Jonesboro, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – Arkansas State University Chancellor Todd Shields was recognized as the 2026 Rural Advocate of the Year during the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s (AEDC) Rural Development luncheon held on Wednesday.

The award recognizes people across the state who demonstrate leadership and dedication to improving rural communities.

“I am honored and privileged and blessed beyond words can express,” Shields said of receiving the award. “I believe that rural Arkansans do so much with so little; we need to help them do everything they can, because I know if we empower them, they’ll change the world.”

Wednesday’s luncheon was part of the Arkansas Rural Development Conference, which began May 19 and concludes May 21, and is taking place in the Red Wolf Convention Center at Embassy Suites. The conference invites state and local leaders to learn more about programs and services available through AEDC, with several breakout sessions and panels planned throughout the event.

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Shields was one of three keynote speakers during the luncheon, the others being Dr. Shane Speights, dean of the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) at A-State, and Shane Broadway, vice president for University Relations for the ASU System.

The keynote speech discussed developments in rural healthcare in Northeast Arkansas and how A-State and NYITCOM at A-State are working to improve and expand upon it.

These included discussions of how NYITCOM at A-State works to ensure its students practice in Northeast Arkansas by dispatching them to hospitals and clinics across NEA in their third and fourth years of medical school, how to properly implement telemedicine in rural clinics, how A-State works with its industry partners to find their workforce needs, and more.

“What I’m hoping that we show is that if you leave the traditional higher education, ivory tower model and get really embedded in your communities and embedded into your industries, embedded into your hospitals, your healthcare providers, that we’re now a model,” Shields said. “We not only duplicate ourselves across other places, but other places do the same thing, so that if we’re all working together, then we’ll see a bigger change.”

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