University of Central Arkansas

For a fresh academic perspective on current presidential politics, U.S. News & World Report turned to Gary Wekkin, a political science professor at the University of Central Arkansas.

In its May 27 "Washington Whispers" section, the magazine considers the historical legacies of President George W. Bush and his father, former president George H.W. Bush.

"One scholarly paper provided to Whispers offers an interesting theory. Gary Wekkin of the University of Central Arkansas says the two would have succeeded if they had switched places: 43 to fight the first Iraq war and domestic issues his dad failed at and 41 to handle the current war and international crises that followed. 'Strictly speaking, neither Bush 41 nor Bush 43 has been a poor president,' says Wekkin. 'Rather, each seems to have been the right person for the presidency at the wrong time.' It's not curtains for 43, though. Wekkin says Bush may yet see his hope of having historians 50 years off judge him better. 'It worked for Harry Truman,' says Wekkin."

U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder today introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives to recognize the 100th anniversary of the University of Central Arkansas.

"UCA's Centennial is a special occasion for the entire UCA community," said UCA President Lu Hardin. "We are grateful to Congressman Vic Snyder for sponsoring the congratulatory resolution that will permanently become a part of the Congressional Record."

Filed as House Resolution 436, it was co-sponsored by the other three members of the state's U.S. House delegation: U.S. Reps. Marion Berry, John Boozman and Mike Ross.

UCA this year is celebrating its centennial anniversary, having been founded in 1907 as Arkansas State Normal School. It is the fastest-growing and second-largest higher education institution in Arkansas, with over 12,000 students enrolled. More information about UCA's Centennial activities is available at www.uca.edu/100.

The full text of the resolution is as follows:

In a front-page business article in the May 23 edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, reporter David Smith writes:

The University of Central Arkansas will begin offering community development consulting for cities June 1 through its new Strategic Growth Institute, the executive director of the program said Monday.

The institute will work with communities in Arkansas and other states to produce a strategic plan for development, said Robert Pittman, executive director of the Strategic Growth Institute and UCA?s Community Development Institute. Pittman also is senior managing director at the CH2M Hill-Lockwood Greene engineering and consulting firm in Atlanta.

Earlier this year representatives from Brinkley and Monroe County asked Pittman and the Community Development Institute to develop a strategic plan for the area. Two of Pittman?s graduate students went to Brinkley andmade a well-received assessment, Pittman said.

?Then [Brinkley officials] said they wanted to partner with UCA to help them move forward in community and economic development,? Pittman said. ?But we weren?t set up to do that kind of consulting work.?

It led UCA to accelerate its plans to add an entity that would work closely with cities to help determine their needs.

Baxter Sharp, a Brinkley lawyer, said the community assessment work UCA did was very thorough.

?We were very pleased with it, and now we?re waiting on information to see how we can take the next step,? Sharp said Tuesday.

Three films by University of Central Arkansas filmmakers are among the 65 chosen for the inaugural Little Rock Film Festival this weekend.

?The Old Gray Lady: Arkansas?s First Newspaper,? a 90-minute documentary about the history of the old ?Arkansas Gazette?, will play at 12:45 p.m. Sunday at the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, 1 Chamber Plaza in downtown Little Rock (374-2001).

?The Cleaner,? a three-minute Arkansas short, and ?One Night Under the Carmine Bridge,? an eight-minute Arkansas short, will show at 5:15 p.m. Friday at the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce and at 4 p.m. Saturday, also at the chamber.

?Even though UCA's Digital Filmmaking program is new, we have some major entries in the Little Rock Film Festival,? Dr. Joseph Anderson, chair of the UCA?s Department of Mass Communication and Theatre, said. ?In the future we should have even more.?

?The Old Gray Lady?, directed by UCA alumnus Kevin Clark with Anderson as executive producer and Donna Lampkin Stephens, a former sports writer for the ?Gazette?, as producer, traces the newspaper from its birth in 1819, 17 years before Arkansas became a state, through its coverage of the integration of Central High School, when it became the first newspaper ever to be awarded two Pulitzer prizes in one year, to the newspaper war with the ?Arkansas Democrat? that led to its death in 1991.

Academy Award-winning actress Mary Steenburgen lends her voice to the telling of the long and proud history of The Old Gray Lady, one of the most progressive and literate newspapers in America.

