September 2020

SOMETHING VERY BIG and very exciting happened in Newport, Arkansas, last week—the opening of the Tech Depot, an information technology apprenticeship academy, in Newport’s historic Iron Mountain Train Depot. Elsewhere in this newsletter G.B. Cazes tells how the Tech Depot came to be; my purpose here is to tell how ACDS will be involved in […]

MEET SOUKSAVANH PHOMMAVONG Age: 38 Hometown: Fort Smith, AR Apprenticeship: Simmons Foods MY BACK STORY My family is actually first generation American. We immigrated from Laos in 1986, when I was 6. We were first in Dallas, and I spent the years from kindergarten through third grade there. Then my family moved to Fort Smith,

THE NEWPORT INITIATIVE new model for workforce innovation G.B. CazesPresident,The Emory Group I HAVE A passion for helping communities grow around technology and innovation, especially those communities outside the major population centers. This passion is rooted in a desire to provide people and organizations the opportunity to not only survive, but to thrive through tech.

JAN P. SPRINGER, Ph.D, Director, Emerging Analytics Center, UA Little Rock THE GEORGE W. DONAGHEY Emerging Analytics Center at UA Little Rock, usually just called the EAC, is a research center focusing on virtual and augmented reality, immersive visualization and interactive technology, as well as cybersecurity research. While it’s the kind of place where you’re