The University of Arkansas – Fort Smith American Democracy Project will host a town hall with the executive director of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery and the financial aid manager at the Arkansas Department of Higher Education at noon Friday, Nov. 22, in the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center Reynolds Room, located at 800 N. 49th St.

 

Bishop Woosley, executive director of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery, and Lisa Smith, financial aid manager at the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, will have an open exchange with UAFS students and others on the ins and outs of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery and how Arkansas students benefit from it.

 

"This UAFS American Democracy Project event is an opportunity for our students to achieve two main goals,” said Dr. Williams Yamkam, assistant professor of political science and advisor of the university’s chapter of the American Democracy Project. “First, students will be able to get informed about the ins and outs of the Arkansas Lottery Scholarship and how lottery dollars may affect Arkansas students' scholarship prospects. Second, they can better understand how matters of public policy, such as the allocation of some lottery funds to scholarship, may have a direct impact on students. Educating our students on a public issue that directly affects them will hopefully empower these students to become proactive citizens who strive to shape public policy before it is implemented."

 

The event is free and open to the public.

 

The American Democracy Project at UAFS was recently lauded by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, earning a bonze seal award for civic engagement on campus.