News

Diamond Dog Mini-Grants to fund a wide variety of student-centered initiatives

The UA - Pulaski Technical College Foundation is pleased to announce the following inaugural Diamond Dog Mini-Grant Awards:

• Braden Taylor, Student Life and Leadership awarded $1,000 to create a Video Games Club and Board Games Club
• Benjamin Garlington, IT, awarded$3,000 toward Code for Change: STEM Challenge project
• Dr. John Lewis, Mary Kate Snow, Daphne Hale, Michelle Anderson, Robert Ellard, Kyanna Beard, Lisa Murray and Tim Jones, Enrollment Management, awarded $2,500 for a First Generation Student Mentoring Program
• Wil Remigio, Ben Rains, Cyrus Marbaniang, George Lauster, Science, awarded $4,400 to engage students in original science research and presentations.
• Samantha Staggs, Humanities and Fine Arts, awarded $6,500 toward a student engagement trip to Washington D.C.
• Lindsey Fricks, Allied Health, awarded $2,500 to create a HOSA-Future Health Care Professionals chapter at UA-PTC.
• Dr. Vondra Armstrong, Business, awarded $1,000 for podcast equipment to be used by the Virtual Finance Club.
• Raymond Williams, IT, awarded $2,350 to deploy a LoRaWAN IoT network for emergency alerts at UA-PTC.
• Traci Johnston, Early Childhood Development, awarded $5,000 toward creation of an outdoor classroom on the main campus of UA-PTC.

“Our Foundation Board of Directors allocated $25,000 toward the first year of Diamond Dog Mini-Grants and allowed us to award a total of $28,250,” Melissa Hendricks, Vice Chancellor of Advancement said. “Altogether, our volunteer committee reviewed 19 applications with a total of $84,783 in requests. We congratulate these innovative colleagues for their commitment to helping our students.”

The Foundation will invest proceeds from Diamond Chef Arkansas on April 3, 2025, in continuing the Diamond Dog Mini-Grant Program.