SWEPCO Lineworkers, Louie the Lightning Bug and Members of the Gamma Chi sorority and potential new members pose during the University of Arkansas's Greek Life Rush Week. The sorority members pictured are part of the recruiting arm for the Panhellenic Council, which serves as a governing body for 12 sororities.
FAYETTEVILLE, ARK.—As thousands of students return to the University of Arkansas’ flagship campus at Fayetteville for the fall semester, SWEPCO is committed to ensuring reliable power for the campus and surrounding areas as Hog Nation welcomes new and returning students, academic and administrative staff.
This is a pivotal time for students, especially those new to campus life, and SWEPCO is taking measures to do its part to power the next academic achievement, the next winning game, the next memory-making campus event. Parents, students and staff can rest assured that SWEPCO continues its efforts to further strengthen power reliability.
“Our team has been performing critical repairs and upgrades to the power infrastructure around the university, ensuring that outages are minimized,” said Rusty Story, SWEPCO Fayetteville District System Supervisor.
In addition, SWEPCO employees believe in the importance of being easy to do business as a key tenant of gold standard customer service. This approach was brought to life when crews were asked to reschedule a planned maintenance outage to accommodate the University of Arkansas's Greek Life activities. With Rush Week underway, UA Greek Life teams asked to push the date so as not to conflict with this massive and emotional event for students everywhere. SWEPCO worked closely with the university to move the outage to a less disruptive time.
“At SWEPCO, we understand the importance of reliable power, especially as students return to campus and begin a new academic year. We take our responsibility seriously, not just to keep the lights on, but to provide peace of mind for students and their families,” said SWEPCO President and COO Brett Mattison. “My daughter was a Razorback who pledged a UA sorority, I can fully understand this is a meaningful and emotional time. SWEPCO takes pride on being easy to do business with and powering life’s big moments.”
The rescheduled campus outage will occur at 6:00 a.m., Wednesday, August 14, to help minimize disruption to campus life.
The maintenance outage enables SWEPCO crews to make improvements to existing infrastructure on and near campus, including the area where many sororities and fraternities are housed.
“We are incredibly grateful to SWEPCO for their flexibility and understanding. The planned outage would have had a significant impact on our students during a very emotional and important time. SWEPCO’s willingness to reschedule to a more convenient time shows their commitment to being easy to do business with and truly valuing their customers,” said the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Greek Life Parice Shantele Bowser.
As the fall semester begins, SWEPCO remains committed to providing reliable power, exceptional service and peace of mind to the University of Arkansas and its surrounding community. We are proud to support the Razorbacks and will continue to invest in our infrastructure to ensure a bright and reliable future.