Posted on May 18, 2016
Published by El Dorado News Times
Special to the News-Times
EL DORADO — University of Arkansas Chancellor Joe Steinmetz visited El Dorado High School Tuesday morning on the second day of his five-day bus tour of Arkansas.
He met with students, teachers and administrators, including principal Alva Reibe and El Dorado Promise director Sylvia Thompson.
“I enjoyed visiting with the students, teachers, counselors and administrators at El Dorado High School,” Steinmetz said. “It’s a very impressive school. The El Dorado Promise is an excellent program as well, providing El Dorado students an amazing opportunity to achieve a college education. We hope to encourage more students from the area to visit Fayetteville and our campus.”
“We are delighted that the chancellor visited El Dorado,” said Thompson. “We’re proud of the curriculum here, the facilities and, of course, the El Dorado Promise. We have recruiters from the University of Arkansas come down on a regular basis but we never had the chancellor before. And we’re very pleased that he brought his wife as well as the provost, athletic director and others. It was a great visit.”
“This tour is a great way for the chancellor to see what the state’s public schools offer and it shows that’s he’s willing to be a good partner,” said Jim Tucker, Superintendent of the El Dorado School District. “I really like the fact that he brought several members of his executive team here as well.”
The U of A freshman class this fall is expected to include 37 students from Union County. Additionally, 123 students from Union County were enrolled at the U of A last year and the county is home to 409 U of A alumni.
Steinmetz is a first-generation college graduate and joined the U of A as chancellor in January. He has spent the last five months meeting with every academic department on campus as he works to build the future academic plan for the state’s flagship institution.
This statewide tour is a key element of that effort, as well. Steinmetz is visiting with alumni and local and state leaders across the state to learn more about the unique needs and interests of our state as he sharpens his vision for the future of the U of A.
The bus tour includes 12 cities and covers about 1,000 miles of Arkansas roads.
The university is a top-tier research institution, ranked among the top 2 percent of public institutions in the United State for research. Community and industry partnerships are a large part of the work done at the U of A, as researchers and students work to solve real-world problems and lead change.
“I want to learn more about the people and unique needs of our state,” Steinmetz said. “The best way to do that is to visit them. I don’t expect to learn everything in five days – we certainly won’t be seeing everything there is to see. But this marks a beginning.”