Monica Luebker to Discuss Ponzi Schemes at Honors College Alumni Present Lecture on April 4
Monica Luebker will present a lecture entitled “Ponzi Schemes” on Wednesday, April 4, at 7 p.m. in the College of Business Lecture Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public. Luebker, a graduate of the Honors College, will deliver her talk as part of the Honors College Alumni Present Lecture Series. Alumni presentations in 2012 and 2013 will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the UCA Honors College. Luebker received a degree in History from UCA in 1988 before attending law school at SMU. She has built a distinguished career as a litigator in Dallas, Texas, where she is a partner in the law firm of Fishman-Jackson-Luebker.
Luebker has had an active trial and dispute resolution practice for twenty years, specializing in commercial, securities, construction, and employment litigation. She also represents clients in trademark and copyright litigation matters, trademark prosecution and trademark portfolio work. Luebker has successfully defended numerous class action lawsuits and is also often called upon to defend international clients in front of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Her clients have included international financial consulting firms, brokerage firms, technology consulting firms, real estate investment and development companies, internet sales companies, retail establishments, companies in the entertainment and sports arena, and major insurance companies.
Honors College Hosts Livestock
The UCA Honors College will host its 14th Annual Livestock on Saturday, April 14, at the Bear’s Den in Conway. Livestock is a concert fundraiser for Heifer International. Heifer International’s goal is to end poverty by securing food and a dependable income for the poor and hungry across the world. This year, Livestock will feature local musician Ben Wold, Swimming (from Fayetteville), and Whale Fire (Little Rock). Doors will open at 8 p.m. and the show starts at 9 p.m. A $5 donation is requested at the door.
UCA Honors College has purchased three Gift Arks with Livestock proceeds. Each Gift Ark represents a donation of $5,000. This year, the Honors College plans to purchase the Women in Livestock Development or “WiLD” Gift. Women make up 70% of the world’s poor, yet produce 80% of the developing world’s food and own only 1% of the earth’s land. WiLD seeks to change women’s circumstances and give them power. WiLD represents a donation of $10,000. For more information on Heifer International, go to www.heifer.org.
Faculty Accomplishments:
Adam Frank’s Leadership in SW Conference on Asian Studies
Honors Associate Professor Adam Frank is immediate past president of the Southwest Conference on Asian Studies, which held its 40th annual meeting in 2011 at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. The next meeting of the Southwest Conference will take place in the fall on the SMU campus in Dallas.
Rick Scott to Present Keynote Address to an International Honors Conference in The Netherlands
Rick Scott
Rick Scott, dean of the Honors College, has been invited to deliver a keynote address in October at an international honors conference in Groningen, The Netherlands. The conference theme, “Evoking Excellence in Higher Education and Beyond,” highlights an emerging conversation about the global spread of collegiate honors education. In the past few years honors programs have been started in Holland and Germany, as well as Mexico, South Korea, Qatar, and China.
Scott, who is president elect of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), said, “At the NCHC Board of Directors meeting on Omaha last month, we identified the promotion of international honors education as a strategic priority in the coming half-decade, and I am pleased to have an opportunity to address honors educators at the conference in Europe.”
His talk, “The Demography of Honors in the United States,” will present preliminary results from the most systematic collection of information about collegiate honors education in the United States that has ever been available. This comes from a new NCHC member database; Scott has taken the lead in its development, having authored the questionnaire used to collect information from NCHC’s 900 member institutions.
“The profile of honors education in the United States depicted by these data represents the widest cross-sectional overview ever shown, and it should help us better understand what honors programs and colleges have in common and what they do not,” Scott said. ” I hope the profile will prove useful in adapting honors practices from the United States to higher education institutions overseas.”
Donna Bowman Invited to Speak on Craftivism at Harding University
Associate Dean Donna Bowman has been invited to Harding University to speak on the intersection of traditional domestic work, high-tech social media, and political activism. In March 2011, she was a featured presenter at the Brave New Media conference co-sponsored by Humanity, the Roosevelt Institute, and the Harding College of Communications. Her talk, “A Thousand Little Things: How Crafting Networks Turn Social Organization Into Material Productivity,” explored the revolution in handcrafting fostered by well-designed online tools for interaction, teaching, and support. On March 26, Bowman will return to Harding by invitation of the College Activities Board for a talk titled “Gun Cozies and Yarn Bombs: Making Fabric Is A Political Act.” This presentation focuses on the historical significance of the connection between gender and fabric-making, and reveals how present-day artists and activists are redefining the domestic arts.
