Two electric car charging stations have been added to the UCA campus as a part of the HPER expansion.
Community Events
UCA Honors Grad Appeared On ABC’s Hit Show “Shark Tank”
A 2005 graduate of the University of Central Arkansas appeared on ABC’s “Shark Tank” at 7 p.m. April 24, 2015
Brittany (Jones) Hodak and her business partner, Kim Kaupe, pitched their company, ZinePak, on the show.
“For months, my business partner and I couldn’t tell anyone we even filmed an episode, because there was no guarantee it would air,” Hodak said.
The company is located in New York City in a coworking space called WeWork. Hodak said other entrepreneurs from WeWork, along with some New York City media and about 150 of the company’s clients will attend a watch party to view the show live.
“There is so much anticipation!” she said. “It’s really exciting, but intimidating at the same time! We’re really looking forward to finally seeing it.”
The Fort Smith native got the idea of ZinePak while a student at UCA. She was working as a college marketing representative for Warner Music group. National staff at that company often discussed declines of compact disc sales. It was then that Hodak said she envisioned a solution.
“If you want people to buy a physical music product, it should be superior to the same offering digitally,” Hodak said. “That’s where the idea for ZinePak came from, although I didn’t put it into action for several years later until I met my co-founder, Kim, at an advertising agency in NYC.”
ZinePak partners with celebrities and brands to create deluxe entertainment packages for super fans. The company has worked with artists such as Katy Perry, KISS and Luke Bryan and brands such as Unilever, MillerCoors and American Express. Since its founding in 2011, the company has grown into a multimillion dollar company with 10 full-time employees and several freelancers.
While at UCA, Hodak majored in communication, concentrating in public relations with minors in honors and marketing. She was a Presidential Scholar and UCA Academic Excellence Award Recipient all seven semesters. She graduated summa cum laude in 2005. She also led a group of students in setting a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest Christmas stocking.
Main Stage EdUCAtion Series Announced
The University of Central Arkansas will begin a new performing arts series for K-12 students in Central Arkansas. The Main Stage EdUCAtion Series will start during the 2015-2016 academic year and reservations will be taken on a first come, first serve basis. Performances include “Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas!”, “Walk On: The Story of Rosa Parks” and “Doktor Kaboom in LIVE WIRE: The Electricity Tour!”
The series connects children, teachers and schools with performing arts in meaningful ways that complement the school curriculum while introducing the students to live theatre. Each performance is carefully selected to be entertaining while educating the audience on an academic topic.
“Exposure to the arts contributes to the overall social and cognitive development of children,” said UCA President Tom Courtway. “Performing arts provides students with a creative outlet of expression that can improve academic achievement, adapts to a wide variety of learning styles and develops diverse multicultural perspectives.”
It will also serve as an aid to local educators in their efforts to integrate arts into the school curriculum. All shows will be performed by professional, national-touring artists that will provide high quality performances.
“We are thrilled to introduce this new program that will increase access to the arts for schools in Central Arkansas,” said Reynolds Performance Hall director of public appearances Amanda Horton. “The arts can improve academic performance, enrich the lives of our students and enhance the cultural viability of a community.”
Students will be charged $5.00 per ticket and schools may apply for a limited number of ticket vouchers for low-income students. School groups will receive one free adult chaperone ticket per 10 student tickets purchased. Additional adult tickets may be purchased for only $10.00.
For more information, call Amanda Horton at 501-450-3265.
Students Attended Southwestern Psychological Association Annual Convention
Thirty-five (35) UCA graduate and undergraduate students and 11 faculty presented research at the Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA) annual convention in Wichita, Kansas on April 10-12, 2015.
Some students presented more than one paper. In the SWPA graduate research competition, Tiffany Wierzbicki and Danielle Umland were named finalists, placing in the top four out of all the submissions.
In the SWPA undergraduate research competition, Jonathon Halligan placed 2nd and Zach Stillman was named a finalist.
In addition to these accomplishments, Tiffany Wierzbicki, Brooklin Jackson, Brentnie Connor, and Shannon Perry all received Psi Chi student research awards.
UCA Won Excellence Award From Mapworks
Each year, 10 Mapworks™ campuses are awarded across the nation, and UCA has been recognized this year.
Skyfactor™ will continue to recognize Mapworks™ campuses’ best practices in utilizing the Mapworks platform to deepen capacity and commitment to student success and retention. The top proposals will be recognized for excellence and publicly recognized at the 2015 Mastering Mapworks Conference.
Our proposal highlighted the following items from UCA’s implementation:
The expansion of UCA’s implementation from a small pilot within Housing and Residence Life to now including all first-year students with representation from faculty and staff across campus.
The use of Mapworks data in developing an intervention plan, developing intervention strategies, and engaging campus partners.
Data-driven strategies have produced tangible outcomes including a 10% increase in the number of students who reviewed their student report, and a 14% increase in report views among high-risk students.