The Bear Ledger

All UCA athletic teams will now be eligible for postseason play in both the Southland Conference and on the national level beginning this fall. UCA received notification last month that it has acheived Division I Active Membership.

“We are thrilled and relieved to receive the news of our approval of active membership status at the NCAA Division I level,” said Dr. Brad Teague, UCA director of athletics. “… We look forward to our active membership status and the opportunity to participate in post-season competition on the conference and NCAA level. This is an exciting time for our student-athletes and coaches.”

The thorough reclassification process included requirements such as financial audits, rules compliance audits, annual reports, annual updated strategic plans and a 10-year athletics certification study.

“This final step to full D-I recognition is the result of a tremendous amount of work by Dr. Teague and the entire athletic department,” said UCA President Allen Meadors. “Our coaches have been outstanding in their support of the athletic administration during this transition period. I would also like to acknowledge the work of numerous individuals and offices throughout the UCA campus that assisted in bringing about this day. A special thanks to the UCA’s Board of Trustees for their support and encouragement.”

UCA Board of Trustees to Meet Aug. 20

The University of Central Arkansas Board of Trustees will meet Aug. 20 at 2 p.m. in the Board of Trustees Conference in Wingo Hall. A printable copy of the agenda may be obtained by clicking on the following link: http://www.uca.edu/botagenda.

Welcome Week Kicks Off Aug. 22

Welcome Week is right around the corner. To view a detailed listing of programs and events taking place during Aug. 22-26, visit www.uca.edu/orientation. Contact the Office of Orientation at (501)450-5873 or email Lwygal@uca.edu for more information.

New Faculty Orientation Scheduled for Aug. 24

The UCA New Faculty Orientation will be held on Aug. 24 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Brewer-Hegeman Conference Center Room 4A. During the orientation, new faculty members will have an opportunity to meet several UCA officials, faculty and staff members from various areas of interest. There will be a special session on UCA safety and legal issues and a lunch at noon with the deans and presenters.

Fall Community Education Courses Open for Enrollment

Fall Community Education courses are now open for enrollment. Community Education courses are non-credit courses designed to provide educational enrichment to the progressive learner. Several new courses such as glass fusing, and business etiquette and social protocol have been added to the fall listing. Registration is available online at http://www.uca.edu/outreach/communityed. For more information, contact Lawana Hawkins at 450-5811 or email communityed@uca.edu

Central Arkansas Children’s Choir Holds Audition

Students who will be going into grades 4-8 and love to sing are encouraged to audition for the award-winning Central Arkansas Children’s Choir. The next audition is scheduled for Aug. 23, 5:30-8pm. No previous experience is necessary and a prepared song is not required. Contact the UCA Community School of Music office at 450-5755 or 450-3672, or e-mail jannb@uca.eduor tbumgarn@uca.eduto schedule an audition time or for additional information regarding registration. Information is also available at the CACC website: uca.edu/csm/cacc.php or parents may contact Dr. Ryan Fisher, director of the CACC, at rfisher@uca.edu. Annual tuition is $200 and may be paid in full at registration or be paid out on a monthly basis.

Fall rehearsals begin Aug. 30 from 6-7:30 pm and will continue each Monday of the school year. Students receive instruction in vocal technique and learn a varied repertoire of music in this program under the umbrella of the UCA CSM. Dr. Ryan Fisher, UCA Choral Music Education Professor, is the CACC director. He will be assisted this year by Dr. Paige Rose, UCA Instrumental Music Education Professor. Bart Dooley, music specialist at Ida Burns Elementary School in Conway, is the CACC accompanist.

Individuals interested in making a donation to assist students who would not otherwise be able to participate can contact the CSM office for more information about CACC scholarships. Donations are tax-deductible and may be made out to “UCA Foundation-CACC.”

Staff Senate Seeks Volunteers for UCA Football Games

The Staff Senate is looking for volunteers to serve as ushers and ticket takers at home football games. The money raised by working football games helps support staff and staff dependent scholarships. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Austin Clowers at aclowers@uca.edu.

