansas signed a bill granting university status to the institution and naming it the University of Central Arkansas.

The first diploma granted by Arkansas State Normal School was the Licentiate of Instruction, and in 1922 the first baccalaureate degrees were granted. Today the university’s comprehensive undergraduate curriculum comprises more than 70 major programs and 11 different degrees and certificates. A program of study leading to the Master of Science in Education degree was inaugurated in 1955, and the Educational Specialist degree was begun in 1980. Since that time, UCA has developed a variety of high quality offerings in graduate studies, with more than 45 graduate program options and 12 different graduate degrees and certificates, including doctoral programs in physical therapy, school psychology, communication sciences and disorders, and leadership studies. Extension classes were first offered through Correspondence Study courses in 1919–1920 and Study Clubs in 1920–1921. Academic outreach, including extended-learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate credit and in non-credit courses, continues to play an important role in fulfilling the university’s twenty-first century mission.

[3] Institutional Memberships

The university holds membership in the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, American Council on Education, Association of State Colleges and Universities, National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, AACSB - The International Association for Management Education, National Association of Schools of Music, National Association of Schools of Art and Design, National Association of Schools of Theater, the American Association of University Women, Association for Childhood Education International, Council of Graduate Schools, National Council of University Research Administrators, Society of Research Administrators, and the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders.

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