Mission
Arkansas State University educates leaders, enhances intellectual growth, and enriches lives.
Core Values
Arkansas State University values the following as central to our success:
- Student-Centered: We are committed to education, inquiry and service in order to meet students’ changing needs. We foster lifelong learning, civic and social responsibility, leadership, and individual and career growth.
- Learning-Centered: We nurture intellectual flexibility, knowledge and skills by integrating teaching, research, assessment and learning to promote continuous improvement of our scholarly community.
- Excellence: We pursue excellence within the campus community through opportunities for achievement in teaching, research, scholarship, creative activity and service.
- Diversity: We embrace diversity in all of its dimensions realizing that mutual respect for individuality and the inclusion of all are vital for both personal and institutional success.
- Service: We support and recognize service at all levels of the university. We strive to contribute to the benefit of the university, the Delta, the state, the nation and the world.
- Integrity: We hold high standards of character and integrity as the foundations upon which the university is built.
University Learning Outcomes
A-State seeks to graduate students with the following knowledge and skills:
- Creative and Critical Thinking: Students will demonstrate the creative and critical thinking skills needed to evaluate relevant information and/or ideas, formulate innovative strategies, and solve problems.
- Communication: Students will communicate effectively in social, academic, and professional contexts using a variety of means, including written, oral, numeric/quantitative, graphic, and/or visual modes as appropriate to topic, audience, and discipline.
- Social and Civic Responsibility: Students will understand the impact and consequences of their actions upon themselves and others, as well as their roles as citizens of a free democratic society.
- Diversity and Globalization: Students will be able to live and work effectively with others as an engaged member of a diverse and global society.
Vision
Arkansas State University aspires to be an academic leader recognized for innovation and quality in teaching and learning, international standing in strategic research areas, and commitment to outreach and service to the Delta and beyond.
Location
The university is located about halfway between the Mississippi River Valley, one of the most fertile areas in the world, and the Ozark Mountains, rich in American folklore and tradition. The university campus occupies an area of 800 acres on the gently rolling slopes of Crowley’s Ridge, in the city of Jonesboro.
History
Arkansas State University enjoys a reputation as a quality regional institution of higher education and is recognized for offering special services to the people of the Arkansas Delta. It is the only comprehensive public university located in this region. Dedicated to teaching, research, and service, the university provides students with the broad educational foundations that help develop critical thinking and analytical skills, decision-making capabilities, and communication skills.
This institution was founded in Jonesboro in 1909 by the Arkansas Legislature as a regional agricultural training school. It began offering a two-year college program in 1918, then became “First District Agricultural and Mechanical College” in 1925. A four-year degree program was begun in 1930, and A&M College became “Arkansas State College” in 1933. The Arkansas Legislature elevated the college to university status and changed the name to Arkansas State University in 1967. Today, the institution has more than 90,000 alumni.
Degree Programs: Master’s degree graduate programs were initiated in 1955, and A-State began offering its first doctoral degree, in educational leadership, in the fall of 1992. A second doctoral program in environmental science began in the fall of 1997, and the doctoral program in heritage studies began in the fall of 2001. The molecular biosciences doctoral program began in the spring of 2006. Programs at the specialist’s, master’s, bachelor’s and associate’s degree levels are available through various colleges: Agriculture, Engineering and Technology, Business, Education and Behavioral Science, Liberal Arts and Communication, Nursing and Health Professions, Sciences and Mathematics, and University College. Classes are also offered through The Honors College and the independent Department of Military Science. More information about the various colleges and academic departments is available through the Office of Academic Affairs and Research.
Accreditation: Arkansas State University’s commitment to excellence in higher education is demonstrated by its accreditation by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, as well as over 25 specialized accrediting organizations. In addition, the university holds membership in several national organizations which support the highest educational standards.
ASU-Queretaro, Mexico: Arkansas State University broke ground in 2014 to build a campus in Queretaro, Mexico. Classes began in the Fall of 2017 offering students the ability to earn a degree which is valid in Mexico and the United Stated of America. ASU-Q offers bachelor’s degrees in several areas.
The ASU System: The ASU System includes Arkansas State University, a four-year Carnegie R2 research institution in Jonesboro with degree centers at ASU-Beebe, ASU-Mountain Home and ASU Mid-South in West Memphis. Arkansas State University Campus Queretaro opened in September 2017. The system’s two-year college institutions include ASU-Beebe, with additional campuses in Heber Springs and Searcy and an instructional site at Little Rock Air Force Base; ASU-Newport, with additional campuses in Jonesboro and Marked Tree; ASU-Mountain Home; ASU Mid-South in West Memphis; and ASU Three Rivers (formerly College of the Ouachitas) in Malvern.
Henderson State University in Arkadelphia became the system’s second four-year institution member on Feb. 1 under Act 18 of 2021.
Library
The Dean B. Ellis Library, centrally located in an eight-story building, functions as an educational center for the university community. It houses an open shelf collection which includes over 620,000 print books and periodicals, 500,000 federal and state documents, 590,000 units in microform, over 30,000 CDs and DVDs, and provides online access to millions of books, articles, and other resources, including more than 350,000 eBooks. The collection encompasses all subject fields, but emphasizes subjects covered by Arkansas State University courses and degree programs. The Library of Congress classification system is used for the arrangement of books, and an online catalog provides access to its print collection and electronic resources. Reserve items are available at the Circulation Desk.
