Designers, builders OK’d for UAFS job

Trustees approved design professionals and construction managers/general contractors for a building expansion at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, as well as several namings of buildings.

The Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas System made the decisions Thursday during a meeting on the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus.

MAHG Architecture, based in Fort Smith, and Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects, which has offices in Little Rock and Fayetteville, will fulfill the former, while Clark Contractors of Little Rock and Nabholz will fulfill the latter responsibilities for an expansion of the Windgate Art and Design building, following recommendation by UA-Fort Smith Chancellor Terisa Riley and concurrence by System President Donald Bobbitt.

Last year, UA-Fort Smith received its largest-ever donation, nearly $19 million, from the Windgate Foundation, and roughly $9 million is earmarked for this expansion, which will allow the university to expand its curricular offerings through both new courses and broadened existing courses, Riley said.

The project is expected to take 18 months, and any expenses not covered by the Windgate Foundation’s gift will be covered by university technology and facility fees, parking fees and the UAFS Foundation.

Trustees approved naming the Season of Entertainment at UA-Fort Smith for Stacey Jones.

He was the “iconic person of our campus for 45 years,” and his name ought to be on Season of Entertainment, since he founded it, Riley said. Jones, who died shortly after his retirement, created a nationally recognized creative arts series where many Broadway performances took place on the campus of the then-Westark Community College, later UA-Fort Smith, and in the Fort Smith community.

Members of the university’s “university advancement team have reviewed various files and publications regarding [his] impact and legacy and have not found any records or historical documents pertaining to [his] work or institutional support that might cause concerns about affixing his name to this outstanding program,” according to Bobbitt.

Trustees also approved naming the Workforce Training Center at the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton after former Chancellor Larry D. Davis, who served as the college’s chancellor from September 2010 to January 2019.

He was “instrumental in bringing the building to fruition, and it has become a model for workforce training,” said Chancellor Lisa Willenberg said. “We get so much use out of that facility.”

Morril Harriman, vice chairman of the board of trustees, concurred, noting that “anyone who has visited that facility [knows] it’s a huge asset for the campus, the area and the state.”

Trustees approved three firms — Crafton Tull & Associates, Inc. (Rogers), Risley Architects (Fort Smith), and Architecture Plus, Inc. (Fort Smith) — out of eight respondents to be design professionals for the Allied Health and Science Center Project at the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton. The $17 million project — which will be paid for through a combination of grants, donations, and bonds — is estimated to start this month and take 30 months.

The college has never had a facility specifically designed for nursing, as its nursing programs are currently in a building constructed for administration in 1963, said Willenberg. The new facility will also allow the college to expand offerings and programs, which could result in an enrollment increase of nearly 300 students.

While this won’t be able to “solve the nursing shortage in the state, it will help,” said trustee Ed Fryar.

The Department of Athletics Basketball Performance Center at UA-Fayetteville, the practice and training center for the Razorbacks men’s and women’s basketball teams, will be renamed “The Marsha and Marty Martin Family Basketball Performance Center” in recognition of their recent gift for the benefit of Razorback Athletics capital facility projects after approval by the trustees Thursday.