Little Rock Renaissance Wiki and Exhibit
The Little Rock Renaissance Wiki (http://honors.uca.edu/wiki/), hosted by the Honors College, reached a milestone 1 million page views in February. The wiki documents economic, social, and historic revitalization efforts in Central Arkansas in more than 3,300 entries written in oral history classes taught by Associate Professor Philip Frana. An article about the development of the wiki, still ongoing, is published in the Fall-Winter 2009 issue of Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6947/is_2_10/ai_n45180315/).
The wiki is to be featured in a March studioMAIN exhibit in Little Rock. StudioMAIN (www.studio-main.org) is a design collaborative comprised of individuals from the design fields of Arkansas, which works towards education the general public about the role of good design in daily life. The theme of the exhibit, to be unveiled during 2nd Friday Art Night, is the history of urban planning in Little Rock.
Featured Student: Sara Bayles
Sara Bayles
Sara Darlene Bayles, originally from Springdale (Har-Ber), is a senior Political Science and Religious Studies major at UCA with minors in Gender Studies and Honors Interdisciplinary Studies. Bayles’ academic interest including studying the crossroads of gender, religion, and politics, with a focus on how these factors contribute to feminist theology, public policy, social and cultural movements, and daily life. Bayles has spent the last few semesters preparing a variety of interdisciplinary thesis and research topics at this intersection. Her senior Honors thesis traces the development of “Feminist Theological Perspectives in American History.” Bayles is also working on departmental Honors projects in her major fields. Her Political Science thesis, which she recently presented at the Arkansas Political Science Association, is a case study of “Feminization of Poverty with Ozark Mountains,” and explains how public policy choices and social norms affect chronic poverty within Newton and Searcy Counties, as well as reinforce gender based poverty. For her Religious Studies departmental honors thesis, her focus is on transnational theological issues and responses to HIV/AIDS.
Around campus, Bayles is involved in a variety of organizations. She has served as a representative-at-large and as chair of the Honors Council, and is current chair of the Honors College Ambassadors. Bayles is tremendously thankful to the professors, staff, and classes of the Honors College in firing her passions. This spring, Bayles had the privilege of working as a teaching assistant in the Honors College junior seminar course on Women and Law. She writes, “This semester, in Women and Law, has been incredibly insightful and provoking. Not only am I learning from the materials and my peers, I’m recognizing talents I have for teaching, and even for grading student work! It’s incredibly encouraging and inspiring to be part of the learning processes and formative experiences of the future leaders of my generation.”
Outside of the Honors College, Bayles has been involved in a variety of organizations including Residence Hall Council, social and philanthropic clubs, and departmental clubs. This semester Bayles was elected as President of Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science Departmental Honors Association. One of the student organizations that Bayles cites as most influential to her college experience is the Wesley Foundation, the United Methodist Campus Ministry. Throughout her four years at UCA, Bayles has been involved in this ministry as a leader of small groups, bible studies, prayer groups, and as a mission trip participant. “I grew up in the United Methodist Church, and sought to become part of a community of faith when I began college. In doing so, I have become acutely aware of my own calling into ministry within the United Methodist Church. I am forever thankful for the Wesley Foundation for shaping me, and preparing me to find my calling.”
In the summer of 2011, Bayles had the opportunity through an Honors College grant to study and work on Capitol Hill at the General Board of Church and Society, the United Methodist Advocacy organization. Her work included facilitating seminars and congressional visits, advocating on legislation, and working with faith based groups to make their voices heard in public policymaking circles. While on Capitol Hill Bayles gravitated towards advocacy work, and she continues to work with a variety of faith based issues. This past fall, she was recruited to help launch “Imagine No Malaria,” a partnership between faith groups, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and other nongovernmental organizations working to eradicate malaria.
In August of 2011, Bayles became a local pastor for two United Methodist congregations in Cleveland and Overcup, Conway County. Bayles leads and organizes worship services and other activities for these churches. “It has been an absolute affirmation of my calling and tremendous joy to serve both of these churches,” remarks Bayles. “They continue to uplift, edify, and form my calling into pastoral ministry.”
After graduation, Bayles plans to attend Duke Divinity School, where she has been awarded a Divinity Teaching Fellowship, and the later become an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. Bayles says she will “listen to God’s calling upon her life, seek justice, and love thy neighbor as thyself. I am forever grateful to the staff and faculty of UCA, especially the UCA Honors College for teaching me that it is often the questions – not the answers – that shape our world, and thus are life callings. I also owe my deepest gratitude to my family, which continues to support my every endeavor in my life journey, as well as my friends, my family, my faith community, and the faculty of UCA.”
