Arkansas State University Mid-South (ASU Mid-South) provides high quality and affordable higher education to empower lives and strengthen communities throughout Eastern Arkansas, and the Mid-South region. With credit enrollment of over 1,000 students, recently-established programs in Commercial Truck Driving, Auto/Diesel Maintenance Technology, and Paramedic training, ASU Mid-South continues to meet regional higher education needs.
Centrally located on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River, ASU Mid-South welcomes students from Southwest Tennessee, Northwest Mississippi, and of course, from the Arkansas Delta. The college offers a full range of certificates and associate degrees that can lead to careers in the multiple areas of business, allied health, computer programming, teaching, machining, and more.
ASU Mid-South provides accessible, employment-relevant, world-class education. In conjunction with state and federal programs such as Arkansas Delta Training and Education Consortium (ADTEC), and Advancing Delta Talent, ASU Mid-South has established a “career pathways” model that offers a series of logical employment “stop-out points” along a comprehensive training continuum. The institution remains aggressive and determined in its efforts to meet the current and future employment needs of the region so that students will be prepared for the jobs of today and tomorrow.
Whether you’re pursuing higher education after high school or returning to college as a professional learning a new skill, you can choose your own path at ASU Mid-South. You can earn a certificate quickly, pursue a two-year degree, obtain in-demand job training, or take core general education classes that transfer to a four-year university. In many cases, you can advance toward that next degree with one of our partner university programs taught right on our campus.
ASU Mid-South facilities are among the best in the region. The Marion Berry Renewable Energy Center on the North Campus provides unparalleled opportunities to affect positive change for the region. Recent expansion of the FedEx Aviation Technology Center, originally opened in fall 2017, provides much needed space to expand this high-demand program to interested students. Our “real-world” Welding Center offers critical hands-on experience to students exposing them to the practical skills needed for success on a variety of welding jobs. Allied Health programs including CNA, Phlebotomy, EMT, and Paramedic training (link to program pages) utilize sophisticated digital tools such as the Anatomage Table, a technologically advanced 3D anatomy visualization system for Anatomy & Physiology education.
Passionate and experienced educators, caring advisors and professional staff, ASU Mid-South is uniquely positioned to help you take your education and training to the next level.
Our Vision
Vision: Arkansas State University Mid-South distinguishes itself by Leading, Empowering, Nurturing, and Serving (LENS).
Leading: To be recognized as innovative and collaborative in developing and utilizing promising practices that ensure a quality learning environment, strategic organizational efficiency, and regional economic development.
Empowering: To be known for our commitment to celebrating the strength and diversity of our people and our determination to help our students obtain knowledge, self-understanding, and autonomy.
Nurturing: To be recognized for consistently displaying compassion and concern for individuals and providing the learning resources and support services necessary to meet their educational goals.
Serving: To be viewed by our constituents as their educational provider of choice, meeting the diverse educational and cultural needs of our communities; supporting student interests through a range of organizations and activities; meeting the region’s employment demands; and broadening access to higher education opportunities.
Our Mission
The mission of Arkansas State University Mid-South is to enrich lives through high quality educational programming that fosters student success, workforce development, and lifelong learning.
Our Values
Values: Arkansas State University Mid-South is committed to Innovation, Diversity, Excellence, Accountability, and Sustainability (IDEAS)
Innovation represents transformative and creative thinking that leads to continuous growth, improvement, and relevancy. We value ingenuity to solve problems and improve efficiencies.
Diversity embraces acceptance, inclusion, and respect. We value understanding each other and ourselves, and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the richness each individual contributes to our organizational culture.
Excellence represents the standard to which we hold ourselves individually and collectively in everything we do. We value exceeding commonly held expectations of quality and professionalism and believe excellence is evident when open communication, ethical decision making, and humility are encouraged, expected, and demonstrated consistently.
Accountability entails an organizational commitment to moral and ethical principles that demand integrity, respect, and compassion. We value transparency and pledge honesty, courtesy, and responsibility in interactions with customers and associates.
