The Arkansas Trucking Academy (ArkTA), a consortium of ASU Three Rivers, UA Cossatot, UA Rich Mountain, and UA Hope/Texarkana, was launched on June 23, the first public trucking academy to be offered in the state.
The ArkTA program received a $720,000 grant to start operations and begin training students to obtain a commercial driver’s license (CDL). The memorandum of understanding will cover a two-year period from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2023.
New classes will begin on Aug. 2 at Arkansas campuses in Nashville, Mena, Malvern, and Hope. Through virtual/simulation instruction, traditional classroom, and practical over-the-road instruction, students will receive 160 contact hours of non-credit training per course. Successful completion of the course will prepare students to test for their CDL.
“This is another pace-setting workforce solution that has grown out of conversations between leaders in industry and education,” Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said. “Arkansas’s businesses had a problem, our educators stepped in to solve it, and we are able to support it with an Arkansas Regional Workforce grant. It’s a model for partnerships between the private sector and the government. Because of that, we will soon be putting more trucks on the road with first-rate drivers at the wheel.”
A total of 20 courses will be offered annually with slots are limited to four students per course. The maximum cost per student is $1,300, much less than the industry standard at private institutions.
With the increased demand in the trucking industry, Phillip Wilson, an ArkTA co-chair and chancellor of UA Rich Mountain, said he is grateful for the partnership across two systems to bring this program to fruition.
“Creating opportunities and growing Arkansas’ workforce is always a top priority in Arkansas community colleges,” added Wilson, who also serves as chair of the Arkansas Community Colleges association.
Shannon Newton, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association, expressed her strong support of ArkTA and emphasized the challenges the trucking industry in Arkansas is facing right now.
“For contextual awareness, in Arkansas, the trucking industry supports one in 10 jobs in the private sector in Arkansas. We rank No. 1 in the country per capita employed in the trucking industry. So certainly as an advocate of the industry, it is my job to help people understand the role trucking plays in your everyday life but also help solve the challenges the industry is facing and the driver shortage is actually the number one challenge in the trucking industry right now.”
