University of Central Arkansas

UCA Homecoming 2009 is scheduled for the week of October 18-24.

"Can't Hide Your Bear Pride"?

Check out the schedule of events.

The University of Central Arkansas today announced the names of 831 students who qualified for the undergraduate Presidential Scholars List based on their academic performance during the Spring 2009 semester.

"Qualifying as a UCA Presidential Scholar is a remarkable achievement, because it requires a perfect grade point average," said UCA Provost Lance Grahn. "We are proud that so many UCA students are performing at such a high level, and that is a testament to their hard work and the supportive learning environment on campus."

The University of Central Arkansas today announced the names of 1,309 students who qualified for the undergraduate Dean's List based on their academic performance during the Spring 2009 semester.

UCA's Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre was profiled in the "Summer Stages" guide in the weekend Arts section in the May 10 edition of The New York Times.

Six of the seven films that played in the Arkansas Shorts program of the Little Rock Film Festival have ties to UCA.

They include Surfacing, written, directed and produced by faculty member Bruce Hutchinson; Memories of Viola, written, directed and produced by faculty member Mike Gunter; What Happened to My Brother, written, directed and produced by Levi Agee, a Master of Fine Arts student; Cosmic Legos, by Gabe Mayhan, UCA alumnus; Home Field Advantage, directed by Graham Gordy, UCA alumnus; and Death of the Reel, written, directed, and produced by Benjamin Meade, visiting lecturer at UCA in Fall 2008, featuring a number of UCA students and faculty.

UCA Provost Lance Grahn recently presented the 2009 Faculty Excellence Awards to three UCA faculty members at a special campus ceremony.

Dr. Nolan Carter of the UCA Department of Chemistry won the Teaching Excellence Award. As an Assistant Professor teaching Organic Chemistry I and II, Dr. Carter believes he must convince those students, particularly the non-majors, that organic chemistry is relevant to their disciplines. He is noted for using an audience response system for instant feedback regarding student comprehension. One of the students who nominated Dr. Carter wrote from her perspective as a Pharmacy student the following: "I must attribute some of my academic success so far, to the skills that I learned from Dr. Carter’s classes…For the exceptional preparation that I received for graduate school, and for the amount of personal time and effort devoted to my education, I recommend Dr. Carter for this award." Another student who will be entering the University of Notre Dame in organic chemistry writes, "Organic Chemistry was difficult, but I felt like I had a better understanding ...due to Dr. Carter's ability to explain difficult concepts through illustration and models. He was able to synchronize laboratory time so that it reiterated lecture topics. The result of this careful coordination was reinforcement of potential test topics. In this way, Dr. Carter always set his student up for success."

UCA publications swept top honors at the Arkansas College Media Awards last week at the ACMA's conference at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

The Echo was voted the outstanding college newspaper in Arkansas. The Scroll was chosen the state's best college yearbook, and the Vortex was selected the top literary magazine among the state's colleges and universities.

In addition to the publication awards, two UCA students were recognized for individual general excellence. These included Aprille Hanson and Katie Butler of The Echo, who were selected Newspaper Editor of the Year and Newspaper Reporter of the Year, respectively.

"This is an outstanding indicator of the high quality of students involved with the programs that are responsible for these publications, and they are taught by a very talented and dedicated faculty," said Dr. Rollin Potter, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication. "Winners all around!"

Subscriptions for the third season of the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre at UCA are now on sale.

This summer's AST Festival will feature four shows to be presented from June 10-28: Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, the Broadway smash The Producers, and the children's classic The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. All four productions will be created from scratch over a one-month rehearsal and construction period by a company of more than 70 artists combining Arkansas artists, out-of-town-professionals, and college students from 11 different universities.

Tickets will range in price from $10-$30 per seat, with discounted season tickets available online and at UCA Ticket Central.

The Division of Academic Outreach at UCA, in collaboration with the UCA College of Business, is currently facilitating a Pre-Employment Training Program for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC). The Academic Outreach Center for Training and Consulting Services provides this training for the new Hewlett Packard (HP) Conway Facility. The HP training curriculum, developed by College of Business faculty members, consists of an overview of the company and technical aptitude skills required of all HP employees.

"UCA has been a great business partner" said Julie Palmason, Sales Programs Manager at HP. "From the beginning of this program, they have provided creative ideas on how to best teach and assess students on some very specific skills. Once the program started, we needed to make a few changes to the curriculum. UCA was very flexible, and again offered suggestions on how to adjust the agenda. We could not be more happy with the outcome."

Maria Haley, executive director of the AEDC, said the training and education of our workforce is vital to our economic future.

"Companies locate where people can be effectively trained for the jobs they create. This is why education and training is a priority for our state," said Haley. "This partnership between AEDC and UCA is a perfect example of the type of collaboration needed to make certain our businesses are well served."

In conjunction with the third annual Little Rock Film Festival, award-winning documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud recently visited UCA to present a series of workshops as part of the Artists in Residence series.

Arkansas native Renaud, along with his brother Craig, makes up the brains behind several critically acclaimed films, including the Emmy-nominated drug addiction documentary Dope Sick Love; Off to War, which followed the deployment of a unit of soldiers in the Iraq War; Taking the Hill, which chronicled the journey of war veterans as they ran for political office and Little Rock Central: 50 Years Later, which marked the 50-year anniversary of the controversial integration. The brothers have also produced shows for networks such as MTV, PBS, CBS and ESPN, to name a few.

The Renaud brothers' films have been praised as "provocative," "poignant," and "powerful" by media outlets such as CNN, the New York Times and National Public Radio.

"We're really excited to have Brent Renaud coming to UCA," said Dr. Bruce Hutchinson, Director of Graduate Studies in UCA's Digital Filmmaking Program and the faculty sponsor for the event, said. "He's one of the best young documentary filmmakers in the country. He's traveled the world and has made some of the most interesting documentaries of the past 10 years."