Sara Brown, Ph.D., is the new director of institutional advancement at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts.
Brown started in the position on Nov. 1 and oversees the operation of the institutional advancement office and the ASMSA Foundation. She most recently served as the managing director for the Arkansas 4-H Foundation at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. She previously served as director of development at National Park College in Hot Springs where she also served as assistant director of financial aid.
She earned an interdisciplinary doctorate in leadership from the University of Central Arkansas in 2017. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Business Administration in accounting from Henderson State University.
Brown said she was excited to return to the Hot Springs community with an opportunity to continue working at an educational institution.
“I love the community, and I love education,” Brown said. “I’m really looking at giving kids better opportunity across the state to reach a higher level of education. When I was working on my doctorate, I spent four years studying student success efforts and what to do to help the students. We are a very low-achieving state in education, and we are very low retention in higher education.
“It’s important having a school like this and opportunities for the kids to go out of country and see more things than just Arkansas but then bring them right back here to see how it affects our state. [To see] how they can start projects in high school and carry that forward into their college education and then into their career to be able to make a difference.”
While she is thankful to return to her home community of four decades, Brown said the experience working for the Arkansas 4-H Foundation was an opportunity to broaden her network of contacts. Just as ASMSA is a school that draws students from all over the state, her 4-H experience allowed her to meet educators from schools statewide. She also participated in chamber of commerce meetings throughout the greater Central Arkansas area that are important channels to share information about the school and its students.
“It just gives me lots more opportunities to support our students,” Brown said.
She said ASMSA has a great road map in place to help find the support it needs, but it is just a start.
“That roadmap is just the first step in creating an actual development plan that can be successful. You have to translate growth into the strategic mission and find funding streams to make a successful program,” Brown said.
Brown said learning to combine what she has learned from her various positions has given her a broad overview of the needs of students and needs of donors who are giving to the school that will give her the opportunity to work with both sides to be able to show the great attributes of the school and its students.
She looking forward to working the ASMSA Foundation Board of Ambassadors, whom she met with recently.
“They are our feet in the community. I appreciate their feedback,” Brown said.