Writes Bayles, “Looking back on the past four years of my time at UCA, I am in awe of the friendships I have made, the opportunities I have been able to experience, the professors that continue to challenge and inspire, and the paths that continue to reveal themselves along life’s journey.”
Featured Alumnus: Lily Kuonen
Lily Kuonen
Lily Kuonen (’06) is a new assistant professor of foundations at Jacksonville University. She sends this reflection:
“In my artistic process I work without knowing what the resolution will be. I embrace a sense of renewal where physical connections link materials and ideas. I push against finality, testing limitations to explore the process of painting.
“After receiving my BFA in Studio Art and minor in Honors Interdisciplinary Studies, and still not yet wanting to feel finished, I sought my MFA in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design. While in Savannah, I was once again held captive by mentors, tough-loved, and questioned at every juncture. The questions were difficult, some silly, some fun, and some to sleep on. As I progressed through the program, one question was asked over and over again: Why not teaching?
“I had naively rebelled against the idea of teaching, like sneaking out and smoking cigarettes. But, you see, it is in my blood. My sister is a high school math teacher; my mother is a Montessori first, second, and third grade teacher; my Uncle is a professor; and my grandmother was a junior high and high school teacher and coach. Like a family business, I acknowledged my fate, but it wasn’t until somewhere during my first teaching assistantship that I realized my true passion. Think of it like being 18, casting your ballot for the first time. You made your decision, despite your upbringing, despite your peers, despite the media, you made your decision. This is how I came to teaching.
“I got offered my first full-time teaching position in Drawing and Painting directly after graduate school at College of Charleston. I was so scared. But that fright came not for myself. It was instead a fear of failing my students. Since missing my first class ever (not even realizing I had a course to show up for), I have entered the classroom and studio every single time with enthusiasm, excitement, and fear. I love teaching, and I am so happy to have accepted it, and taken it as my own.
“After a year in Charleston, I moved on to assistant professor of art in foundations at Jacksonville University. A small liberal arts college, where my roots in the Honors College have given me insight and depth for the personalities I have the pleasure of experiencing. In Florida I will continue exploring my directive and my love. So, as of December of 2006 I spent 2 months on the road at over 10, 000 miles. I saw 13 states, 3 countries, got tattoos, then moved. Waited tables, hiked mountains, moved again. Graduate school. Traveled. MFA in Painting, bought a van, moved again. Traveled. Full-time position at College of Charleston, tattoos, moved again. Assistant Professor of Art in Foundations at Jacksonville University. Artist Residency at the Vermont Studio Center, spoke at conferences, received fellowships, had art shows in Little Rock, Fayetteville, Eureka Springs, Savannah, Atlanta, Chicago, Hong Kong, Charleston, Vermont, and Jacksonville. I will participate soon in THINKTANK7 Integrative Teaching International. And I still come back home to Arkansas whenever I get the chance.”
Special Announcements: Travel Abroad Grants and Undergraduate Research Grants in Education
Leanne Hampton attended the Mid-South Flute Society Young Artist Competition in March. Also in March, Nicholas Rogers conducted an anthropological study of road cycling, culminating with a European race in Belgium. Taylor Sutton, a Philosophy major, traveled to the 5th annual Undergraduate Ethics Symposium at DePauw University to present his paper “Ruat Caelum: The Blasphemy of Justice.”
A number of students will attend the Southern Regional Honors Council annual meeting in Tampa, Florida, Friday, March 30-Sunday, April 1. Papers to be delivered include, Wilson Alobuia (major: Biology), “Predictors of Pulmonary Function Test Quality”; Katrina Kimble, “All Men and Women Are Created Equal: The Conflict and Compromise of the Seneca Falls Convention and Women’s Suffrage”; Nathan Robbins (History), “Remaking Romanitas: The Expansion of Roman Citizenship and the Redefinition of “Roman-ness” in the Early Roman Empire”; Taylor Sutton (Philosophy), “The Phenomenology of Revelation: Fallacy in Anselm’s Ontological Argument”; Matthew Hankins (Physics), “Native American Astronomy at the Point Remove Mound Complex” & “A Game of Stags: Mathematics, Ethics, and Game Theory Applied to Economics”; Kathy Hill, “The International Marriage Market”; Emily Trower (Psychology) & Laralyn Thomas (Psychology), “A Test Between Two Self Theories of Cognitive Dissonance”; Brittany Edwardes (English), “Muslim Feminine Political and Sexual Self-Discovery”; and Daniel Keil (Biology), “Jellyfish Phylogenetics.”