University of Central Arkansas

The University of Central Arkansas sponsored a forum on health care with United States Congressman Vic Snyder on Thursday, August 27th at the Reynolds Performance Hall. Close to 600 people from the UCA community and the general public attended the event and asked questions ranging from what the different options Congress is working on to specific coverages of health care that would and would not be covered in the future.

Anne Jansen, former news anchor at Little Rock television station KTHV Channel 11, has donated her collection of materials to the UCA Archives. Ms. Jansen began her career at KTHV in 1982 and was later promoted to news anchor, a position she held for more than twenty years before she retired in February 2008. According to Jimmy Bryant, director of the UCA Archives, the collection contains the work of her career as a television journalist. This includes selected interviews, professional and personal correspondence, photographs, and awards she received for her involvement in community affairs.

The University of Central Arkansas ranks 17th out of 69 public universities in the category of "Best Master's Level Universities in the South", according to the U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings of universities and colleges. UCA ranks 45th out of 117 total institutions in the South, both public and private, representing an increase in ranking from 54th in the previous year's list. UCA is the highest ranked Arkansas public university in the report. Rankings are based on several assessments, such as peer assessment, retention and graduation rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving rates.

On Monday of this week, UCA President Allen Meadors spoke to nearly 1,000 UCA freshman at the opening convocation session for freshman students at the Reynolds Performance Hall. President Meadors told the freshmen that while they didn't have a choice to go to school before, they now have that choice. "You have made the choice to go to college and attend UCA. You now have a burden to be a role model to the folks back home."

The Beta Alpha Psi Chapter at the University of Central Arkansas recently won the National Service Learning Award at the 2009 National Beta Alpha Psi conference in Brooklyn, New York. Students Jessica Rucker, Rachael Foster, and Kristin Vest presented the chapter’s program of Nurturing Professional Development through Service Learning, describing the bookkeeping and other services the students donate to the Conway Cradle Care (CCC) nonprofit organization. The CCC offers daycare with the mission of helping teen-aged parents graduate from high school and gain life skills.

In late July, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded grant funding in excess of $700,000 to a collaborative Arkansas/New York team led by Dr. Barbara Clancy from the University of Central Arkansas (UCA), Cornell University in New York, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The grant, which will cover a three year period, will be used to increase the use of contemporary neuroinformatic techniques that will help researchers compare and predict brain development across species, including humans.

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe on August 5 addressed UCA's 22nd Annual Community Development Institute Central.

Beebe discussed the important relationship between education and economic development as part of the Arkansas Works Summit initiative. CDI hosted the Faulkner County meeting of the Arkansas Works Summit initiative, which is the 15th county meeting to date. Following Beebe was a presentation by Phillip Baldwin, President and CEO of Southern Bancorp, addressed their community development work in Clark and Phillips Counties.

CDI kicked off on August 3 with a special presentation by Joy Jinks, Co-Founder of Swamp Gravy: The Official Folk Life Play of Georgia. Jinks explained how the arts can be used as an economic development tool to help revitalize and unite communities.

Under new leadership, the CDI organized a new group of instructors and presenters for this year's institute, such as: Eric Canada, a nationally recognized authority on business retention and expansion strategies, and Dr. Dave Kolzow, also a nationally recognized economic development consultant, who will direct the Advanced Year community assessment in Clinton, Arkansas.