University of Central Arkansas

UCA assistant professor of writing Garry Craig Powell will give a public reading of his works in the Great Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock on Sunday, March 1 at 3 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public.

Powell also recently had a story selected for Best American Mystery Stories 2009, which will be published by Houghton Mifflin. The story, titled "Kamila and the King of Kandy," first appeared in last year's Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine.

Research conducted by four UCA College of Business professors was recently profiled in a news story by a local Little Rock television station. Drs. Mark E. McMurtrey, James P. Downey, Steven M. Zeltmann, and William H. Friedman published their article "Critical Skills of Entry-Level IT Professionals: An Empirical Examination of Perceptions from Field Personnel" in the Journal of Information Technology Management last fall. Today’s THV (KTHV) recently reported on their findings as they relate to the current state of the U.S. economy. A video of the newsclip, and a link to the paper itself, can be found at this link.

Xiaowei Chen, an assistant professor of public relations at UCA, recently published a paper entitled, "Engineering the Continuation of a Nonjudgmental United States-China Relationship in the Tumultuous Post-Cold War World: An Overview of the 1990s Chinese Public Relations Campaign in the United States" in the Journal of Promotion Management (Volume 14 Issue 3, 327). The article is available online at this link.

David Kim, Dan Fisher, and David McCalman of UCA's Marketing & Management Department, College of Business, recently published an article entitled, "Modernism, Christianity, and Business Ethics: A Worldview Perspective," in the Journal of Business Ethics. The article is available online at this link.

UCA marketing major Kris Allen is among the 36 finalists in the current season of American Idol, and he will compete for votes from viewers on Wednesday night to make it to the final round of 12.

See his performance at 7 p.m. CST on the Fox television network (Fox 16 affiliate in Central Arkansas). His fan page is available at voteforkrisallen.com.

For more information, visit americanidol.com.

Internationally known soprano and UCA alumna Kristin Lewis returns to campus to perform and teach with UCA's Spring 2009 Artists in Residence Program on Feb. 26-27 and Mar. 2.

"It is important that those (students) who strive for the same things that she has achieved can see the example of someone who, a decade ago, was sitting in the same classroom in which they are sitting, practicing in the same practice rooms in which they are practicing, and performing on the same recital hall stage on which they are performing," said Dr. Martha Antolik, the faculty sponsor of the residency.

Lewis' university performance will be after her January debut with Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, during which she sang the title role in Verdi's Aida under the baton of Maestro Daniel Oren. Her roles have gained international attention for her vocal performances.

Lewis will begin her residency by teaching an opera master class with an open forum Feb. 26 at 1:40 p.m. in Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall. The event is open to the public. Her next appearance will be a mini-concert of Italian arias and African-American spirituals for Conway High East Campus for vocal students Feb. 27 at 1:30 p.m. She will be accompanied by UCA piano major Teodora Adhzarova.

Stephanie Vanderslice, associate professor in UCA's Department of Writing, last month was guest editor of College English, along with her frequent collaborator, Dr. Kelly Ritter of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. College English is a leading national professional journal for the college scholar-teacher. CE publishes articles about literature, rhetoric-composition, critical theory, creative writing theory and pedagogy, linguistics, literacy, reading theory, pedagogy, and professional issues related to the teaching of English. Last month's issue was a special edition on Creative Writing in the Twenty First Century that features prominent scholars in the field as well as new voices.

M. Douglas Voss, assistant professor of Marketing and Supply Chain Management at UCA, recently published a book chapter entitled, "Food Supply Chain Security: Issues and Implications" in the text Supply Chain Risk: A Handbook of Assessment, Management, and Performance. This work was co-authored by Judith Whipple of Michigan State University and explores the importance and challenges associated with food supply chain security, best in class security practices used by firms in the food industry, and the role of security in the supplier selection decision.

Patty Phelps, professor in UCA's Department of Teaching, Learning, & Technology and faculty coordinator with the Instructional Development Center, had an article in the December 2008 issue of The Teaching Professor. The article's title is "Teaching Transformation."

The Chronicle of Higher Education this week features UCA's extraordinary efforts to promote world-class culture for its campus and surrounding community, calling UCA an "academic incubator for the arts."

Full article here:


University Strives to Be a Cultural Hub in Central Arkansas
By CAROLYN MOONEY

Conway, Ark.

You might not immediately think of this city of 55,000 as an arts hub.

Just a few years ago, its downtown emptied out each evening. "You could shoot a gun down the main drag and not hit anyone in either direction," one local businessman says. You couldn't get a drink at a restaurant, much less attend a live telecast of the Metropolitan Opera here at the University of Central Arkansas, or see a play at the university-sponsored Shakespeare festival, or work as an intern at Oxford American's offices on campus.

But Conway is growing and changing, and the university's artistic aspirations have played a role. In recent years this campus of 13,000 students has become home to two prestigious literary magazines: Oxford American and Exquisite Corpse Annual, a reborn print edition of the cutting-edge magazine edited by the writer and NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu. The university also founded the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, which produces an annual summer festival, and recently began playing host to the opera telecasts.

