Stephen Schoonmaker, president of the College of the Ouachitas in Malvern, was born and raised in higher education. "It’s in my blood," he said.
He’s been working in two-year colleges since 1998 and started as president Jan. 15. Before coming to the College of the Ouachitas, Schoonmaker worked at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Ore.
On his agenda is keeping the college’s tuition low; it’s close to the lowest in the state, Schoonmaker said, even after it was raised this year.
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The college changed its name last July from Ouachita Technical College, but Schoonmaker said the school’s emphasis on technical programs hasn’t gone away; in fact, it’s growing.
His vision for his college is to maintain its academic rigor while producing high-skilled workers for technical jobs in the state. He wants to keep the state equipped with a type of worker that he said has disappeared in recent times.
"When manufacturing was going on when I was in school, eons ago, there were high school programs," he said. "If you weren’t a brainiac, you’d go to high school wood shops or metal shops and learned a trade and maybe got an apprenticeship. These are the types of skills we need to infuse in our next generation. They don’t have them."
High school programs like that were dropped long ago, Schoonmaker said, and it’s up to two-year colleges to bring them back. Moreover, there are local jobs waiting for graduates.
"I’ve been meeting with regional businesses," he said. "They’re excited about our programs. We want to meet their needs and are encouraging them to stick around. They have the work; their economy is recovering."
But Schoonmaker said that improvement won’t matter if Arkansas doesn’t have the workforce to fill the empty positions. "That’s forefront on my agenda for the College of the Ouachitas," he said.