"I feel honored to have been able to tell this story,? Clark said. ?As an independent filmmaker, you're always concerned about having creative control over a project, and I was very concerned about that with this one because I had to have a non-profit on board in order to receive some of the grants, but I could not have asked for a better working relationship than what I had with UCA and Dr. Anderson.?

?The Cleaner,? directed by film professor Mike Gunter and starring UCA physical plant employee Jeff Mclain, is about a janitor who carries taking out the trash a bit far.

In ?One Night Under the Carmine Bridge?, co-directed by UCA alumnus Stu Hiltenbrand along with Neal Bryant, a lonely drifter?s despair comes to a breaking point as he wrestles with guilt, doubt and regret. UCA students Jeremy Drake and Shua Miller were heavily involved in production, Drake as a camera operator and Miller as the primary actor.

Question-and-answer sessions with the filmmakers will follow both ?The Old Gray Lady? and ?One Night Under the Carmine Bridge.?

The festival will run through Sunday in the Historic RiverMarket District in downtown Little Rock. A festival pass, allowing entry to all public screenings, parties and panels, is available for $20. Individual tickets are available at the door for a suggested donation of $5.

Steve Lake of Las Vegas today arrived at the University of Central Arkansas for his 400th visit to a four-year college or university.

Lake, a pit boss at Caesars Palace hotel and casino, was welcomed with a campus event in front of the fountain at Harding Centennial Plaza featuring UCA President Lu Hardin, Student Government Association President Haley Heath, Staff Senate President Patricia Smith and Kris Raper, the field representative for U.S. Senator Mark Pryor.

"We are honored that Steve Lake chose UCA for this milestone visit," Hardin said.

Hardin presented Lake with a plaque from UCA and an Arkansas Traveler certificate provided by the office of Gov. Mike Beebe.

Raper read a letter of congratulations from Pryor to Lake.

Lake set a goal in 1984 to visit 500 colleges and universities, because he graduated from a college that was housed in an office building instead of on a campus.

"UCA is one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever visited, and I am especially glad to make UCA my 400th college visit because of all of the exciting things happening here," Lake said.

UCA Board of Trustees member Rush Harding became acquainted with Lake in Las Vegas and initially extended the invitation for Lake to add UCA to his list of college visits.

The new voices of University of Central Arkansas Bears football this fall will be familiar to football fans around the state of Arkansas.

Well-known television sports anchor Steve Sullivan and Little Rock radio talk show host Justin Acri will be in the booth when UCA opens the 2007 football season on Sept. 1 against Louisiana Tech. The games will also be carried live statewide on KABZ 103.7 The Buzz or on its sister station The Point 94.1.

Bill Johnson, long-time voice of the Bears, is now a member of the UCA athletic department?s Purple Circle fundraising arm after spending more than 40 years as the football play-by-play man for Bears football. Johnson, a member of the UCA Sports Hall of Fame, began calling UCA football games in 1966.

"With this partnership with The Buzz, we looked to do something that would raise our profile around the state and help our transition to Division I," said UCA athletic director Dr. Brad Teague. "In going with The Buzz, and a crew of Steve Sullivan, Justin Acri and Monty Rowell, we will certainly enhance our image statewide and move our program forward."

Johnson, a member of the UCA Sports Hall of Fame and a former UCA Board of Trustees member, broadcast more than 400 UCA football games during his career.

"It?s obviously hard to replace someone with 41 years of experience in doing Bears football," Teague said. "But Bill?s continuing involvement in our program, in an enhanced way even, will be invaluable to us."

UCA games will now be carried on KUCA in Conway, Crain Media stations around the state and on the combination of 103.7 The Buzz and The Point 94.1.

"We are excited to be entering into a partnership with the Buzz," said UCA President Lu Hardin. "The Buzz is an outstanding sports network, and I look forward to a long partnership. Steve Sullivan and Justin Acri are the consummate professionals. To extend our reach this dramatically is a positive move for UCA Athletics."

Sullivan, a native of Massachusetts, has been at KATV Channel 7 in Little Rock since 1999, and has been a fixture on the air in the Little Rock market since 1985. Acri was a sports anchor and reporter for eight years at KATV and took over as program director at KABZ in September 2006. He has been with The Buzz since June 2003. Acri currently serves as host of the UCA football and men?s and women?s basketball coaches shows that air on KATV.