Last fall it commissioned and staged an original opera, The Scarlet Letter, and it helped arrange for the National Symphony Orchestra to spend a weeklong residency in Arkansas, which will include a campus performance, later this spring. An artists-in-residence program has brought distinguished writers and artists - including Mr. Codrescu, a professor at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, earlier this month - to an audience that used to have to travel 30 miles to Little Rock for cultural offerings.

Central Arkansas, like a number of regional institutions outside major cities or college towns, has become a kind of academic incubator for the arts.

BKD, LLP, one of the nation's largest accounting firms and recently ranked as one of the "Best Firms To Work For" in Accounting Today, has pledged a major gift to the University of Central Arkansas Department of Accounting.

BKD's Arkansas partners (including three partners who are UCA alumni), have pledged $165,000 to the BKD Accounting Education Fund in support of UCA's first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign, New Vision, New Century: The Centennial Campaign for UCA.

BKD, LLP has been a strong supporter of the UCA College of Business and Department of Accounting for nearly 20 years. Including the recent commitment, BKD partners have provided approximately $272,000 in funding for scholarships and departmental expenses. BKD, LLP is Arkansas' largest CPA and advisory firm with offices in Little Rock, Fort Smith, Pine Bluff and Rogers.

"We are pleased to continue to support UCA’s excellent accounting program," said Steven Warren, who is a Little Rock partner and BKD’s Regional Managing Partner for the South Region. "The many UCA accounting graduates who have joined BKD over the years have been well prepared to start their careers, and we look forward to many more joining us in the future."

Soon after the opening of the new UCA College of Business building next spring, a new business lecture series will be introduced as a result of a generous gift from the Davis family of Conway.

Longtime Conway residents Milton and Claudia Davis, along with their son and daughter-in-law, Granger and Jan (Preuitt) Davis, have committed $50,000 to endow the Davis Family Lecture Series and the Davis Faculty Enhancement Fund.

The Davis Family Lecture Series will highlight prominent business men and women from across the country. The first lecture will feature a senior partner at a major investment firm. The annual lecture series will be open to the entire UCA community.

The Davis Faculty Enhancement Fund will be used to support professional development opportunities such as continuing education, travel, research and conferences for faculty members in the College of Business.

"UCA means so much to our entire family," Granger said. "Not only do we appreciate what we learned in and out of the classroom many years ago, but we also enjoy participating in all the university events today. The Centennial Campaign was a perfect opportunity for us to give to an institution that has meant so much in our lives."

The UCA Student Government Association will partner with USA TODAY to launch the Collegiate Readership Program on campus from February 23 through March 20.

The mission of the readership program is to promote civic engagement, global awareness, and media literacy by exposing students to the news in their living, learning and community spaces. UCA's Student Government Association is launching this initiative to broaden students' awareness of current issues through newspaper readership and to help students become more informed and engaged citizens.

USA TODAY and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette will be available every weekday at the following locations: Student Center, Torreyson Library, Farris Hall, Irby Hall, Burdick Business Administration Building, Christian Cafeteria, Lewis Science Center, Starbucks and Stanley Russ Hall. Because the newspapers are sponsored by UCA's Student Government Association, students can select the newspaper(s) of their choice at no charge at the time of pick up.

UCA Artist in Residence Neil Rutman will be the featured soloist at the Conway Symphony Orchestra's From Europe with Romance concert on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at Reynolds Performance Hall.

Rutman has distinguished himself as a top prize winner in several international competitions and has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts. He will join the Conway Symphony on Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1, under the direction of Israel Getzov, an assistant professor in the UCA Music department and director of UCA orchestras. Getzov will also conduct the CSO in Brahms Symphony No. 4.

Tickets are available at the Reynolds Box Office for $10 for the UCA community, and $5 for all students. The concert is supported by the UCA Foundation through the Ralph Behrens Legacy Fund.

The University of Central Arkansas officially released its centennial history book during a book-signing party with author Jimmy Bryant on Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 1:30 p.m. in the Wingo Hall Board of Trustees Conference Room.

The Centennial History of the University of Central Arkansas is a 224-page hardbound volume that features more than 300 photos with thousands of faces from UCA's past and present as well as engaging stories of the university's 100-year history.

UCA archivist Jimmy Bryant captured significant moments in the university's history with chapters following the timeline of each of its past presidents' tenures. One chapter is dedicated to music organizations, spirit groups and traditions while another chapter features UCA athletics.

The Centennial History of the University of Central Arkansas reveals to readers how a small teacher-training college near the geographic center of Arkansas grew into a major university. The book focuses on some of the major points of each presidential administration and covers the difficult times of World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner will present a speech as part of UCA's celebration of Black History Month on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. at Donald W. Reynolds Performance Hall on the UCA campus. The event is free and open to the public, and it is co-sponsored by Students for the Propagation of Black Culture, the UCA Student Government Association, the UCA Student Activities Board, the UCA Honors College, the UCA President' s Office, and UCA's Office of Minority Student Services.

Warner is a well-respected actor and director who first rose to national prominence starring on the celebrated and long-running classic television series The Cosby Show. He has continued to achieve success as an actor, but also has received accolades as a poet and bass player. Warner along with his jazz-funk bank Miles Long has performed in several major jazz festivals including the Playboy Jazz Festival and has opened for such high profile acts as Earl Klugh and the late Luther Vandross as well as his recent appearance at the historic Apollo Theater.