HIGHER
EDUCATION LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
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FAYETTEVILLE
AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS The
Northwest Arkansas metroplex, from Fayetteville northward, also includes
Springdale (home of Tyson Foods), Lowell (home of J.B. Hunt Trucking),
Rogers and Bentonville (home of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the world’s largest
retail organization).
The
two Northwest Arkansas counties that contain this metroplex are growing
rapidly, due to a booming regional economy. In late 1999, the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers
metropolitan area was ranked by the U.S. Census Bureau as being the eighth
fastest growing metro area in the nation. From 1990 to 1998, the metroplex
grew 29.3%, from 210,908 to 272,616. Located
on the Ozark Mountain Plateau, Northwest Arkansas offers friendly people,
beautiful scenery, a moderate climate, excellent school districts, and
a robust economy where the unemployment rate (approximately 2%) is well
below national averages. Fayetteville itself offers a vibrant cultural
life that would be expected in any major university town. Since the 1960s,
the area has been a haven for writers, artists, and musicians. More recently,
Fayetteville was cited by Money magazine as being one of the nation’s
best places to live.
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The
University of Arkansas is located in Fayetteville, a city of 55,000 residents.
Fayetteville is at the southern tip of a metroplex that runs northward
for 25 miles along I-540 through Washington and Benton counties in Northwest
Arkansas and ends in Bella Vista, an upscale retirement village near Missouri’s
southern border.