University of Central Arkansas

University of Central Arkansas President Lu Hardin is among a select group of college and university presidents who will attend the first Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) this weekend in New Orleans.

Hardin's attendance at CGI U is marked by UCA's commitment to devote substantial resources toward research that will alleviate poverty in the rural areas of Arkansas.

"I decided to participate in CGI U because it insists upon substantive benchmarks to achieve real goals," Hardin said. "This is not a pie-in-the-sky, feel-good project. Through our commitment, UCA will be able to make progress in the fight against poverty in Arkansas."

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton extended a personal invitation to Hardin, who served in the Arkansas State Senate during most of Clinton's tenure as governor of Arkansas. Clinton will actively participate in CGI U this weekend.

UCA's commitment is titled, "Bringing lessons home: Applying international poverty alleviation strategies to rural Arkansas," and it is designed to engage UCA students in undergraduate research projects that will identify programs that have been successful elsewhere and suggest specific ways they can be adopted and implemented in Arkansas. Students will work under the supervision of faculty members across a wide range of disciplines, including political science, sociology, education, and business and economics, and the research projects will be accomplished within the context of existing academic courses and approved and credited independent study. Once complete, the reports will be publicized and shared with organizations working to alleviate poverty in rural Arkansas, which can implement them as suggested by the research. UCA students also will have the opportunity to earn college credit for participating in the implementation of the research through internships and work-study arrangements.

CGI U is a new project of Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) that was conceived to challenge college students and universities to tackle global problems with practical, innovative solutions. More information is available at www.clintonglobalinitiative.org.

CGI, established in 2005 as a non-partisan initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation, brings together world leaders, NGOs, and the private sector to convert good intentions into meaningful action and tangible results. CGI moves beyond discussion, fostering a shared responsibility to address major global problems. Over the past three years, CGI's high-profile members have delivered remarkable commitments. To bring about lasting social change, President Clinton firmly believes the next generation of young leaders must also be a part of this effort. At CGI U, young people and universities will do more than simply discuss the world’s challenges -- they will take real, concrete steps towards solving them.

According to a public opinion survey released Wednesday by the University of Central Arkansas, voters in Arkansas would approve two proposed ballot initiatives that would create a state lottery to fund college scholarships and raise the state severance tax on natural gas production to fund higher education, highway improvements and local governments.

The poll also indicates that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, U.S. Senator John McCain, would defeat Democratic U.S. Sen. Barack Obama in Arkansas (43 percent to 27 percent, with 26 percent “don’t know/undecided”), but would lose the state to Democratic U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (51 percent to 36 percent, with 10 percent “don’t know/undecided”).

Those surveyed had mostly positive attitudes toward the state’s top elected officials, giving Governor Mike Beebe an 82 percent favorable rating (6 percent unfavorable), U.S. Senator Mark Pryor a 72 percent favorable rating (10 percent unfavorable), U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln a 60 percent favorable rating (17 percent unfavorable), and former Governor Mike Huckabee a 65 percent favorable rating (25 percent unfavorable).

UCA President Lu Hardin commissioned the survey as part of a seminar he is teaching this semester about the 2008 elections. Students in the class participated in crafting questions for the poll, which was conducted this week by Opinion Research of Little Rock.

A random sample of 500 statewide respondents was interviewed by telephone from March 6 through March 11, and the sample was equally distributed among the state’s four congressional districts, with a margin of error of ±4.5 percentage points at the 95 percent level of confidence. (A more detailed explanation of the methodology is included in the survey report.)

Asked if they would vote for a state constitutional amendment that would establish a lottery to fund college scholarships for Arkansas citizens, 64 percent said they would vote to approve it, 29 percent would vote against it, and 7 percent were undecided.

Three questions were posed about the proposal to raise the state severance tax on natural gas production. After clarifying the nature of the tax and explaining that the tax proceeds would be divided among highways, cities and counties, and higher education, 66 percent said they would vote for the measure, 24 percent would vote against it, and 11 percent were undecided.

