The UCA Jewel Moore Nature Reserve (JMNR) and Campus Outdoor Pursuits & Activities (COPA) hosted a Leave-no-trace session at the nature reserve on October 12, 2015 from 2:00 p.m. from 4:00 p.m. Students learned about enjoying nature without damaging it and about all the great resources on campus to help everyone enjoy getting outside.
Students and faculty of the Interdisciplinary PhD in Leadership Studies program (LEAD) at the University of Central Arkansas have recently traveled to Georgetown University in Washington, DC, to present research at this year’s annual conference of the Human Development & Capability Association (HDCA).
HDCA is a global community of academics and practitioners that seeks to build an intellectual community around the ideas of human development. HDCA’s conference theme this year was Capabilities on the Move: Mobility and Aspirations.
The LEAD director, Rhonda McClellan, is pleased that six students, an affiliated faculty member and she presented original research at this year’s conference. Several students and Dr. McClellan presented their field-based research project on health and well-being in the Arkansas Delta. One student presented her dissertation work on girls’ education in Niger. Another student, along with Dr. Jayme Stone, presented a pilot study for the student’s dissertation work that focuses on environmental leadership in Rwanda.
LEAD students and faculty had the opportunity to see some of their academic/research idols present new ideas as well as debate current theory. They particularly enjoyed plenary sessions with Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, founders of the Capability Approach, and James Heckman and Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureates in Economics. They also had the opportunity to attend a multitude of paper sessions from international researchers who look to improve well-being and human agency around the world.
Emily Lane, a LEAD student working on research in the Arkansas Delta, was excited to present at the conference and proud to represent UCA and LEAD. “The work we do in this program is indispensable, and we are always happy to share it with others. The HDCA conference was a great place to discuss our research, to network with like-minded scholars, and to continue our work of enhancing human and community capabilities.”
The LEAD program is now accepting applications for its incoming 2016 cohort. For more information on the program, visit https://uca.edu/phdleadership/.
For more information on the conference and the presentations by LEAD students and faculty, visit http://hd-ca.org/conference.
Congratulations to Dr. Brent Gregg, UCA professor of communication sciences and disorders and director of the UCA Stuttering Center.
He has been asked serve as an expert for the international online conference “International Stuttering Awareness Day,” which took place on October 22, 2015.
Dr. Paul Nail, UCA psychology professor was recently interviewed on KUAR radio concerning his, Dr. Bihm’s and Dr. Simon’s research on bullying.
Dr. Dorothy Graves, who hosts the Science Cafe radio broadcast for KUAR, is on the faculty at UAMS.
The interview, entitled “Bullies or Bust,” can be heard here.
Immediately after the radio broadcast, Dr. Nail and Dr. Graves went to the Afterthought Bistro and Bar in Little Rock’s Hillcrest neighborhood for the live audience version of the Science Cafe.
Here, Dr. Nail was one of three panelists for an open discussion of bullying with members of the public.
Ken Sobel, UCA professor of psychology, has also participated in the Science Cafe at the Afterthought on a couple of occasions.
UCA Department of Occupational Therapy students Aly Hill and Markii Landry recently organized a local chapter of “Best Buddies” as part of their leadership requirements as LEND trainees.
Best Buddies® is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
Hill has been instrumental in bringing the organization to UCA and the organization just received RSO approval last month.
Hill traveled to the Best Buddies national conference this summer and the director was very impressed. “Aly has been so wonderful and I’m ridiculously impressed with the UCA OT Department.”
