University of Central Arkansas

The University of Central Arkansas's National Pan-Hellenic Council will host a gospel benefit concert to raise money for a scholarship to honor two UCA students who were killed during an on-campus shooting last year.

The 2009 Henderson-Block Gospel Benefit Concert is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. at UCA in the Ida Waldran Auditorium.

Dr. Joe and Laura Allison of Bartlesville, Okla., in partnership with their employer, ConocoPhillips, have established an endowed travel fund through the University of Central Arkansas Foundation for students studying in the UCA Department of Chemistry.
Through a matching gift partnership, the couple has committed to contributing $30,000 to the Joe and Laura Allison Department of Chemistry Travel Fund over the next three years.

"We are pleased to be able to contribute to the UCA Department of Chemistry," Laura Allison said. "Both of us chose careers in chemistry because of our experiences at UCA. The energy and interest shown by the professors was contagious."

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."

Little Rock accountants Kevin and Michele Kemp have made a $25,000 pledge to the University of Central Arkansas Centennial Campaign and directed their gift to the university’s $18 million new College of Business building.

"We appreciate the education we received from UCA which assisted us in obtaining the rewarding careers we both enjoy," Kevin said. "This is our way of saying thank you and helping UCA to continue making differences in other people’s lives."

The 70,000-square-foot building, which is under construction, is located behind Wingo Hall, facing Donaghey. The new building will include a 160 seat auditorium, eight tiered lecture halls, two flat classrooms, two computer labs, and 61 faculty offices. Additionally the new building will feature numerous conference rooms, a graduate lounge, and space for each of the college's centers and institutes. The building is scheduled to open in the spring of 2010.

Juliet Eilperin, the national environmental reporter for the Washington Post, and Andrew Light, the incoming director of the Center for Global Ethics at George Mason University, will present a seminar next Monday, April 14 at UCA.

Their seminar, entitled, "The Ethics and Politics of Climate Change: Two Perspectives on the Current Global Warming Debate," will take place on Monday, April 14 at 2:30 p.m. in Lewis Science Center room 100. It is hosted by UCA's Environmental Science Program.

Eilperin also covers politics and the 2008 presidential election for the Washington Post. She has received the Luce Scholarship, the Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellowship in Science and Religion, the Western Enterprise Reporting Fellowship from Stanford University's Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West and the Woods Hole Ocean Science Journalism Fellowship. She also delivered the inaugural Muncy Journalism and Politics lecture at the University of Kansas Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics in 2006. She is the author of the 2006 book, Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship is Poisoning the House of Representatives and is currently writing her second book, on sharks, which Pantheon will publish in the spring of 2009. Eilperin serves on the board of the Washington Press Club Foundation, an organization committed to supporting women and minority journalists, and she graduated magna cum laude from Princeton with an A.B. in politics and a certificate in Latin American Studies.

Light is currently associate professor of philosophy and public affairs at the University of Washington-Seattle. He will become director of the Center for Global Ethics at George Mason University in September. He has received the Harrington Faculty Fellowship from the University of Texas-Austin, a Center fellowship at the International Center for Advanced Studies at New York University, and an Individual Scholar Award from the National Science Foundation. He has authored or edited 17 books on environmental ethics, philosophy of technology, and aesthetics, including Environmental Pragmatism and Reel Arguments: Film, Philosophy and Social Criticism. He graduated magna cum laude from Mercer University in 1989, with a triple major in philosophy, political science and history. He received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of California at Riverside in 1996.

The Office of Admissions is proud to announce that 84 UCA students have been selected to serve as 2008-09 UCA Ambassadors. The UCA Ambassadors are students who volunteer their time in the Admissions office by meeting with prospective UCA students in various capacities. UCA Ambassadors serve as campus tour guides, assist at Bear Facts Days, and serve at other special UCA events. The Admissions staff conducts interviews each year to select student ambassadors who are academic achievers, personable and campus leaders. This elite group of students are willing to donate their time to this organization because of their passion for UCA.

The new Ambassadors are: Aaron Killingsworth, Alicia Haflick, Amanda Hickman, Amanda Tyson, Amber Race, Andreya Reed, Angela Brooks, Angela Setliff, Anna Street, Antonia McDonald, Ashley Simons, Ashley Watts, Ashton Barnett, Austin Hudson, Bradley Mullins, Brittany Williams, Britynn Davis, Caitlin Porter, Caroline Timm, Cassie Sweeney, Chris Carter, Damon Borchert, Danielle Atwoode, Dannis Armikarina, Dean Turbeville, Debbie Oluokun, Deborah Sanders, Desiree Paulhamus, Emily Bradley, Emily Clark, Emily Hester, Haley Morgan, Hannah Abbott, Hannah Smith, Heather Bennet, Jamie Mose, Jared Matheney, Jasmine Vanhook, Jessica Bell, Jessica Goodnight, Jill Mann, JJ Holland, Jon Sumners, Jonathan Lauver, Josh Bramlett, Josh White, Julianna Smith, Julie Storing, Katy Freyaldenhoven, Kristen Burk, Kristen Qandah, Kristin Elrod, Kristin White, Krystal Lutz, Kyle Meacham, Kyle Schnebelen, Lauren Foster, Lauren Miller, Leah Jacks, Lindsey Davis, Lindsey Wright, Madeline Phillips, Maegan Thompson, Melinda Wheeler, Melissa Swint, Michael Washingon, Oliver Sobik, Rachel Whitfield, Samantha Newman, Samantha Walker, Shea Crotzer, Shirley Carr, Stephanie Long, Stephanie Sollis, Sunni Hartsfield, Suzette Thornes, Tammy Andrews, Taylor Scott, Taylor Thompson, Tazzmin Maxfield, Tobin Williamson, Tyler Young, Whitley Watson, and Whitney Raney.