Rowell is station manager at KUCA on the UCA campus and has been the voice of UCA Bears basketball for the past two decades. He will continue his sideline, halftime and postgame duties with the new game day crew.

UCA football will also debut a Monday night call-in show airing weekly on The Buzz. The show will feature Acri and UCA head coach Clint Conque from 7 to 8 p.m. each Monday night during the season following Drivetime Sports, live from Mike?s Place in downtown Conway.

"Now that we have Crain Media in the network, as well as the Buzz, we will cover the majority of Arkansas in our first full season of Division I and Southland Conference play," Teague said. "We have a very talented radio crew that I know our Bear fans around the state and on the internet will enjoy listening to.

"And the addition of the Monday night call-in show will only heighten our profile across the state."

The University of Central Arkansas will confer over 1,000 degrees at tomorrow's Commencement exercises, setting an institutional record during a landmark year.

"This class is a significant milestone in UCA's history and appropriately coincides with the celebration of our 100th anniversary," said UCA President Lu Hardin. "This large graduating class is due to two factors: First, our extraordinary enrollment growth, and second, our increased graduation rate. I'm proud that, with this extraordinary number, UCA will still hand out each degree individually at tomorrow's ceremony."

"This is the largest graduating class in the history of the university, and the first graduating class that was recruited under Lu Hardin's leadership," said UCA Registrar Anthony Sitz.

1,008 UCA students will graduate in Spring 2007, as compared to 908 in Spring 2006 and 671 in Spring 2001. UCA has never before awarded over 1,000 degrees to a single class.

It is important to note that tomorrow's degree ceremony is the first of three that will take place during UCA's centennial year, and similar increases in the number of graduates are expected at the August and December events.

UCA's graduation rate is now 55.3 percent -- a full nine percentage points better than the average for 4-year public universities in Arkansas (46.3 percent), and an eight percentage point increase over UCA's rate five years ago.

The University of Central Arkansas at its Saturday Commencement exercises will present the Distinguished Alumnus Award to Rush F. Harding III, chief executive officer of Little Rock investment banking firm Crews & Associates.

The Distinguished Alumnus Award is the highest honor for an alumnus of UCA. According to the award criteria, "A Distinguished Alumnus for the University of Central Arkansas is recognized for outstanding contribution to the university, community, state or society; outstanding achievement in a particular field of endeavor; possessing a reputation that enhances the reputation of the university and serves as an example to UCA students; and contributing to the goals or the welfare of the university."

In 2002, Harding established the Holloway-Hicks Scholarship to benefit African-American students, and his generosity did not stop there. In 2004, he and Linda gave more than $1.4 million to UCA, the largest single gift in the university?s history. It was used to support student scholarships and to construct UCA?s signature landmark, Harding Centennial Plaza.

In 2006, Harding and his wife were named Outstanding Philanthropists of the Year by the Arkansas Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. The couple is also co-chairing UCA's first major, comprehensive fundraising campaign, which coincides with the university's centennial anniversary.

Harding graduated from Clarendon High School in 1972. He originally attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York before graduating with honors from the University of Central Arkansas in 1976 with a bachelor of science degree in Math and English.

As a UCA student, he was a member of the men's basketball team, a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, and a member of the Wesley Foundation.

Upon graduation he joined T.J. Raney & Sons and in 1979, along with Adron Crews and five other partners, founded the Little Rock investment banking firm Crews & Associates. He served as executive vice president from 1979 to 1996. He was named president in 1996 and chief executive officer in 2000.

Harding serves on the board of First Security Bancorp. He is president and a board member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, and has served as a board member of Pulaski Academy and the University of Central Arkansas for over a decade. He is also a member of First United Methodist Church in Little Rock.

Harding's family has established a legacy of loyalty to UCA. His parents, Rush (Buddy) Harding Jr. ?50 and Martha Stone Harding '52, are alumni of the university, as is his wife, Linda '82. Rush and Linda also have three children: Shaylea '06, Buddy, and Payne, who is currently attending UCA.

Harding is the 22nd individual in the history of the university to receive this distinction, joining the ranks of best-selling author Dee Brown, five-time NBA All-Star Scottie Pippen, J.B. Hunt Transport Co-Founder Johnelle Hunt and U.S. Department of Education Deputy Secretary Ray Simon.

