A&M-Texarkana Gets $25,000 Marketing Grant and Instructor Receives Coveted Ambassadorship

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January 6, 2015 | The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) has recently announced that it is working in three state systems for a project aimed at promoting adoption of prior learning assessment (PLA) and CAEL’s Learning Counts online PLA system throughout the colleges and universities in each system. The project involved CAEL analyzing each system’s current policies and practices for awarding credit from outside-classroom experiences, and to help initiate training and assistance for colleges and universities to initiate a large-scale expansion of adult learning programs.

One school in each of these state systems was awarded a $25,000 marketing grant through the Lumina Foundation based on criteria recommended by CAEL, an organization with a goal to increase the proportion of Americans with a high quality college degree, and Texas A&M University-Texarkana was awarded this grant out of the A&M system.

The grant was awarded to the System school demonstrating the highest enrollment in LearningCounts, as well as putting into practice the marketing strategies suggested by CAEL based on the following criteria:

  • Highest number of LearningCounts enrollments by September 30, 2014
  • Implementation of CAEL’s marketing recommendations (i.e. adult focused program(s) on website and easily located – 2 clicks)
  • Email campaigns to current and prospective adult students
  • Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) information embedded in info sessions
  • Tracking of information requests
  • Distributing social media messages
  • Making marketing materials about PLA available to advisors, enrollment staff and others
  • Gathering and publicizing testimonials

Dr. Glenda Ballard, Dean of the College of Education and Liberal Arts, said “We are delighted to be recognized as one of the three System member institutions (along with Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and Prairie View A&M University) to serve nontraditional, adult students. The Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences degree has a long tradition of serving these students, and the partnership with the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning and the Lumina Foundation provides much needed visibility and marketability to a very successful program.”

A&M-Texarkana is also pleased to announce that Lisa Myers, Instructor of Adult Education / BAAS Coordinator is this year’s winner of The LearningCounts Ambassador Award. This award is presented by CAEL each year at its international conference, and it goes to one school out of all the schools affiliated with CAEL and LearningCounts.

Dr. Ballard added “Mrs. Lisa Myers, BAAS Coordinator, recently received the CAEL’s Learning Counts Ambassador Award for 2014 because we were the top school in all of CAEL’s participating schools across the nation. She embraced the Lumina partnership with the A&M System and, with enthusiasm and passion, insured that our university capitalized on this program for our students. Her heart for education—and for adult students in particular—is unrivaled in the state, and through her leadership, the BAAS program is stronger than ever.”

For more information on the BAAS program, contact Lisa Myers at 903-223-3133 or by email at lisa.myers@tamut.edu, or visit www.tamut.edu.

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