Southeast Arkansas College officials shared Wednesday how they plan to address the issues that landed the two-year campus in accreditation probation with the Higher Learning Commission.
Donna Hunnicutt, SEARK’s vice president of instruction hired Oct. 1, alerted the college board that the HLC has scheduled a “100 percent comprehensive visit” to the college for Nov. 3, 2025. Every single aspect of the campus will be reviewed, she said.
The HLC on June 27 placed SEARK on probation through June 2026, citing the college for violating three accreditation requirements: persistence, retention and completion outcomes; effective governance and administrative structures; and systematic and integrated planning and improvement. SEARK was found to have met core components of ensuring the quality of educational offerings and engaging in ongoing assessment of student learning as part of its commitment to educational outcomes, but with concerns stated by the commission.
Steven Bloomberg, who stepped down as SEARK president in February, said in August the college sent a 300-page document refuting the findings, saying the college “more than demonstrated it met all the criteria and provided more than enough evidence.”
Meanwhile, SEARK has scheduled faculty meetings every first Friday of the month to inform staff and board members of the accreditation process. Staff will be given an opportunity to provide feedback.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I absolutely guarantee it won’t be, ‘We’re taking your accreditation away,'” Hunnicutt said. “It’s going to be fast and a whirlwind. We’re chucking the baby out of the bathwater and we’re getting into a clean tub.”
Tyrone Jackson, SEARK’s president since July, said the college is taking a comprehensive approach to getting out of probation, adding it’s a matter of when, not if, the college does.
“Basically, there are four or five standards with criteria, and those standards have been revised,” he said. “They dinged us on several things, but when they come back, they want to look at the college as a whole. Basically, we’re interested in the ones they dinged us on, so we’re dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s.”
STRATEGIC PLAN
Board members unanimously accepted SEARK’s strategic plan for 2025-30.
The plan centers on six priorities:
— Enhancing student success and retention: Aiming to boost first-year retention by 10% and four-year graduation rates by 20% over five years;
— Expanding and strengthening workforce development: Aligning academic programs with regional workforce needs, helping to achieve a 90% job placement rate;
— Promoting comprehensive educational excellence: Focusing on faculty development, curriculum improvement and experiential learning;
— Ensuring campus safety and inclusion: prioritizing safety audits, emergency preparedness and cultural competence training;
— Fostering community and industry collaboration: Strengthening partnerships with local industries, hosting community events and job fairs, and developing collaborative research initiatives; and
— Building institutional capacity through innovation and technology: Investing in technological infrastructure and adopting sustainable practices to enhance institutional capacity.
“I assure you we will frequently monitor the plan,” Jackson told the board, responding to a comment from board President Shauwn Howell that all strategic plans must remain fluid.
FUNDRAISING
Charles King, SEARK’s new director of college advancement and development, told the board the college will move into corporate and individual fundraising, a larger-scale approach than in the past.
Jackson told the board King’s top priority in fundraising is athletics and scholarships. The college awarded 19 scholarships during its fall scholarship banquet, King said.
SEARK’s basketball teams, which began their inaugural season this month, currently play home games at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff but practice at the Relyance Bank Athletic Complex, the former Seabrook Activity Center owned by SEARK across from The Reef student housing center, 4 miles south of campus on South Hazel Street.
Among the needs Jackson stated was to resurface the rubber-top gym floor; adjust goals to 94 feet apart, the standard length of an official basketball court; and install roller doors to store larger equipment. King roughly estimated a cost of $250,000 to meet those needs.
“I’m not fooling myself. I don’t think it’s an easy task, but I do think it’s a doable task,” King said. “We just have to make our case (to potential donors).”
SEARK will host a fundraising drive on Giving Tuesday, which he said is always the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving. This year’s Giving Tuesday is Dec. 3.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Jackson announced SEARK’s enrollment for the fall semester is 1,083. That would represent a 121-student upswing from fall 2023.
Preregistration has begun for spring semester, and 175 students have enrolled, Jackson said. Ninety of the 118 beds at The Reef are occupied, he reported.
SEARK has received a $150,000 federal Predominantly Black Institutions grant for a 28-passenger bus and combined funds including $75,025 from an expendable portion of Title III endowment money for a 72-passenger Type C school bus for CDL Class B licensing instruction and student transportation. Along with that portion, the college was awarded $53,373 in a Carl Perkins grant and $28,000 in additional tax credits from its energy performance project.
FINANCIALS
SEARK has received $4,026,199 in year-to-date revenue as of Sept. 30, representing $1,113,438 over expenses. The college has budgeted $12,067,178 for the school year.
The revenue-over-expenses differential was an increase from minus-$192,326 in an $11,764,769 budget for the 2023-24 school year, the fiscal year for which ended June 30.
“For September, all of the tuition has been recorded through December’s coursework,” said Debbie Wallace, vice president for fiscal affairs. “It’s kind of cyclic, and expenditures are continuing to incur, so that will probably continue to adjust and it probably won’t be as large of a surplus.”