UCA tomorrow will host the seventh annual Conference on Applied Research in Information Technology, which is sponsored by Acxiom Laboratory for Applied Research (ALAR).

In addition to UCA Computer Science Department, other members of the Acxiom Laboratory for Applied Research include the MIT Information Quality Program, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and Information Technology Research center), the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and Vanderbilt University.

Based on the results of a double-blind peer review process, ALAR invited twenty papers for presentation at the conference. These papers report research results and applications on information technology including updates on Acxiom sponsored research projects. The director of the MIT Information Quality (MITIQ) Program, professor Richard Wang, is going to deliver a keynote speech at the conference titled, "Raising the Bar on Corporate Information Quality: $1 Million at a time." The ALAR 2008 Conference is held concurrently with the Acxiom Student Programming Contest at UCA.

The fourth and fifth ALAR Annual Conferences also were sponsored by the UCA Computer Science department and held at UCA's Brewer-Hegeman Conference Center in 2005 and 2006.

For more information about the conference, visit http://research.acxiom.com/events.html.

UCA played an instrumental role in developing the new national Professional Community and Economic Developer (PCED) certification test, which was offered for the first time on March 5 at the Texas Community Development Institute in Houston.

The PCED test, administered by the Community Development Council, is offered to persons working in community and economic development who are qualified to sit for the test through a combination of experience and education, including attendance at one of the six national community development institutes.

Robert H. Pittman, executive director of UCA’s Community Development Institute and Strategic Growth Institute, chaired the committee that developed the test for the Community Development Council. Pittman, who also serves as associate professor in UCA's College of Business, is a national board member of the Community Development Council.

The PCED test will be offered at UCA’s Community Development Institute the week of August 4-8. PCED is the only national community and economic development professional certification, and approximately 200 hundred people across the nation have achieved this status by passing the old test.

Jim Deitrick, director of UCA's Humanities and World Cultures Institute (HWCI), and Raymond-Jean Frontain and Biling Chen of UCA's Department of English recently attended the National Meeting of the Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP) in Chicago. Deitrick gave a presentation entitled "E-jing: Using Technology to Teach China" and participated on a panel, "New Works in the Field: Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy by Stephen Laumakis (Cambridge University Press, 2008)." He also attended the semi-annual directors meeting of the Association of Regional Centers to which the HWCI belongs. Frontain presented on "Ginsberg, India, and the Holiness of Dirt," and Chen presented her paper, "Imagery and Interiority of the ‘Real Chinese’ in Eileen Chang’s Love in a Fallen City." All three faculty members also attended a meeting with faculty and administrators from several other nearby Regional Centers to discuss possibilities for collaboration on future faculty development activities.

UCA students and faculty this week are engaged in activites to promote National Brain Awareness Week in Conway and Little Rock.

Barbara Clancy, an associate professor of Biology and Neuroscience at UCA who also is an officer in the Arkansas chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, asked Conway Mayor Tab Townsell to officially proclaim Brain Awareness Week in the city, and his proclamation notes that UCA scientists "are leading studies to understand the brain and alleviate pain and suffering."

Later this week, Clancy and her students will present their research to hundreds of area students at the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock. The museum will offer free admission on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and special demonstrations will include mammalian brain dissections that will allow visitors to get up close to the brain and learn how it functions as the control center of the body. The UCA group also will discuss how brain cells produce behavior, how brain disorders might be demonstrated in brain tissue, and the use of helmets to protect the brain.

The Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre at UCA has completed casting for 2008 Festival after a high turnout and widespread interest. This years acting company will feature performers from all over Arkansas as well as several professional theatre artists from New York.

"We were amazed at the turn-out," said Producing Artistic Director Matt Chiorini. "We saw about 110 people -- up from 48 last year -- coming from all directions. It certainly exceeded all expectations in our second year and really impressed our directors with the diversity of talented performers that Arkansas can boast. I guess the word is out!"

