By Gwen Green (gagreen@ualr.edu)
Sept. 25, 2008
LITTLE ROCK - Some things never change. The Arkansas Small Business Development Center again completed its accreditation review without a single blemish, earning special recognition recently from the national association of SBDCs.
The association honored the Arkansas SBDC for receiving accreditation without conditions Sept. 3 at its 28th Annual Conference in Chicago. Only two other states - New York and Massachusetts - also achieved the designation in 2008.
"This is a great honor. Accreditation without conditions represents good management, good leadership, significant progress and superior performance," said Eric R. Zamikow of the U.S. Small Business Administration at the awards banquet at the Chicago (hotel name).
Janet M. Roderick, Arkansas SBDC state director, accepted the award from Antonio Doss, associate administrator in the SBA Office of Small Business Development Centers.
"The Arkansas SBDC strives for excellence. I'm proud to say we have never had conditions with any of our accreditation reviews," said Roderick.
The association also lauded Arkansas as the only state to receive special technology accreditation in the past year. Of the 63 SBDCs nationwide, Arkansas was just the fifth to earn the technology designation.
All SBDCs undergo an accreditation review by the SBA every 4 years.
The Arkansas SBDC is a partnership of the SBA and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock College of Business. In addition to the ASBDC lead center at UALR, regional offices are located at Arkansas State University, Henderson State University, Southern Arkansas University, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and University of Arkansas at Monticello College of Technology in McGehee.
Uniting private enterprise, government, higher education and local non-profit economic development organizations, the Small Business Development Center national network is the SBA's largest partnership program, providing management and technical assistance to help Americans start, run and grow their own businesses. With approximately 1,000 offices across the nation, the SBDC network assists approximately 725,000 small businesses every year.
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