National Park College (NPC) hosted a virtual ribbon cutting for new Chemistry, Physics
and Engineering labs Monday. The labs were completed as an addition to the Lab Sciences
building this semester and are part of NPC’s four-year degree partnership with Southern
Arkansas University (SAU).
The College announced the four-year degree partnership with SAU in February 2019 as
a result of student demand and feedback. The campus broke ground on the Lab Science
building extension in February 2020.
Dr. John Hogan, NPC president said, “NPC is about economic viability. Earning power
is part of that. So, what we can do to improve quality of life, what we can do to
improve earning power and how we can respond to the needs of our students are all
things we have the responsibility to attend to.”
NPC Board Chair, Forrest Spicher explained that four-year degrees are critical to
the County’s economic success. “We have been in pursuit of being able to offer four-year
degrees right here in Garland County.” He said the goal is for students to be able
to continue to live, work and raise a family here in the community. “The importance
of the partnership of the four-year degree is vitally important to the economic well-being
of all of our community.”
Dr. Charles Argo, Math and Sciences Division Chair commented on the quality of the
new labs and how the new space will impact students. “With these new labs, National
Park College now has the facilities, equipment and supplies necessary to offer our
students the same laboratory experience that they could have at a four-year college,
which is rare for a school this size.”
Argo commented on the opportunities the labs will offer students stating, “Coupled
with our excellent faculty in place, students will be able to take upper level classes
in the sciences that provide comprehensive hands on learning that is vital, not only
to training future professionals in the fields of Biology and Chemistry, but also
perhaps, allow them to go on in pursuit of graduate degrees elsewhere and compete
with the finest students from any other college.”
SAU President, Dr. Trey Berry expressed SAU’s commitment to the partnership. “We are
committed to these students and all that they are doing and we want to work with each
individual student in the future.” He noted that the current programs are just the
beginning, “We are talking about other degrees in the future.”
Hogan noted just over 20 percent of Garland County residents hold a bachelor’s degree,
compared to 22 percent statewide and more than 30 percent nationwide. “If we were
able to close the gap here in Garland County to the Arkansas mean, that translates
to nearly $33 million in earnings in this county.” He said that increasing that to
meet the national mean would equate to nearly $185 million in additional earnings
for Garland County residents.
Chemistry faculty Dr. Jason Martin provided a virtual tour of the new spaces. He said,
“I just want to reemphasize what we are offering here on campus is second to none
in the state as far as four-year undergraduate chemistry programs are concerned.”
Pictured left to right are Dr. John Hogan, Dr. Charles Argo, and Forrest Spicher.
