UA Responds to Employee Child Care Needs

AFSCME Local 965 began last May to investigate the options for expanded child care facilities on the UA campus and to advocate for a family-friendly solution for the needs of employees and non-traditional students. We are pleased that on this issue the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees shares our concerns about the needs of working families and is scheduled to select an architect today to design a new Child Study / Research Center for the Fayetteville campus.

The proposed 10,000-square foot center would be able to serve up to 125 children and combine the overcrowded UA Infant Development Center and UA Nursery School, now in separate buildings that can accommodate no more than 20 children each and having long waiting lists, according to Mary Warnock, Director of the School of Human Environmental Sciences. Dean Greg Weidemann of the UA's Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences said the college will soon begin raising funds for the $4 million project that is expected to be accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.