Lyon College has found a home for its planned dental and veterinary schools, the first of such graduate programs in Arkansas.
According to Arkansas Business on Thursday, OneHealth Education Group of Little Rock, the company working with Lyon College in creating the schools, has agreed to purchase the Heifer International Campus in Little Rock for the programs.
The 28-acre campus, located in Little Rock’s East Village near the William J. Clinton Library and Museum, will be utilized for the Lyon College Institute of Health Sciences which will operate the dental and veterinary programs.
The school told Arkansas Business that the Institute will occupy most of the campus, which includes a 94,000-SF building, under a leasing agreement.
Heifer International announced Tuesday it was selling the property and planning to lease two floors of the four-story main building under a long-term lease. The organization will remain as a tenant in a reduced floor plan.
The Arkansas Business article also reported Lyon College plans to open a Little Rock office on Capitol Avenue that will support the development of the college, marketing, and admissions.
Taverner said that office will help raise the profile of Lyon College and its home campus.
“We’re in Batesville, 90 miles away, in a lovely little town and lovely little sort of rural region,” Taverner said in the article. ”And that’s really nice. But, it’s very hard sometimes to explain to people that you’ve got a really good school in a place that they’re not very familiar with. And so we’re not moving Lyon College to Little Rock. We do want people to know that Lyon College is a thing. And it gives us a little bit more visibility.”
OneHealth utilizes private sector capital and consultant solutions to support the launch of professional health science programs, Lyon College said in April. The group aims to reduce the debt burden of graduating professionals and to provide solutions for communities that lack ample access to healthcare.
Classes are planned to begin in fall 2024.
To read the article from Arkansas Business, click here.
The Heifer International Center was awarded Platinum LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest honor for environmental responsibility, the non-profit organization notes on its website. As the first platinum-rated facility in Arkansas and the south-central United States, the building, which opened in 2006, uses half the energy of other buildings the same size, Heifer says.
Heifer International distributes animals, along with agricultural and values-based training, to families in need around the world as a means of providing self-sufficiency.
Images: CDI Contractors / Lyon College
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