UCA President Tom Courtway upped his selfie game this past weekend at the UCA Winter Commencement.
Congratulations to all the UCA grads!
Students
President’s Leadership Fellows Bear Tales Video Uploaded
The President’s Leadership Fellows serve as student representatives of the President’s Office, while sharing their personal collegiate experience at various institutional events, on and off campus.
To watch the latest Bear Tales video featuring the President’s Leadership Fellows, Click Here!
Beacon Bite Days Held in the College of Education
College of Education Lighthouse Beacons held their 2014 fall semester Beacon Bite Days during the first week of December.
For two days, Lighthouse Beacons greeted students in the halls with plates of cookies and candy canes as well as copies of the finals week schedule. Brief conversations also were held to ensure that students had registered for their spring courses.
Lighthouse Beacons are volunteer College of Education (COE) and Professional Education Unit (PEU) faculty and staff dedicated to providing student support services for all undergraduate and graduate students/candidates enrolled in their COE courses to enhance their academic progress and professional development.
Initiated in 2010, Lighthouse Beacon goals include collaborating with student support services at UCA and in Arkansas communities, enhancing academic understanding, course completion, and program graduate rates of all COE and PEU students, expanding the number and professionalism of educators produce by UCA so the educator population is more inclusive of all people, and lastly, building stronger bridges with educators in all capacities across the state of Arkansas.
Lighthouse Beacons have metal welcome signs with a lighthouse illuminating the horizon hanging next to their doors.
For more information about the Lighthouse Beacons, please contact Dr. Nancy P. Gallavan at ngallavan@uca.edu or (501) 450-5497.
UCA Anthropology Students Collaborated With Faulkner County Museum
During the fall 2014 semester, UCA anthropology students gained glimpses into Conway’s past by examining archaeological artifacts excavated from Cadron Settlement Park, a National Historic Site located west of Conway along the Arkansas River. The students, enrolled in the Archaeology of North America course offered by the Department of Sociology, evaluated the Faulkner County Museum collection to learn about some of the earliest Euro-American settlers who ventured into the western frontier of central Arkansas in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Megan Stane, a student in the class, enthused, “I’ve learned a lot about the process it takes to record artifacts by working on the project. This experience makes me want to intern at the Faulkner County Museum to help record more of the county’s history.”
The project is planned as a multi-semester, collaborative effort be-tween the UCA Department of Sociology and the Faulkner County Museum under the instruction of Dr. Duncan P. McKinnon, UCA anthropology lecturer, and Lynita Langley-Ware, the Director of the Faulkner County Museum.
Through an analysis of artifacts housed at the museum (ceramics, glassware, armaments, buttons, beads, nails, etc.) and analysis of literature and historical documents, students are using these data in their final projects to address questions related to trade, exchange, identity, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and cultural change at this important site in the history of Arkansas.
As Ms. Langley-Ware explains it, “Through the process of examining small, seemingly insignificant objects and referencing historic documents relevant to the settlement of this area, UCA students are gaining a better understand-ing of the global influences on the early development of today’s Faulkner County and the importance of history to inform on the present.”
Dr. McKinnon added, “This hands-on experience facilitates instruc-tion in the methods of conducting archaeological research, but it also offers a new perspective for students and a better understanding and visibility about the community in which they live.”
Dr. McKinnon and Ms. Langley-Ware expressed excitement about getting more students interested in community awareness and social identity tied to to the conservation and preservation of the history of the greater Conway area.
UCA Alum Received Madison Fellowship
The UCA Department of History’s reputation for scholarship has brought two recent James Madison Memorial Fellowship scholars to our graduate history program.
Charles Williams, 2009 UCA graduate, received the Madison Fellowship in 2011, and is currently completing his BA history degree.
Charles teaches history at Conway Junior High, where he and his students participate in the National History Day program.