Sustainability is being consistently mindful of the environmental, social, and economic consequences of our organizational practices. We value meeting present needs without compromising the needs of the future.
History of the College
Few institutions of higher education have evolved quite as dramatically as ASU Mid-South.
In late 1978, at the request of Arkansas State Representative Lloyd McCuiston and State Senator W.K. “Bill” Ingram, a delegation of local legislators and citizens, chaired by Alex Coulter, publisher of the Evening Times, was organized to lay a cornerstone of plans for development of a vocational-technical school in Crittenden County. The institution would be established for the purpose of affording the residents of eastern Arkansas an opportunity to acquire technical skills and knowledge for job entry, upgrading, and updating for advancement in trade and technical occupations.
In early 1979, the Arkansas Legislature approved the establishment of Mid-South Vocational Technical School, and the institution selected a 30-acre tract on U.S. Highway 70, just off Airport Road, for construction of the facility. On October 30, 1980, MSVTS broke ground for the new school, and eventual U.S. President Bill Clinton, then Gov. of Arkansas, attended the ceremony.
The school opened on March 2, 1982, with two buildings housing nine classrooms. The vo-tech offered eleven-month courses in the areas of accounting, secretarial work, clerk/typing, licensed practical nursing, welding and diesel truck mechanics. MSVT also provided an eight-week course in truck driving.
Underfunded and “unchampioned” in the highly-politicized vocational system, Mid-South Vo-Tech served fewer than 100 students annually and was primarily known throughout the county as a center for GED testing, truck driver training, and a site of Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Hunter Education courses.
MSVT operated for a decade before more legislation, again co-sponsored by McCuiston, allowed it to upgrade to a technical college. In September 1988, the Arkansas Business Council Foundation, a group of 19 prominent Arkansas business and industry leaders, issued a report entitled In Pursuit of Excellence that called for “reform of and increased support for our state’s system of elementary, secondary, vocational, and higher education.” The report’s recommendations included transfer of postsecondary vocational programs from the State Board of Education to the State Board of Higher Education, expansion of general education programs in the vocational-technical schools, development of more sophisticated technical training in close cooperation with business and industry, conversion of the existing vocational-technical schools into technical colleges or comprehensive community colleges, and support for funding to implement these recommendations.
Three years later the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 1244 of 1991, known as the “Two-Year Postsecondary Education Reorganization Act,” in an effort to enact many of the foundation’s recommendations. The legislation focused on converting or “upgrading” the state’s vocational-technical schools into technical colleges or branches of four-year institutions. The upgrade would include easily-accessible, highly-responsive educational programs for people in need of training or retraining to meet the needs of the workplace.
Lawmakers selected Mid-South Vocational Technical School for “conversion,” and upon transfer from the State Board of Education to the State Board of Higher Education on July 1, 1991, the institution became Mid-South Technical College. The Gov. appointed a seven-member board of trustees, and Alex Coulter, who had chaired the vo-tech effort more than a decade earlier, was elected to chair the group.
That same month, MSTC entered into an agreement with East Arkansas Community College in Forrest City to enable the latter institution to provide developmental and college-level general education courses on the Mid-South campus.
In April 1992, the Mid-South Board of Trustees hired Dr. Glen F. Fenter as the College’s first chief executive officer. Dr. Fenter, who was serving as principal of West Memphis High School at the time, brought to the college not only a strong academic background but a passion, understanding and insight into the educational needs of the Delta and its people.
Later that year, the Board and College administration determined that the future viability of the institution would hinge upon conversion to a community college, as provided for in Section 22 of Act 1244, and made plans to seek local millage to provide the necessary funding. MSTC submitted the conversion application and received approval from the State Board of Higher Education on October 23, 1992.
A representative, county-wide Steering Committee began to investigate local funding options and reached the conclusion that a four-mill levy would be needed to establish the college. It submitted its findings to the Mid-South Technical College Board of Trustees which ratified the proposal, and the millage issue was placed on the ballot for February 16, 1993.
