NATIONAL PARK COMMUNITY COLLEGE
PRESS RELEASE

National Park Community College Receives Grant

On July 9, Dr. Sally Carder, NPCC president, received an email from U. S. Congressman Mike Ross’ office making it official: NPCC will receive almost $2 million dollars over a five-year period through the “Strengthening Institutions Program” of the U.S. Department of Education. This program provides grants to eligible institutions of higher education to enable them to improve their academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability, as well as increase the school’s self-sufficiency. This year, NPCC will receive $399,983 for these purposes. It is anticipated that the grant will be for a total of five years.

Carder said, “This is such great news for our college and our community. We are currently building the Frederick M. Dierks Center for Nursing and Health Sciences. These funds will allow us to furnish some of these spaces with the latest technology, equipment and lab supplies and to expand our medical programs. Three new programs we plan to add include: Certified Nursing Assistant, Respiratory Therapy Technician and Pharmacy Technician. We will also develop and enhance programs already in place by redeveloping parts of the Practical Nursing and Registered Nursing curricula for online delivery. This grant will enable us to create a night option for RN students.”

National Park Community College in Hot Springs and Arkansas State University at Mountain Home are the two Arkansas grant recipients. “This doesn’t just happen—Representative Ross and Senators Lincoln and Pryor have given strong support for us to receive this grant. We are so grateful to them for making this happen,” Carder said.