Arkansas Northeastern College will be featured in a book next year, according to ANC president Dr. James Shemwell.
The book to be published by Rowman and Littlefield will be titled "How Community College Leaders Regard Workforce Development: Opinions, Observations, and Future Directions."
Dr. Vernon Carraway of Penn State University visited with Shemwell and other ANC leaders last week, as well as staff members of the college. He also spent time with Blytheville Mayor James Sanders, Shemwell noted.
Carraway is part of a group that is surveying "a few hundred" college presidents around the country, and he became aware of ANC's work through the Amercian Association of Community Colleges, Shemwell said.
"About a year ago, Dr. Carraway interviewed me," Shemwell said. "We did an hour long taped interview about the work that we do here. To try to shorten the story, this book that they're doing, it's not so much a narrative, it's really a transcribed book. The proper term is they're not authoring the book, they're editing the book. The book will consist of 20 chapters, which are interviews with presidents across the country. There's a president from a college in China, there's a president from a college in Germany. We are Chapter 8, and so we're excited about that."
ANC was Dr. Carraway's first stop.
"He didn't realize how far down the road we are, how organized we are," Shemwell said. "But by the time he left he certainly did."
Dr. Carraway was impressed with several ANC programs.
"I think by the time he left he was very excited, very impressed with the work that we're doing here, especially reaching out to folks that are underrepresented, underserved," Shemwell said. "We've got such a tremendous opportunity in our county. We don't have all the answers by any means, but we feel like we're well on our way. We feel like a lot of what we're doing are best practices that can be emulated across the country, and that's what Dr. Carraway communicated to us. There are people around the nation watching what we're doing, they're aware of what we're doing. That speaks very well of everybody that works here and the effort they put forth."
He noted ANC's Doug Echols reported recently that the local college has taken 220 people who were not working or had a bad work history, and they are now working.
"In a county like ours, if 200-something people who weren't working and didn't have much in the way of prospects are now working, that's a good thing," Shemwell said. "That's a good thing for the people, that's a good thing for the employers."