ACU Dallas has launched three new colleges to support the growth of programs and students. The Colleges of Learning and Development, Health and Human Services and Leadership and Professional Studies, launched in August.

Over the years, enrollment at the Dallas campus has consistently increased and is expected to continue that trend. For the past seven years, ACU has continued to break its record enrollment numbers, said Dr. Stephen Johnson, the chief executive officer of ACU Dallas.

Dr. Stephen Johnson, the chief executive officer of ACU Dallas (Photo Courtesy of the ACU website)

“We now support from the Dallas campus over 3,000 students, so obviously a single college to support that many students is difficult for any one dean,” Johnson said.

The plans for the launch of the new colleges started last year, and two of the colleges have interim deans and Johnson expects to hire full-time deans within the next month.

“Having distinct programs and distinct leadership of those colleges helps us stay competitive, and it helps us to be able to market and attract students nationally,” said Dr. Robert Rhodes, the senior vice president for academic affairs.

The Dallas campus began in 2015, with one college, the College of Graduate and Professional Studies. The addition of the new colleges helps ACU Dallas broaden its reach and make ACU more accessible.

Johnson said most students attending ACU Dallas are working adults in their 30s, looking to advance their careers. These students need the flexibility of its online programs. 

“Our aim is to make ACU accessible to that segment of students and so we think there’s an opportunity to continue to grow,” Johnson said.

With the opening of these colleges, ACU will continue its mission to help students develop their faith.

“Since we believe in what we do, I think it’s important that we do more of it, so I think the growth is important because it allows us both to have a broader reach and greater impact,” Rhodes said.

The College of Learning and Development will contain programs to help students advance in a career in education.

“We’ve sought to create really innovative and unique programs to support education at the K-12 level,” said Johnson. “We deployed kind of a strategy to build customized partnerships with regions and districts across the state.”

The College of Health and Human Services contains nursing, applied health, marriage and family therapy, communication disorders and exercise science programs. The College of Leadership and Professional Studies contains programs in organizational leadership, business, information technology, healthcare administration and sports leadership.

“So if what we do matters, and it’s transformative and it’s powerful, we want to find as many ways to touch as many lives with that mission, as we can,” Johnson said.