Acclaimed actor and playwright Jack Larson will deliver the next University of Central Arkansas Centennial Lecture on Friday, May 4 at 1 p.m. at the Main Stage Theatre in the Snow Fine Arts Center on the UCA campus.

Larson first became famous as Jimmy Olsen in the television program "The Adventures of Superman." His production credits include work with "Bright Lights-Big City," "The Paper Chase" and "Urban Cowboy." He also appears in the latest Superman film, "Superman Returns."

UCA established the Centennial Lecture Series as part of the official celebration of the institution's 100th anniversary. More information about the UCA's Centennial Lecture Series and other UCA Centennial events is available at uca.edu/100

Larson's speech, entitled "A Career in American Film," is the second in the series, and it is presented by the UCA College of Fine Arts and Communication.

Also on Friday, the UCA Board of Trustees will vote to rename the James Bridges Theatre as "James Bridges-Jack Larson Theatre," in honor of Larson's generous support of the UCA James Bridges Performing Arts Scholarship through the Bridges/Larson Foundation. Larson is the longtime friend and partner of Bridges, who attended UCA in the 1950's before embarking upon an illustrious career in Hollywood as a writer and director of numerous motion pictures.

The rededication of the theater will take place at 11:30 a.m. on Friday in the lobby of the Snow Fine Arts Center, and a plaque bearing the new name will be unveiled at the ceremony.

At UCA's Commencement exercises on Saturday, Larson will accept an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree conferred posthumously to Bridges.

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Biography for Jack Larson (From the Internet Movie Database, www.imdb.com)

Jack Larson was raised in Pasadena, California, and attended Pasadena Junior College (by coincidence, exactly like his "Adventures of Superman" (1952) co-star George Reeves). He was a contract player at Warner Bros. Typecast as Jimmy Olsen, Larson found it virtually impossible to get other acting roles after the series went off the air and retired from acting a few years later, concentrating on writing. His plays have been highly acclaimed and he has had works performed in theaters and opera houses around the world. He was the longtime companion of late director James Bridges, with whom he co-produced a number of popular films of the 1970s and 1980s. Larson is an erudite and charming man who seems to have been close friends with many of the more prominent figures of the arts in the latter half of the 20th century, including Virgil Thomson, John Houseman, Leslie Caron, Libby Holman, Montgomery Clift, Salka Viertel, Christopher Isherwood and James Dean.

Bill Johnson, who has been the Voice of the University of Central Arkansas Bears for the last 40 years, will retire from broadcasting to devote all of his energy to his new position with the UCA Athletic Department.

Johnson joined the department on March 1 and has been working on athletic development and advancement, in addition to serving as an ambassador to UCA's Purple Circle during football games.

"To say that Bill Johnson is a legend is an understatement," said UCA President Lu Hardin. "Very few play-by-play broadcasters in the history of the NCAA have served for over 40 years, and Bill has served with distinction. There is absolutely no one who loves the UCA Bears more than Bill Johnson, and I am excited to have him in this new capacity."

"Bill Johnson is an icon," added UCA Athletic Director Brad Teague. "During my time at UCA, Bill Johnson and I have formed a productive working relationship, and I am excited about utilizing his extraordinary community and institutional knowledge for the benefit of the UCA Athletic Department."

Hardin plans to ask the UCA Board of Trustees to name the broadcast booth in UCA's Estes Stadium in Johnson's honor.

"I have great satisfaction in being able to have had a 50-year career in broadcasting, even though I was in banking full time for 30 of those years," Johnson said. "Much of the satisfaction is derived from faithful listeners, many known and hundreds unknown, who have followed athletic teams over the years. I am especially in debt to the many who have worked with me at various times without monetary compensation, including Monty Rowell, the late Frank Hamling, Bobby Tiner, Jim Schneider and Woody Cummins. They made the broadcasts successful from a total of 23 states. I also need to thank an understanding spouse and family."

Johnson served on the UCA Board of Trustees from 1970 to 1984, and he has been a member of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education Coordinating Board for the last ten years, including the period when Hardin was director of the state Department of Higher Education. He was president and CEO of Security Bank of Conway from 1977 to 1996, and then was president of First Financial Bank of Conway through its 2000 merger with Simmons First National Bank, where he served as president until the end of 2006. He is a graduate of UCA and was inducted into the UCA Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.