December 21, 2001

Dr. Winfred L. Thompson, seventh president of the University of Central Arkansas (UCA), resigned. He is credited with the biggest building program in UCA’s history and presided over $125 million in new construction and renovation of existing facilities. During his presidency, UCA received three doctoral programs: a PhD in school psychology and a PhD and DPT in physical therapy. UCA has long been a leader in the field of physical therapy, not only in Arkansas but nationally as well. UCA, which has been one of Arkansas’s leading institutions of higher education for more than 100 years, began as a normal school (teacher training institution) with approximately 100 students in 1908.