Some of last season’s scene-stealing professional performers will return (including Marin Miller and Dan Matisa) and share the stage with such prominent local actors as Karen Q. Clark, Monica Clark Robinson, James and Carla Harris, Eric Harrison, Angie Gilbert, Kristy Barrington, Josh Rice, AJ Spiridigliozzi, Brett Ihler, and more. UCA professors Kevin Browne, Chris Fritzges, Paige Reynolds, and Matt Chiorini will also perform as members of the acting company. Twenty-two student interns have also been hired from seven different universities throughout Arkansas and even Colorado.

In addition to these acting and technical interns, a new dramaturgy program has been started with the collaboration of the UCA College of Liberal Arts and the English Department and under the direction of Paige Reynolds, where interns will get the opportunity to create all of the research, educational materials, and textual analysis that go into a festival of this size.

This year's directors will include returning director Jeffrey Frace, who helmed last years successful “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; “Tempest” director David Alford, a Julliard-trained and award winning actor, director and film-maker currently the Executive Producing Director of the Tennessee Repertory Theatre; and Michael Landman, Chair of the MFA Directing program at University of Arkansas with a degree from Columbia and extensive directing experience nationwide and abroad.

This year will also mark the beginning of a collaboration with Hendrix College, with Theatre Department Chair Danny Grace designing sets and lights, Eric Binnie performing, and two student interns working on the festival.

"I’m especially excited about working with our friends at Hendrix," Chiorini said. "They have a fantastic department and I've been eager since we began to get them onboard. The involvement of schools like Hendrix, UALR, and the University of Arkansas as well as prominent actors from Little Rock and elsewhere underscores our interest in the AST being a truly regional (as opposed to strictly local) resource. People all over Arkansas are realizing that Conway is worth the drive and we want people to keep coming here to see what the AST and the city have to offer."

The UCA Debate Team recently finished a three-week stretch of success that is effectively preparing them for the National IPDA Debate Tournament, which will take place at the end of March.

Chris White, a freshman Political Science major, went 6-0 at the Louisiana State University–Alexandria tournament and advanced to octofinals as the 4th seed in the tournament, and sophomore Justin Lowery went 4–2 and also advanced to octofinals. Lowery won his round and advanced to quarterfinals, where he went down to a top division competitor from Louisiana State University–Shreveport.

Also finishing strong at the LSUA tournament was the team of Jerry Garner and Ashley Hale, who went 4–1 and advanced to semi-finals, where they lost to the eventual champions of the division. Garner won the 4th place speaker award and Hale won the 6th place speaker award. Also winning a speaker award in team debate was UCA Debate co-coach Anthony McMullen, who debated with Casey Goudy in team competition.

Mark Spitzer, assistant professor of Writing, recently had his new book of poetry Age of the Demon Tools published by Ahadada Books (Japan/Ontario).

Sherri Latimer and Shannon Johnson from UCA's University College recently published an article titled “The Road Less Traveled: Poetry and Videotape in a Developmental Reading Class” in the National Association for Developmental Education Digest (2007;3(2):23-32).

Terri Hebert, Jeff Whittingham, Cheryl Wiedmaier, and Brenda Miller of UCA's College of Education recently presented "Utilizing WebCT to Augment the Internship Experience" at the Association of Teacher Educators conference held in New Orleans. The presentation dealt with capturing preservice teachers' interest in case studies through the medium of video technology. Based upon the results from the fall, preservice teachers indicated that they preferred this approach versus a more traditional one.

Joseph D. Anderson, professor of digital filmmaking and chair of the Department of Mass Communication and Theatre at UCA, recently had his third book, Narration and Spectatorship in Moving Images, published by Cambridge Scholars Press.

Anderson is an internationally recognized scholar in the field of film theory, and this book is a selection of essays from the 2006 Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image Conference in Potsdam, Germany. Contributors to the book are from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Republic of Georgia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Hungary. Another member of the UCA digital filmmaking faculty, Bruce Hutchinson, contributes an article titled “Understanding Character Motivation: A Process-Oriented Approach to Realism.”

