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November Is Transgender Awareness Month

November is Transgender Awareness month.

UCA has announced the following programs to take place during the month of November:

Trans Form – Thursday, November 13th, at 7 pm, in the Black Box Student Gallery (Schichtl Hall, 1A).

Presented by Rebecca Kling, a transgender artist and educator, this is an exploration of Rebecca’s life as a transgender woman. This production offers an overview of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood as a transgender woman. In addition, Trans Form covers the definitions of common terms, presented in an engaging and entertaining format.

Transgender Day of Remembrance – Wednesday, November 19th, 5:30pm, Philander Smith College, Kendall Atrium. This is being sponsored by the Arkansas Transgender Equality Coalition (ArTEC. The program will include stories from individuals who will share the struggles of transgender people today.

Transgender Day of Remembrance – Friday, November 21st, 7:30 pm, UCA amphitheater. This program is being sponsored by PRISM and the Office of Diversity and community. It will also include speakers.

UCA Retail Management Class Participated In Marketing Field Trip To St. Louis

donb UCA professor Dr. Don Bradley’s retail management class took a field trip to St. Louis, Missouri to expand their marketing horizons. “The idea of the trip was to look at sports marketing and high end retailing,” stated Dr. Bradley, “In Arkansas, we don’t have an NFL team or a major league baseball team, or a high end store like Sak’s Fifth Avenue. We tried to show the students that end of merchandising.”

The first stop on the field trip was the St. Louis Zoo. “We were looking at their idea of branding, as far as marketing is concerned,” said Dr. Bradley, “They don’t charge for admission. They had to have a little different marketing approach than what most non-profit organizations usually have because they make their money off of the merchandise and food.”

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Their next stop was to visit with the St. Louis Rams of the NFL.They talked about the marketing behind premium seating, sponsors, and the selling of merchandise.

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From there, the group traveled to visit with the St. Louis Cardinals, where they discussed the Cardinal Care area and ticket sales.

Cardinal Care involves sending the Cardinals players out to various groups to help them raise money and create goodwill for the team.

“We actually have some of our students who went on this trip who are now working with the Cardinals,” said Dr. Bradley.

The students also got a chance to go up into the St. Louis Arch and down into Laclede’s Landing, which is an old part of St. Louis, where the students were able to look at the marketing in that area and how they work together with the football stadium to market and sell merchandise. The next morning, the students went to spend the morning at Sak’s Fifth Avenue to look at high end retailing. From there, they went to the St. Louis Galleria to speak with the general manager of Macy’s. This also opened up some career opportunities for the students.

Twenty seven students went on the field trip and a number of them have been offered jobs as a result, since each student was able to leave a resume. “We started doing this thirty years ago,” said Dr. Bradley. “There are just certain things you can’t teach in the classroom.”

College of Education MAT Program Receives Second Program Award

Untitled The Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) was recently awarded the Innovation in Teacher Education Award at the annual Southeastern Regional Association of Teacher Educators (SRATE) Conference held in Charleston, South Carolina. The Innovation in Teacher Education Award recognizes/honors outstanding teacher education programs that have developed innovative approaches to teacher preparation. Programs that want to be considered for this award must complete an application along with a description of the program and its ability to have a positive impact on teacher education. A program from each participating state is then selected by the SRATE Awards Committee to receive the honor.

Established in 2006 with 77 teacher candidates, the MAT program has grown to approximately 450 teacher candidates and is currently one of the largest graduate program on the UCA campus. Currently, 424 teacher candidates have graduated from the MAT program. This program gives students with a baccalaureate degree the opportunity to become certified Arkansas classroom teachers. The MAT is a 36 to 39 hour graduate degree program that offers two tracks for licensure: Middle Level (grades 4-8) and Secondary (grades 7-12). Students accepted into the program are also given the opportunity to secure a Provisional License which would allow them to teach in their own classrooms while completing the program. For more information about the MAT program please check out our website at www.uca.edu/mat.

Dr. Terry James, SRATE Interim Executive Secretary and Chair of the Leadership Studies Department at UCA, presented the distinguished award to a group of MAT faculty who presented on the innovative program at the SRATE conference in Charleston, South Carolina. Those faculty members included Dr. Nancy Gallavan, professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning; Dr. Tammy Benson, Chairperson of the Department of Teaching and Learning, Ms. Chris Hogan, Clinical Instructor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, and Ms. Amy Thompson, MAT Program Coordinator in the Department of Teaching and Learning. The award was brought back to UCA College of Education to share with the many faculty and staff that work collaboratively and effectively to keep this program successful.

Produce For Better Health Grant Awarded to UCA Dietetic Internship

A $3200 grant has been secured by Dr. Nina Roofe, Assistant Professor and Dietetic Internship Director in the Department of Family & Consumer Sciences at the University of Central Arkansas from the Produce for Better Health Foundation.

Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) consumer education foundation whose mission is to motivate Americans to eat more fruit and vegetables to improve public health. PBH partners with government agencies like CDC, non-profit organizations, health professionals, educators, and members of the fruit and vegetable industry to promote increased consumption of fruit and vegetables. Produce for Better Health Foundation brings together private industry and public sector resources, policy makers, and key consumer influencers to promote fruit and vegetables directly to consumers.

This grant entails collaboration between Harp’s Grocery in Conway and the UCA Dietetic Internship, training materials for delivery of grocery store tours, and service learning opportunities for UCA undergraduate and graduate nutrition majors during the 2015 spring semester.

For more information, please contact Dr. Nina Roofe at nroofe@uca.edu or (501) 450-5950.

UCA Students And Faculty Present At International Leadership Conference

Students and faculty of the Interdisciplinary PhD in Leadership Studies program (LEAD) at the University of Central Arkansas have recently traveled to San Diego, California, to present research at this year’s annual conference of the International Leadership Association. The International Leadership Association promotes a deeper understanding of leadership knowledge and practices for the greater good of individuals and communities worldwide. ILA’s conference theme this year was Conscious Leading for Global Change: Emergence of our Collective Realities.

The LEAD program director, Rhonda McClellan is pleased that 18 students and two faculty presented original research at this year’s conference. “ILA is an international organization that publishes top-tier journals in leadership and hosts a variety of conferences and meetings for scholars in the field to share their research. Our presentations and attendance at this conference highlights the quality of UCA’s PhD program. Out of all proposals sent to ILA, we learned that only 30% were accepted, ours being among that percentage.” Further, LEAD students and faculty had an opportunity to meet scholars whose work they encounter in the classroom and use in their own research. Many of the papers presented at this year’s conference resulted from the various community field-based projects for which the program is becoming well-known and from students’ dissertations. Presentations included a study of economics of educating women in Arkansas, literacy action in higher education, leadership development and community engagement, and several other topics that focus on improving quality of life markers in Arkansas.

LEAD student, Emily Lane, was excited for the opportunity to present at an international conference and proud to represent UCA and the LEAD program. “The work we do in this program is indispensable, and we are always happy to present our work and spread the word about the mission of our program to any listening audience. This year’s conference was an eye-opening experience for everyone involved and provided us with priceless opportunities to network with other scholars and leaders, and it also gave us more impetus to continue the work of enhancing human and community capabilities.”

The LEAD program is now accepting applications for its incoming 2016 cohort. For more information on the conference and the presentations by LEAD students and faculty and for general information about the program, visit www.ila-net.org.

For more information, contact the director of the LEAD Program Rhonda McClellan at phdleadership@uca.edu or (501) 852-0912.

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