Homecoming 2016 at Arkansas Tech University will include a series of events hosted by the Arkansas Tech College of Education and collectively entitled “Celebrating 90 Years of Excellence.”
The preparation of K-12 teachers at Arkansas Tech, and subsequently other educational professionals, can be traced back to the appointment of Dr. James R. Grant as the seventh president of the institution in 1926. Grant had previously served on the staff for the Arkansas Department of Education.
In his book “History of Arkansas Tech University 1909-90,” the late Dr. Kenneth R. Walker described the Grant presidency as a time when “the educational image of Tech was beginning to change from that of agricultural technology to that of a teacher institute.”
Events commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Arkansas Tech College of Education will begin at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29, with a ribbon cutting for a new paperless classroom suite in rooms 308 and 310 of Crabaugh Hall.
Following the ribbon cutting, alumni, faculty, staff and students of the Arkansas Tech College of Education will gather for a group photo outside Crabaugh Hall at 1 p.m.
From there, the anniversary celebration will move to Centennial Plaza for pre-game cake and fellowship before the Arkansas Tech football game against Northwestern Oklahoma State University. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field.
All alumni, faculty, staff and students from the Arkansas Tech College of Education are invited to the 90th anniversary events.
“The College of Education has played a major role in the development of Arkansas Tech University over the past nine decades,” said Dr. Mary Gunter, dean of the Arkansas Tech College of Education and Graduate College. “We were a major player in the early stages of graduate program offerings, and today the College of Education is the only unit of the university that offers degrees ranging from the associate to the doctoral level. We hope that many of our current and former students and faculty will join us for our anniversary activities at Homecoming 2016.”
Photographed: Fall 2016 faculty and staff members from the Arkansas Tech University College of Education stand in front of Hindsman Tower.