The book focuses on the elements of filmic narration and their presumed aesthetic effects. According to Anderson, the intention behind the collection was to strengthen the link between film studies and psychology in the interest of gaining tangible insight into the ancient mystery of the link between art and aesthetic experience. The essays address issues such as crosscultural universals in our experience of motion pictures, realism in moving images, metaphors in movies, film genre preferences, empathy and its role in motion picture viewing, virtual reality, play and comedy, and re-experience of a motion picture.

Anderson’s previous books are The Reality of Illusion: An Ecological Approach to Cognitive
Film Theory (1996), and Moving Image Theory: Ecological Considerations (2005).

A native of Delight, Arkansas, Anderson said he moved from Atlanta to Conway to join the UCA faculty because he wanted his daughter, a fifth-generation Arkansan, to grow up in Arkansas. He has created educational films and videotapes for Time, Inc., and as president of Anderson-Hart Productions directed the development and production of feature-length motion pictures for commercial release. His most recent credit is Executive Producer for The Old Gray Lady: Arkansas's First Newspaper (2006), a documentary film on the history of the Arkansas Gazette.

“UCA is a wonderful place to teach and learn, and I’ve tried to give something back to the community that gave me so much,” he said.

Sally Roden, dean of undergraduate studies at UCA, has been named a 2008 Distinguished Alumna of Texas Woman's University.

The award, given jointly by TWU and its Former Students Association, recognizes alumni who have brought honor to their alma mater by outstanding achievements in their chosen professions or who have made notable civic, educational, or philanthropic contributions to society.

Roden recieved her B.S. degree in Speech and Drama and History from TWU in 1960. Her nomination received support from her former classmates, former students, and professional colleagues. According to TWU, "The selection committee was especially impressed with the work Roden has done with the National Center for the Freshman Year Experience and, thus, with the emphasis the UCA has placed on the important issue of retention."

Roden will be honored at the Distinguished Alumni Award Luncheon on TWU's Denton campus on April 26.

UCA staff member Chris Collins and graduate student Danielle Joanette recently were honored for their contributions to UCA and Housing and Residence Life at the 2008 Southwest Association of College and University Housing Officers (SWACUHO) conference.

Collins, a Maintenance Supervisor for Housing and Residence Life, received the Bob Cooke Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes service, dedication and significant contributions to student housing at a college or university. Joanette, a second year graduate student in UCA's College Student Personnel Services and Administration program and Residence Coordinator, was named the 2008 SWACUHO Outstanding Graduate Student for her contributions to the Housing and Residence Life program at UCA.

UCA political science professor Gary Wekkin and recent UCA graduate Jared Stewart won the Southwestern Political Science Association's 2007 Allan Saxe Best Paper on State and Local Politics Award for their paper, "Moral Values or Presidential Coattails?: Did Gay Marriage Ballot Measures Boost Social Conservative Support for Republican Candidates in 2004?" which was co-authored with Andrew Dowdle and Leslie Piatt of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. The award, which includes a $500 prize was presented at the SWPSA meeting in Albuquerque. The paper contests the prevailing view that "protect marriage" ballot initiatives helped George W. Bush win re-election in 2004. Using Oklahoma and Ohio county vote data as well as the Arkansas county data, neither GIS mapping nor regression analysis reveal any variance between "protect marriage" voting across counties won-or-lost by Bush or by Republican candidates for U.S. Senate. Democratic counties showed the same voting tendencies toward protect marriage that Republican counties did.

UCA assistant professor Terri Hebert of the College of Education received notification of having a chapter accepted into the Teacher Education Yearbook XVI, published in partnership with the Association of Teacher Educators. The book chapter is entitled, "Calling for a Renaissance of Care," and was written in partnership with Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning students Tami Burcham, a teacher in Greenbrier, and Tara Gordon, a teacher in Little Rock. The article sought to highlight the influence that caring educators can have on all students, especially those that seemingly have lost interest in learning or have little to no parental influence in their educational experience.

