ASU's Heritage SITES receives $560,600
Abbigail Coltarp
Issue date: 9/21/09 Section: Entertainment
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The Arkansas Heritage SITES program has needed funding for a long time.
Ruth A. Hawkins, director of the SITES program and executive director of the Arkansas Delta Byways, said that this program was established 10 years ago here at ASU.
Hawkins said the university owns three heritage sites that operate as museums and educational centers and all three have programs that appeal to both tourists and people coming for educational purposes.
These three heritage locations are the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center in Piggott (1999), the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza (2006), and the Lakeport Plantation in Lake Village (2007).
Hawkins said these sites provide economic development with communities to help bring in more money and they "serve as educational laboratories for our students."
These sites are tied in with the Heritage Studies Ph.D. program. Students in the program do a lot of laboratories and research at the sites, but all ASU students can benefit from these "educational laboratories."
The SITES program has two national scenic byways: Crowley's Ridge Parkway, which covers 10 counties in Arkansas, and the Arkansas Great River Road, which covers 15 counties.
These byways allow SITES to receive grants and funding, and without them, the program would still be in desperate need for money.
Hawkins said that Arkansas Delta Byways contracts with ASU for the university to provide services for some of its programs.
"We work with communities to help them develop tourism," Hawkins said. "We're a link between the delta region and the university in terms of benefiting economically and educationally."
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