In the News
The Board of Trustees at Williams Baptist University welcomed U.S. Sen. John Boozman to their regularly scheduled meeting on Friday.
Boozman joined the trustees for lunch and heard an update on recent developments at WBU in general and on the Williams Works program in particular. The senator also shared news from Washington with those gathered.
“We were honored to have Sen. Boozman back on the Williams campus and to hear firsthand about important issues facing our nation and our region,” said Dr. Stan Norman, president of WBU. “We were also grateful to have the opportunity to share with him the exciting things happening at WBU, especially about the new initiatives we recently launched as part of our Williams Works initiative.”
WBU launched the Williams Works initiative this fall. Students selected for the program work 16 hours per week throughout the fall and spring semesters, and in exchange their tuition and fees are covered. Students who work full time through the summer can also have their room and board expenses paid, giving them the chance to graduate debt-free.
Dr. Norman explained to Boozman and others gathered for the luncheon that part of the inspiration for developing the work-college model was a conversation with a student who had completed her associates degree and was transferring to a different school to complete her studies.
“I asked her why she was leaving and she told me that after two years, she had $62,000 in debt,” Norman said. “She told me, ‘I can’t sustain this,’ and I thought there has to be a better way of doing this.”