The UCA Alumni Association and Association of Future Alumni will unveil the design of the new UCA Official Ring at a ceremony next Tuesday, March 11 at 1:45 pm in the UCA Student Center Ballroom.

The new ring, designed in cooperation with Balfour, will feature elements that symbolize the unique traditions of UCA.

All UCA graduates will be able to purchase the ring and wear it with pride, beginning a new tradition of UCA spirit.

Michael Daugherty, one of the most performed and commissioned American composers of concert music of his generation, will be at the University of Central Arkansas March 17-19 as artist in residence.

Daugherty, professor of music at the University of Michigan, has received numerous awards, including the Stoeger Prize from the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Fulbright and Guggenheim Foundations. He was composer-in-residence with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1999-2003 and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra from 2001-2003.

“Having Michael Daugherty here at the University of Central Arkansas is perfect for UCA’s Centennial theme, ‘New Vision, New Century,’” said Lorraine Duso, the faculty sponsor for the residency. “His music reflects the future of the 21st Century for UCA students and audiences around the country.”

Duso, who worked with Daugherty while earning her doctorate at Michigan, said he had created a niche in the music world that is uniquely his own, composing concert music inspired by contemporary American popular culture. She said such pieces include Metropolis Symphony (1988-93), a tribute to the Superman comics; Desi for band, based on Desi Arnaz, Dead Elvis for bassoon and chamber ensemble, a percussion concerto called UFO and his opera Jackie O, based on Jackie Onassis.

“I picked him because he’s a 21st century composer, we’ve just had the 100th anniversary of UCA, and he’s really the future of music because his music is based on American pop culture, which is really attractive to students,” Duso said. “I think they can really connect. His music is very exciting, and the students will enjoy it.”

UCA Minority Student Services on Monday unveiled a new program targeted at incoming minority freshmen, "A Slice of UCA." The event was designed to better prepare incoming minority freshmen for the enrollment process at UCA.

Over 40 students and their parents were invited to attend a day-long workshop about financial aid, academic advising and housing. The presenters for the workshop came from UCA's campus and the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. During the luncheon, UCA President Lu Hardin and Vice President Ronnie Williams delivered greetings on behalf of UCA and Student Services. UCA minority faculty and staff were also in attendance during the luncheon. At the conclusion of the day, students and parents were able to visit with UCA faculty and staff to answer any remaining questions and visit with registered student organizations.

Sonja Wright-McMurray, Director of Minority Student Services, plans to host four of these events during the year. She feels this program will assist in the transition from high school to college and increase the academic success rates of minority students at UCA.

Mary H. Mosley of UCA's College of Education last Saturday served as a judge for the third annual Poetry Out Loud National Recitation contest in Little Rock. Students from throughout the state competed in this poetry recitation competition. The winner, Temple Price, is an eleventh grade student from Hall High School in Little Rock. She will represent Arkansas in the national competition in Washington, D.C. later this year. This is the third year of the national and state competition, and Mosley has judged all three years. The competition is sponsored by the Arkansas Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation.

Gordon Goodwin, 2006 Grammy Award winner, three-time Emmy Award winner and five-time Grammy nominee, brings his all-star 18-piece big band jazz ensemble, Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, to UCA for one concert only tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. in Reynolds Performance Hall.

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band concert is an Artist in Residence project of the College of Fine Arts & Communication and is funded in part by student arts fees. Larry Jones, Assistant Professor of Music, whose teaching specialities are trumpet and jazz, is the faculty sponsor of the residency.

“Unlike other big bands out there, Gordon Goodwin is writing original compositions and making his arrangements available to high school and college jazz bands,” said Jones in a recent interview. “Plus, some of the hottest players in the West Coast music scene are in his band. That, along with his composition skills and his skill as a composer/arranger, make him and his Phat Band one of the most dynamic groups around today.”

