It is my sincere honor and pleasure to lead the community of learning at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts. As one of only 17 public residential schools in the country, ASMSA specializes in the education of students with an interest in advanced careers in math and science as well as a passion for and creativity within visual arts, music, and the humanities.
ASMSA’s residential experience offers more than 250 of the state’s most dynamic young leaders the opportunity to live and learn at Arkansas' premier public high school and one the nation’s Top 25 high schools according to Newsweek, The Daily Beast, and The Washington Post. These honors demonstrate that Arkansas students proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with students across the nation. Niche.com has also consistently ranked ASMSA as Arkansas's top public high school.
Though the core of our mission focuses on economic and talent development in Arkansas, we are proud to develop engaged leaders with a mindset for internationalization through the school’s Global Learning Program. Since the Global Learning Program's inception, nearly 600 faculty and students have had the opportunities to explore Japan, China, Costa Rica, the United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, Canada, Morocco, and other countries through the program. We are proud to have partnerships with the Hot Springs-Hanamaki Sister City Program and the Japanese “Super Science” Schools program that bring an international experience to each of our students.
Our faculty and campus stakeholders have worked to realize our legislative arts mission through additional faculty, expanded course offerings, and curricular pathways that provide students the opportunity to develop their passion for art and music.
The Visual Arts and Design Program of Distinction provides an immersive opportunity for students to develop their creativity. ASMSA's Wind, String, Jazz, and Chamber ensembles serve one-quarter of our students and have become the top 3A program in the state.
ASMSA has also embraced the General Assembly's vision for expanding opportunities for students to explore computer science and coding. STEM Pathways and Coding Arkansas' Future initiatives offer a blend of online learning, professional learning communities, and educator development to build the state’s capacity in this increasingly important subject as well as other STEM disciplines. ASMSA has provided training and support to nearly half of the state’s newly certified computer science teachers while serving 4,000 students and educators each year.
As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the school's creation, I am grateful for the thousands of alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and other program stakeholders who have brought us to this point. With the completion of the Creativity and Innovation Complex in 2019, restoration of the former chapel and convent as Selig Hall in 2022, and the new Campus Administration Building in 2024, the physical transformation continues as we look to the 2033 Facilities Plan and further growth! There is much to celebrate and even more work to accomplish in the years ahead.
For updates and news as the school moves forward, follow me on X/Twitter at @alderdice or on LinkedIn.
Corey Alderdice
Executive Director
COREY ALDERDICE BIOGRAPHY
The University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees appointed Corey Alderdice as Executive Director of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts in 2012. He is the school’s longest-serving executive administrator. Since joining ASMSA’s community of learning, he has worked to bring national prestige to the state’s only public residential high school for talented students while developing new programs in computer science, entrepreneurship, global learning, and visual arts that underscore the unique opportunities available through the school's early college experience. During his tenure, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Washington Post, and the Jay Matthews Challenge Index have named ASMSA among the nation’s top 25 and “public elite” high schools.
In 2013, the Bezos Family Foundation recognized him as one of twelve global Educator Scholars. In 2014, Arkansas Business named him to their annual list of “40 Under 40” leaders in business, education, and public policy. The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) recognized him in 2015 as one of five school administrators nationally for excellence in computer science advocacy. He is a 2016 graduate of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce’s “Leadership Arkansas Class X.” In 2017, Code.org named him and ASMSA among their inaugural recipients of the Champions of Computer Science award. In 2020, Arkansas Money and Politics magazine named Alderdice to their inaugural “Future 50” list of professionals poised to shape the future of Arkansas’ economic, political and cultural engines. His work in utilizing social media and technology for admissions and campus external relations has been spotlighted in Education Week and The Washington Post.
Alderdice co-authored a chapter on public residential high schools as a form of academic acceleration in A Nation Empowered: Evidence Trumps the Excuses Holding Back America’s Brightest Students (2015), a follow-up to the landmark report A Nation Deceived (2004).
Director Alderdice serves on the boards of the National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools, Women’s Foundation of Arkansas, Hot Springs Fifty for the Future, Hot Springs-Hanamaki Sister City Program, Arkansas Learning through the Arts, and Western Kentucky University Center for Gifted Studies. He is a member of the Arkansas STEM Coalition, Hot Springs National Park Rotary, and the Hot Springs Broadband Task Force. He is married to Stephanie Patterson Alderdice, an accomplished communications and marketing professional. They have one son, Elliott, who is fourteen years old.
