Community Events

UCA Students Win in Regional Conference

Thirteen students attended the 2015 Beta Alpha Psi Southwest Regional Conference on March 6th and 7th representing UCA’s Theta Lambda chapter in the national honors organization.

Jered Bryan, Alex Hoyle, and Jessica Lasater (all junior accounting majors) won 1st place in the Best Practices Competition for Effective Chapter Operations. They presented the chapter’s Checklist for Success, which contains a variety of professional development activities we encourage our students to complete prior to graduation. The checklist allows officers to schedule the types of meetings current members need to check more items. As a result of their 1st place win, they will compete at the BAP Annual Meeting in Milwaukee in August.

Abby Perdue, Parker Somerfield, Rachel Street, and Tyler Stage (three junior and one senior accounting major, respectively) won 3rd place in the Best Practices Competition for Financial Literacy. They presented @UCAMoneyWhiz, the chapter’s efforts to improve financial literacy of college students using twitter. Weekly financial-tip tweets are sent to their followers who can win gift cards to local businesses by reading and retweeting. With 600 followers and retweets, some of their tips reached more than 30,000 twitter users.

All of the students including Melissa McDowell (senior accounting major), Brittany Ammons, Zhu Nim, Tyler Rogers, and Kevin Wan (junior accounting majors) enjoyed the opportunity to attend conference sessions on networking, career paths, and chapter operations.

Congratulations to these students on their performances in the competitions and their commitment to developing into a professional accountants. Thanks to BKD’s generous contribution to the UCA Accounting Department that funded our travel to Dallas. Also, thanks to the UCA Student Government Association for paying a portion of their registration fees.

Don’t Weight To Lose Proved To Be A Success For UCA

The Office of Student Wellness and Development finished up a 3 part series on weight loss last week entitled “Don’t Weight to Lose”. The program was based on findings from a wellness needs assessment conducted during the fall semester. Students expressed an interest in learning more about weight loss, specifically fitness and nutrition.

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Arian Story, the assistant director of the HPER center, spoke on February 11 about fitness. She gave practical tips on how to overcome gym intimidation. For those not yet ready to get inside a gym, Arian showed several at-home exercises that require no special equipment. She also recommended the free fitness assessment offered by the HPER and talked about the option of investing in a personal trainer.

London Almond and Madison Wineland are Health Education interns this semester for Student Wellness and Development. They spoke about motivation on February 18. They helped students identify barriers that prevent weight loss and and assisted in the development of realistic goals. London and Madison talked about specific ways to stay motivated such as using free smartphone apps.

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Janet Dance, UCA’s registered dietitian, spoke about nutrition at the final session on February 25. She helped students understand that excessive weight is a major factor in the nation’s leading causes of death such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Janet recommended setting up a free consultation with her for students who want to pursue a lifestyle of healthy eating.

Overall, Don’t Weight to Lose was an informative, engaging way to meet the needs of students through skill development and education.

Holocaust Survivor Gideon Frieder To Speak On Campus March 9, 2015

2441374-168x168 The UCA Department of Philosophy and Religion, UCA Department of History, UCA College of Liberal Arts, UCA College of Fine Arts and Communication, UCA Honors College, Jewish Federation of Arkansas, University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum are sponsoring “An Evening with Holocaust Survivor Gideon Frieder.”

Gideon Frieder was born on September 30, 1937, in Zvolen, Slovakia. His family moved to the town of Nove Mesto in Slovakia at the beginning of the war after his father, a rabbi, was offered a position there. Slovak authorities deported Gideon’s grandparents in 1942; they died, most likely at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Gideon’s father was part of Slovakia’s underground “Working Group,” a secret Jewish rescue organization, and was responsible for its communications with Slovak authorities. His father’s life story, as well as Gideon’s, is partially documented in the book, “To Deliver Their Souls.”

In 1944, during the Slovak uprising against the pro-German regime of Josef Tiso, Gideon and his mother and sister fled Nove Mesto, making their way to Banská Bystrica, which served as the center of the uprising. Gideon’s father fled separately, fearing that anyone close to him would be killed if he were caught.

As German units approached Banská Bystrica, Gideon and his mother and sister fled to the mountains, where they were caught in a massacre at Stare Hory. His mother and sister were killed; Gideon was injured but survived.

A Jewish partisan, Henry Herzog, took Gideon to the village of Bully, where he was placed with the family of Paulina and Jozef Strycharszyk. Henry Herzog’s story, including his meeting the Frieder family and saving Gideon, are detailed in the book, “…And Heaven Shed No Tears.”

Gideon remained in Bully until 1945, when Romanian troops fighting with the Soviet Army liberated the area. Gideon’s father, who also survived the war, later found him. His father remarried but died in 1946.

After the war, Gideon and his stepmother came to Israel. He remained in Israel until 1975, when he emigrated to the United States. Today, he holds the A. James Clark Chair of Engineering and Applied Science at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, and volunteers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

http://www.ushmm.org/remember/office-of-survivor-affairs/survivor-volunteer/gideon-frieder

Gideon Frieder will share his heroic story of survival in the UCA Farris Center on Monday, 9 March 2015 at 7:00 PM.

This event is open to the public with free admission.

Award-Winning Author Maggie Jackson Visits UCA As Inaugural Norb and Carol Schedler Scholar in Residence

Maggie Jackson, author of Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age (2008), has been named the first Norb and Carol Schedler Scholar in Residence. Her visit to UCA will feature a public lecture on Tuesday, March 3, at 7 pm in the College of Business Auditorium, titled “A Workmanship of Risk: The Craftsmanship of Thought in an Age of Speed.”

Jackson is a former foreign correspondent, with postings in Tokyo and London, and columnist for the Boston Globe. She has won numerous awards for her coverage of work-life issues. Her first book, What’s Happening to Home? Balancing Work, Life and Refuge in the Information Age (2002), was called “a provocative look at work and family that challenges us to examine our lives and find our own solutions” by Library Journal. Featuring a foreward by Bill McKibben, Distracted is “an original treatment of an important subject,” according to the Christian Science Monitor. “[Jackson’s] message bears particular relevance to parents and teachers, who hold the power to help shape the attitudes of younger generations.”

Jackson becomes the first in a series of nationally-renowned speakers to be brought to campus by the Norb and Carol Schedler Scholar in Residence program, established by Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Founding Director of the Schedler Honors College at UCA, Norb Schedler, and his wife Carol. Schedler’s passionate interest in the future of human flourishing and the changing conditions of our environment, both natural and human-built, is reflected in the choice of topic and speaker for this inaugural event.

The visit is co-sponsored by the Norbert O. Schedler Honors College, the Department of Philosophy and Religion, the Department of Psychology, the Women’s Giving Circle, and the Gender Studies Program. Jackson’s lecture is also a featured event in UCA’s celebration of Women’s History Month. After the lecture, the sponsoring organizations invite attendees to stay for a reception and book signing.

“Maggie Jackson’s talk brings together several ideas that we’ve been talking about in the Honors College over the past few years,” said Dr. Richard Scott, dean of the Schedler Honors College. “Not only is she interested in the effect of technology on human life, but her current project addresses craftsmanship, a concept rooted in the material conditions of work, which was a major focus of Challenge Week 2014 with our keynote speaker Matthew Crawford. These kinds of connections are a great example of what Norb Schedler has explored with students over the 33-year history of Honors at UCA.”

UCA To Host 2015 Job Fair

For more information, contact Tiffany Johnson at 501-450-3134

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