Instrumental clinics, which are scheduled to be held tomorrow in Snow Fine Arts Center st UCA, will be led by Eric Marienthal (saxophone), Wayne Bergeron (trumpet), Andy Martin (trombone). The rhythm section clinic will be conducted by Gordon Goodwin, with Bernie Dresel on drums, and Rick Shaw on bass. The 90-minute clinics start at 4:30 p.m.

Gordon Goodwin’s cinematic scoring and orchestrations can be heard on such films as “Bad Boyz II,” “The Majestic,” “Con Air,” “Remember the Titans,” and “Star Trek Nemesis,” among others. He has worked with superstars such as Christina Aguilera, Quincy Jones, Mel Torme, Toni Braxton, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughn, and Johnny Mathis, to name a few.

Sponsors for the UCA Public Appearances Season are TIAA-CREF, the financial services company, and the Conway Advertising and Promotion Commission. UCA Public Appearances is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Mid-America Arts Alliance, and the Arkansas Arts Council. Conway - definitely worth the drive!

Tickets range in price from $10 to $35, depending on seat location, and are available by calling toll free 1-866-810-0012 between 10 am and 4 pm, Monday through Friday. Discounts are available for students, UCA Alumni, seniors, and UCA faculty and staff members.

More information about UCA Public Appearances is available at www.uca.edu/reynolds. More information on the Big Phat Band is available at www.bigphatband.com.

Sunny Dooley, a Navajo story teller, tomorrow will present "Stories from the Navajo Tradition" at the Faulkner County Library, 1900 Tyler Street, at 7 p.m. She will also appear at UCA on Friday at 10 a.m. in McAlister 302.

Dooley is a Native Dine' (Navajo) storyteller, poet, playwright, lecturer, and folk singer who has traveled throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and West Africa, sharing her culture's rich artistic heritage. She is from the Four Corners region of the southwest, from a community called Chi Chil' Tah (Where the Oaks Grow). She has been telling the Origin and Creation Stories of the Dine' people for the past nine years.

The traditional stories that Dooley recounts have been handed down from one generation to the next in her family. In Navajo tradition, the stories carry within their context an understanding of why people, places, and things are the way they are; they offer wisdom and an understanding of the past and present as well as a commentary on the future. They embody the world view of the people and their relationship to their surroundings. A native speaker of the Navajo language, Dooley is one of the few storytellers who can interpret in English her people's stories with all of their rich cultural, traditional, and historical context.

Dooley's visit is made possible by a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council.

The Arkansas Affiliate of the American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) will hold its annual conference at UCA this Thursday and Friday. Family and consumer sciences professionals will participate, including university and secondary educators, extension agents, dietitians, and business professionals. The student units from each state university will also attend this meeting.

AAFCS has a goal of "bringing people together to improve the lives of individuals, families and communities." The conference theme is "Aspire to Inspire." The keynote speaker will be the national executive director of AAFCS, Carolyn Jackson, who will discuss professionalism and the direction of the association on the national level. In addition, Don Bingham, Director of Special Activities at UCA, will be promoting healthy choices in food and lifestyle. Charlotte Strickland, Education Seminar Coordinator at UCA will be speaking on group motivation, involvement, and team building. Paul Kelly, senior policy analyst with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families will updating members on the state level work to promote quality after school and summer programs for Arkansas youth.

Mary Harlan and Renee Ryburn, both of UCA, have previously served as president of the Arkansas AAFCS Affiliate. Pam Bennett of UCA is the president-elect. UCA's student unit of AAFCS will be helping to host the meeting. Jennifer Main of UCA is the current president-elect of the student unit.

Joanna Castner Post, assistant professor of Writing at UCA, has an article in Small Tech: The Culture of Digital Tools, published February 2008 by the University of Minnesota Press. The article is entitled "Getting Real and Feeling in Control: Haptic Interfaces." The collection was edited by Byron Hawk, David M. Rieder, and Ollie Oviedo.