The millage campaign focused on a number of key issues: the historic absence of higher education opportunities in Crittenden County; the distance to other state-supported institutions; the alarmingly low college-going rate for the county; the sluggish local economy; difficulties encountered by civic leaders in recruiting new businesses to the county; and the pronounced need for bold initiatives addressing literacy, adult education, and job training.
The campaign worked to near perfection as the success of the millage referendum surprised even the most vigorous proponents of the community college. By a margin of 2,884 to 1,137 (three to one), voters agreed to pay one of the highest millages in the state to create a community college district in Crittenden County. With local funding established, ASU Mid-South began to move forward in its efforts to provide high-quality, affordable education to the people of the region.
On January 9, 2015, the Boards of Trustees of Mid-South Community College and Arkansas State University unanimously approved a merger agreement, bringing Mid-South under the ASU System of colleges. On July 1, 2015, the Mid-South Community College officially became Arkansas State University Mid-South, and Dr. Debra West, Deputy Executive Director of the Mississippi Community College System, who had served previously in student affairs and institutional research roles at the college, was tapped as its first Chancellor.
Students
The ethnicity profile of ASU Mid-South closely mirrors the population of Crittenden County: 57% African-American, 34% Caucasian, and 4% Hispanic. Nearly 90% of the students call Arkansas home, and Shelby County, Tenn., and DeSoto County, Miss., accounting for almost 8% of the remaining students. Mid-South students range in age from 14 to 69, with an average of age 22.
ASU Mid-South students enjoy a wide array of opportunities for growth academically, socially and professionally. To support student success, Mid-South offers tutoring, academic support, and encouragement through two TRiO programs (Student Support Services and the Educational Opportunity Center) and a Title III Predominantly Black Institution program. The Career Services department assists students with employability skills, and offers paid internships to eligible students through an Ascendium Project Success grant. Career Pathways, a state educational and financial assistance program, offers funds for childcare, transportation, tuition and books to students who qualify. The Barbara C. Baxter Learning Success Center provides tutoring, testing, career coaching, online learning support and other assistance necessary for students to succeed in their academic endeavors.
The campus supports student organizations which offer opportunities for service, leadership development, and fellowship: Brother 2 Brother, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, Sigma Kappa Delta (English honor society), and the Student Government Association (SGA).
Business and Industry Services
ASU Mid-South is committed to the economic development of the Arkansas Delta by helping ensure a world-class workforce and targeting new industry to the region. In support of those goals, the college participates in a number of regional partnerships which support economic growth and provides comprehensive array of training services for business and industry.
One initiative, the Arkansas Delta Training & Education Consortium (ADTEC), established in late 2005, provides for a coordinated, regional response to workforce development in the Arkansas Delta. ADTEC is a partnership of five community colleges (ASU Mid-South, Arkansas Northeastern College, Arkansas State University-Newport, East Arkansas Community College, and Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas System) that are committed to raising the skill level of the workforce and transforming the economy of the Arkansas Delta.
ADTEC is a unique partnership in that all participating community colleges collaborate to share curriculum, support strategies, and a wide range of industry input regarding training needs while pursuing the ultimate goal of growing jobs and economic opportunity in the region. ADTEC is able to provide a broad range of training services at a lower overall cost. Continuous industry feedback is an essential element of this workforce development strategy.
Our business partnerships support a variety of continuing education opportunities for personal, professional, and workforce development through open-enrollment credit courses, specialized programs, non-credit online courses, and contract offerings customized to meet specific business or industry needs. Seminars, workshops, customized training, short-term credit and non-credit training, and workforce readiness programs are part of the options available.
Customized training for employers can be developed to meet an endless variety of training needs and can be offered during regular class hours or through creative scheduling arrangements. Programs can be conducted on the ASU Mid-South campus, or at an employer’s worksite.
