Arkansas Collegiate Civic Leadership Academy (ACCLA)

Piloting in the 2025-2026 academic year, the Arkansas Collegiate Civic Leadership Academy is set to cultivate a network of student leaders from higher education institutions across Arkansas. This program is specifically designed for students in their junior and senior years, aiming to empower them with the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary to become effective community leaders.

Visit the official website at the Rockefeller Institute.

From This Year's ACCLA Sessions

The first session of the year long Arkansas Collegiate Civic Leadership Academy (ACCLA). ATU has 3 students (Gabriel Strickland, Johanna Pena Vasquez, and Jasper Millsaps) participating.

For day one, the keynote speaker was former Arkansas governor and a 2024 Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson. This was followed by each college student completing the training and earning from the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute a Civic Arkansas credential.
For day two, the college students discussed and developed models of citizenship, after reading Walter Lippman and John Dewey debating what citizenship and the public were capable of doing in the 1920s.

ACCLA Session Photo Gallery:

You can view all photos in the Rockefeller Institute's Photoshelter. Here is a small selection.

ATU student Johanna Pena Vasquez
You can just see ATU student Johanna Pena Vasquez (political science major) in the bottom left with glasses.

ATU Student Gabriel Strickland (sociology major) at ACCLA

ATU student Jasper Millsaps (political science major)

First ACCLA cohort of students from colleges and universities across the state of Arkansas.

Dr. Michael Rogersm, Professor of Political Science, ATU