UCA's annual Arkatext Festival, sponsored by UCA's Department of Writing, this week brings to campus noted authors for lectures and readings with faculty and students.

Today a faculty reading will take place during x-period (1:40 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.) in Thompson 104. Tomorrow, Keith "Catfish" Sutton will lecture on Creative Nonfiction at 1 p.m. in Thompson 331, followed by a reading at 3 p.m. in the same location. Sutton is an Arkansas native who works full-time as a free-lance writer, editor, photographer, TV personality and lecturer specializing in hunting, fishing, nature and conservation issues. His articles and photographs have appeared worldwide in 145 magazines, 192 newspapers and 60 websites, including Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, Field and Stream, Cabela’s Outfitter Journal, BBC Wildlife, Ducks Unlimited and National Wildlife. His popular blog, Catfish Gumbo, appears daily on ESPNOutdoors.com, and he will host a new fishing show on ESPN television this spring.

Pat Carr will lecture on Fiction on Thursday at 10:50 a.m. in Thompson 331, followed by a reading during x-period. Carr has a PhD from Tulane University and has taught at a number of universities. Of her twelve published books, The Women in the Mirror won the Iowa Short Fiction Award, and If We Must Die, a novel about the race riots in Tulsa in 1921, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner awards. Speaking of her latest book, Death of a Confederate Colonel, George Garrett has said that Pat Carr is "among our best and brightest."

On Friday, Sandy Longhorn will lecture on Poetry at 11 a.m. in Thompson 331, followed by a reading at 2 p.m. in Baum Gallery. Longhorn is the author of Blood Almanac (Anhinga Press, 2006), winner of the 2005 Anhinga Prize for Poetry. New poems have appeared or are forthcoming in the Indiana Review, Quarterly West, Redivider, West Branch, Zone 3, and elsewhere. In addition, she also recently received an individual artist fellowship from the Arkansas Arts Council. In 2003, Longhorn earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Currently, she teaches composition, literature, and creative writing at Pulaski Technical College.

The Arkatext Festival annually invites three writers with strong Arkansas connections to UCA to deliver craft lectures and readings of their own work. The festival not only exposes the students to the work and techniques of more professional writers, but also underscores the idea that important art and intellectual work is being created in Arkansas by Arkansans. Because the festival is so intimate, students get a chance to talk and interact with the writers, often with inspiring results. Past guests have included Kevin Brockmeier, David Jauss, Melissa King and Tom Williams.

An Oklahoma couple has established the first fully endowed visiting chair for the University of Central Arkansas.

The $1.4 million bequest came from a trust established by the late K. Louis Mills Jr., a 1938 graduate of UCA. Mills, who resided in Bartlesville, Okla., was a native Arkansan who also graduated from Conway High School and earned a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Arkansas. He passed away in 2001 and his wife passed away last year.

The K.L. Mills Sr. and Nettie Treece Mills Fund is named in honor of Mills’ parents and will enhance the academic standing of the university by supporting visiting chairs in the departments of chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science and economics.

"This wonderful gift will give generations of UCA students and faculty the opportunity to work with internationally renowned scholars in the sciences and mathematics,” said Stephen Seidman, dean of UCA's College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. "It will permanently enrich the scholarly life throughout our college."

Pat Cantrell, dean of UCA's College of Business, which houses the Department of Economics, said, "I am so pleased that Mr. Mills included the department of economics when making his gift. Providing the opportunity for our students to learn from distinguished visiting scholars will benefit thousands of future business leaders."

Mills was a chemist for Phillips Petroleum for nearly 40 years and registered about 40 patents during that time. As a UCA student, Mills distinguishing himself in the classroom and in athletics. He was a member of Alpha Chi, a national scholastic society for high-ranking students, and president of Phi Sigma Phi, a scholastic organization for students in science. He also was a member of Sigma Tau Gamma social fraternity and in his senior year was elected one of the school’s Outstanding Students.