The library meets the informational needs of the university by offering a variety of services. A staff of 13 professional librarians and 18 support personnel acquires, organizes, and maintains the physical collections and provide access to online resources. The library assists users in locating information and in the use of the library building. An active library instruction program offers the Introduction to Academic Research courses (LIR 1011 and 1023) and reaches numerous university classes with individualized instruction sessions. Online databases provide access to eBooks, journals and data not housed within the library. Materials that are not contained in the library’s collections may be borrowed from other libraries through Interlibrary Loan.
Special collections include 1) the Cass S. Hough Aeronautical Collection of 14,000 books and memorabilia which has been described as the single most valuable collection of aviation materials in private hands; 2) an outstanding collection of Lois Lenski books for children; 3) collections of notable Arkansas authors of children’s books: Charlie May Simon, Lois Snelling, Faith Yingling Knoop; and 4) a collection of Arkansas writer John Gould Fletcher.
The Tom Love Collection forms the nucleus of an extensive “Arkansas Collection.” It is comprised of manuscripts, documents, and other historic materials relating to the state of Arkansas. In addition, the Arkansas Room collection contains Arkansas topographic and other maps, Arkansas State University publications, and the student newspaper, The Herald.
The Honorable E. C. Gathings Collection is comprised principally of correspondence from Arkansas’ long-time congressional representative, making available primary research materials relating to the First Congressional District during Gathings’ time of service in the Congress.
The Honorable Bill Alexander Collection expands and extends the research materials relating to the First Congressional District through Congressman Alexander’s tenure as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Alexander and Gathings collections cover 53 years, 1939 to 1992.
The collection of creation science papers, donated by former Arkansas Attorney General Steve Clark, includes the state’s side of the landmark creation science case.
The Judd Hill Collection, Mabel H. Gieseck Collection, and the Ira Twist, Jr. Collection form the core of a primary research emphasis on the agricultural development and environment transformation of Eastern Arkansas.
An Oral History Program, housed in the library, has conducted and taped interviews with a number of local citizens and state leaders. The tapes are available for use by any interested researcher who comes to the library.
In addition to materials directly related to classroom and research work, the library provides students with general and recreational reading materials, and a wide variety of spaces to study or relax. Exhibits and displays presenting ideas and issues are also a regular part of ongoing service and outreach activities.
Heritage Sites
The Arkansas State University Heritage Sites program develops and operates heritage sites of regional and national significance in the Arkansas Delta. These sites provide educational resources for formal and informal learning, including serving as laboratories for the Heritage Studies Ph.D. program. In addition, they serve as economic catalysts in communities where they are located by attracting heritage tourists from around the country. These sites currently include the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center in Piggott, the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza, the Lakeport Plantation in Lake Village, the Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home, the Kays House on the university campus, and other affiliated sites.
Museum
Arkansas State University Museum is located on the A-State campus in Jonesboro in the west wing of the Dean B. Ellis Library building. The Museum serves the academic mission of the University as a teaching museum and provides quality programming that broadens the perceptions and aspirations of people in Northeast Arkansas and the Mississippi River Delta region, connects people with their history, promotes tolerance, engages minds in progressive thinking, and enhances the sense of community among all audiences. Of the more than 35,000 museums in the United States, ASU Museum is one of fewer than 1100 accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
With 16,000 square feet of exhibit space and more than 60,000 regionally acquired objects, ASU Museum is a veritable treasure of Northeast Arkansas history, culture, and natural history. Long-term exhibits feature fossils going back 300 million years ago, a fully articulated Mastodon skeleton replica, a gallery on prehistoric Native American life and culture, artifacts illustrating early settlement in Northeast Arkansas (“Living Off the Land”), period exhibits highlighting shops typical of regional towns dating 1880-1920 (“Old Town Arkansas”), a military gallery, decorative arts, and more.
Multiple activities target children and support state-mandated curriculum, including science, technology, engineering and math-notably, hands-on exhibits about prehistoric peoples in Northeast Arkansas, the early European exploration of Arkansas, and the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The Museum offers a Tinkering Studio and family-oriented events such as TinkerFest (June) and Día de los Muertos (November). Juried children’s art from area schools is featured every April in “Through a Child’s Eyes.”
The Museum is open Monday and Wednesday-Friday, 9:00 AM-5:00 PM; Saturday, 10:00-5:00 PM, and Tuesday, 9:00 AM-7:00 PM, with closure on Sundays and University holidays. Free tours are available by appointment (870-972-2074). Limited free parking is available in the parking lot south of the Museum. School buses and large groups, please call for parking instructions.
Delta Studies Center
The Delta Studies Center at Arkansas State University from program startup in 1998 has worked to increase Delta regional understanding, to enhance a sense of place and to address the challenges and community economic development opportunities of delta regionalism - as well as to strategically encourage national and international poverty alleviation scholarship and public policy related to the region. The center targets the lower Mississippi River corridor, its river tributaries and strip of mostly persistent poverty counties and cities located along both riverbanks. This landscape constitutes the physical and natural geography of the seven-state Lower Mississippi River Valley.
The Delta Studies Center focuses priority attention on the delta definition and development social movement of the recent past as embodied since 2002 in the ongoing operation and sustenance of the Delta Regional Authority - one of the most impactful multi-state intergovernmental public policy innovations of the recent past. The center works across campus with university departments, centers and programs to support multi-cultural interdisciplinary studies and activities directed towards achievement of equity and the quality of life envisioned by the people and institutions of the Delta.
The center operates with a community-building and civic engagement mission, particularly through internships and public service within the sub-state political geography of the eight-state Delta Regional Authority program service area. Specific activities of the center include dissemination of information; workshops and applied research; case study and oral history community documentation; public policy development and analysis; resource mobilization for program development; and, collaboration with federal, state, local government agencies and nonprofit anchor institutions.
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