UCA Theatre will present one of Shakespeare's classic comedies, Twelfth Night, on April 9, 10, and 11, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in the Reynolds Performance Hall. This fun-filled tale of romance, love, and marriage is hugely entertaining for all audiences.

The production is under the direction of Chris Fritzges, assistant professor of Theatre, with set design by Director of Theatre, Greg Blakey. The play is stage managed by Sinovia Mayfield of Little Rock with costume design by Shauna Meador, assistant professor of Theatre. Cast members include Erica Summers of Cabot, Taylor Galloway of Maumelle, Shannon Suit of Bonnerdale, Kyle Smiley of Rogers, Aaron Holt of Hot Springs, Aaron Stevens of Jacksonville, Matt Peoples of Carlisle, Josh Miller of Mena, Jack Walsh of Harrison, Gavin McCollum of North Little Rock, Natalie Culbreth of El Dorado, Tom McLeod, Jordy Neill, and Brian Lachowsky, all of Conway, and Aaron Kopf, Cameron Backus and Allison Benton, all of Little Rock.

Tickets are $8 each and can be purchased at UCA Ticket Central at the Reynolds Performance Hall or by calling 501-450-3265 or toll-free 866-810-0012. The general public may also purchase tickets online at www.uca.edu/tickets.

Additional information about UCA Theatre and Twelfth Night can also be obtained online at www.uca.edu/theatre.

Joe Cangelosi, professor of Marketing Research and Associate Dean at UCA, had his article, "Who is Making Lifestyle Changes Due to Preventive Health Care Information? A Demographic Analysis," will be published in Health Marketing Quarterly, vol. 26, no. 2, to be printed in December. In addition, Cangelosi will attend the Writer's Colony in Eureka Springs during the month of May, with the goal of writing an academic article in the area of preventive health care.

Debra L. Burris, Assistant Professor of Physics at UCA, was a panelist for the Science Cafe LR discussion on Space Science in Arkansas. The panel was held in conjuction with the first "birthday" of the Science Cafe series in Little Rock, which meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Other panelists included Ed Wilson (Harding), Ann Wright (Hendrix) and Tillman Kennon (ASU). Panelists gave a ten-minute overview of their field of research expertise then fielded many questions from the audience. More info on Science Cafe can be found at www.sciencecafelr.com.

Adriian Gardner, Instructor in UCA's Department of Speech and Public Relations, has been selected to serve as a research paper reviewer for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) during its national conference in August. His duties will include reviewing research papers which were submitted for the AEJMC schoarly research competition. The reviewers will make comments about the strengths and weaknesses of the papers, and they will determine if the papers will be accepted, rejected or not applicable for the research competition presentations.

Dr. LuZhe Sun, a professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and one of the top cancer research scientists in the nation, recently delivered a presidential lecture at UCA as part of a student cancer research symposium.

In a lecture hall filled with UCA students, Sun discussed the importance of cancer research. "As the death rate from heart disease decreases among Americans, the death rates for those with cancer has remained fairly steady," he said. "The top forms of new cancer cases each year are prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women. Each year cancer kills over half a million Americans."

Sun discussed some of the top advances in cancer treatments in recent years including development of a drug called Gleevec, which treats Leukemia by stopping a cancer-producing enzyme in cells. He also talked about the characteristics that make cancer cells different than normal cells and risk factors for prostate cancer, which is one of his research interests.

"Prostate cancer is the most prevalent cancer found in men over 55 in the United States," he said. Other risk factors are race, as African-Americans are more prone to the disease; smoking; and diet. Sun said research has found that diets high in animal fat increase the risk of prostate cancer, while diets high in fresh fruits and vegetables reduce the risk.

The UCA Student Cancer Research Symposium was the brainchild of Dr. Wen Wang, assistant professor of physical therapy. She said, "It has been my passion, since I was a teen, to find out why people get cancer and why they die from it."

Wang and Sun were colleagues at UT Health Science Center and continue their collaboration today.
Wang is a physician with a doctorate in physiology and cell biology and teaches basic science courses for UCA physical therapy students. She also supervises several student researchers in studies regarding cancer treatment and prevention.

As a part of a grant Wang received from the university research council, she proposed beginning a research symposium that would bring a nationally recognized cancer researcher to campus to lecture each year.

"Dr. Wang and her colleagues in the sciences here at UCA are certainly doing their part in the search for the cure for cancer," said Neil Hattlestad, Dean of the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences. "Their involvement of students in their work is particularly important because they are preparing the next generation of cancer researchers."

The UCA Student Cancer Research Symposium was co-hosted by the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences and the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.