Mills lettered on the Bears’ 1934, 1935, 1936 and 1937 football teams, first while playing quarterback and then center. He was a starter on the 1937 team coached by Warren Woodson that was undefeated in the regular season. The team went on to a post-season bowl game on Christmas Day in Los Angeles, losing 27-26 to Fresno State. He also lettered three years in basketball for the Bears.

The Mills gift is recognized as a major contribution to UCA’s first comprehensive fundraising campaign, "New Vision, New Century: The Centennial Campaign for UCA," which was publicly announced last fall.

"We are truly grateful to the Mills family for this endowment to fund a visiting chair," said Kelley Erstine, vice president of advancement and development. "This type of gift is an appropriate initiative outlined in our centennial campaign."

To date, the campaign has raised more than $21 million for scholarships, endowments and capital projects. The goal is to raise $35 million by the end of 2009.

A recent UCA graduate and a UCA professor received the fourth place award in the international Small Business Institute Case of the Year competition.

Modupe Ladeji, who graduated in December with an MBA from UCA, was recognized for his business plan and feasibility study for an oil and gas exploration consulting firm in his native country of Nigeria. His advisor was Don B. Bradley III, Executive Director of the Small Business Advancement National Center and Professor of Marketing at UCA.

Bradley recently accepted the award for Ladeji at the Small Business Institute's 35th Annual International Conference in San Diego.

The UCA entry was one of four finalists in this international competition. The first place award went to San Diego State University; second place was presented to Plymouth State University of New Hampshire; and third place was captured by the University of Tampa, Florida.

"This was the first year that UCA entered this competition, and we were extremely pleased to finish as an international finalist," Bradley said. "Modupe's feasibility study on the oil and natural gas industry in Nigeria fit in well with the current natural gas exploration in the Conway area. He was up against hundreds of schools from across the U.S. and Canada, and this is a very prestigious award."

Ladeji is now a project coordinator for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in Bentonville, Ark. He completed his project in Bradley's entrepreneurship class at UCA.

"This really shows the internationalization of our MBA program," Bradley said. "Through that class, we do projects all over Arkansas, the U.S. and around the world through Winrock International. If anyone wants a feasibility study, that's what we do. We encourage anyone who wants a business feasibility study to contact us."

UCA accounting professor Thomas H. Oxner has been chosen as the recipient of the 2008 Arkansas Society of CPAs (ASCPA) Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award.

"The dedication to his students’ futures outside of the classroom, his challenges in the classroom to teach and mold future accounting professionals, and his dedication to the profession through research, makes Dr. Thomas H. Oxner a distinguished educator," ASCPA said in its announcement of the award. "Oxner uses a holistic approach to teaching. He views the task as an educator to teach students techniques for acquiring information about a problem and then to draw an analogy in order to find the solution to a problem. His method is neither easy nor simple; it requires direction, discipline and hard work. Students often complain about his courses being too hard, but later uniformly comment that these things have helped them in their careers.

"Oxner is considered by students and faculty to be one of the best professors in the accounting department, as well as in the College of Business Administration and the University. He has a reputation for interesting and enthusiastic lectures and unquestioned integrity. His students realize his expectations and become better accounting students because of his encouragement and high standards."

Oxner was named Professor and Chairman of the Accounting Department at the University of Central Arkansas in 1997 and served in this capacity until 2001. He has been actively involved in Beta Alpha Psi, the national honorary organization for accounting students.

ASCPA will formally recognize Oxner at the ASCPA Awards Luncheon during the ASCPA Annual Convention, which will take place in New Orleans in September. Oxner will be the Arkansas nominee for the National AICPA Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award.

The ASCPA is the state’s largest professional organization for Certified Public Accountants with over 2,800 members in public practice, business and industry, government and education, and over 90 years of service to the Accounting Profession.