UCA Police to Join Booze and Belts Traffic Safety Mobilization

The UCA Police Department is joining the Arkansas State Police and local law enforcement agencies around the state for the “Booze and Belts” traffic safety campaign. Law enforcement officers will be stepping up enforcement of traffic safety laws, looking for impaired drivers, as well as those who are not buckled up. The campaign begins Aug. 20 through Sept. 6.

Volunteers Needed for Office of Minority Student Services Mentorship Program

The Office of Minority Student Services is seeking mentors for its Level II mentorship program. The office will match minority faculty and staff members to current minority upperclassmen in similar majors, experiences or interest. The program offers opportunities for faculty and staff mentors to share insights with UCA students and provides a meaningful way to connect faculty, staff and students. Participants are asked to make contact — phone call, email, lunch, etc –at least four occasions throughout a semester. Individuals interested in becoming a mentor should contact Angela Jackson, interim director of Minority Student Services, by Sept. 1. Angela can be reached at angelaj@uca.edu.

UCA Team Joins Race for the Cure

Show your support for breast cancer research by joining UCA’s team in this year’s Race for the Cure. Go to http://www.komenarkansas.org/, click on Komen Race for the Cure, Register, Join a Team (on the right), and type University of Central Arkansas into the team name box. For more information contact, Carol Hanan at chanan@uca.edu.

The university has spent $20 million in renovations, repairs, and equipment during the 2009-2010 academic year.

Projects included $750,000 interior renovation on Burdick as well as a roof replacement. Burdick will house several offices including Information Technology and the Office of Veterans Services. Meadors Hall also received interior renovations.

Physical Plant has numerous projects still underway. Here is a partial list of ongoing and recently completed projects:

• completed painting of campus curbs and lines

• completed asphalt sealer on parking lot south of Wingo and L.A. Niven Drive

• completed welding repairs to Estes fence around stadium

• completed renovations to university guest house

• removed tennis court lights from athletic courts due to safety issue

• relamping all of Farris Center court lights and spectator areas

• adding new hot water system to College Square

• completed selection process for new residence Hall

• cleaning apartments and residence Halls

• renovations of Arkansas Hall

• updating campus signage

• laying carpet in some areas of Prince Center and Harrin Hall

• remodeling men’s and women’s basketball areas in Farris Center

• painting common areas in Old Main

• roof repairs

• new stair treads in McCastlain stairwell

• new roof at Athletic Administration offices and the Baseball House

• Estes Press Box repairs and painting

• renovations at the Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation/Counseling Center

• new sidewalks at Alumni Circle, Snow Fine Arts, Bruce Street

• interior repaint at Reynolds Auditorium

• remodeling the former gross anatomy lab at Lewis Science Center

• survey work at Nature Reserve

• Stadium Park roofs are near 80% complete

• porch work at Farris Center

• water proofing work at Lewis Science

• refinish hard wood floors at Farris Center and Prince Center

• paint kitchen areas at Christian Cafeteria and Student Center.

Members of the UCA Police Department attended the College and University Police and Investigation Conference held at George Mason University in Virginia July 19-24.

UCA Police Chief Larry James, Captains John Merguie, Justin Tapley, and Chris Bentley, and Lieutenants Rhonda Swindle, Preston Grumbles, and Jeremy Crabb presented a plenary session on active shooter preparation and response and a breakout session on active shooter exercises.

The panel discussed preparedness and response initiatives that the UCA Police Department had implemented since the Virginia Tech shooting. Topics included better tactical training for the officers, acquisition of tactical equipment, and educating the university community on what to do in the case of an active shooter.

The group shared the university’s response to a double homicide on campus in 2008 and information about additional safety measure on campus such as the mass notification system, outdoor alert system, and the purchase of an active shooter video that was put online for all UCA employees, staff, and students to view.

The two-hour presentation was extremely well received by the approximately 150 conference attendees who represented university, federal and state law enforcement agencies from across the United States.

Many of the attendees requested copies of the power-point presentation prepared for the plenary session so they could take back to their campuses best practices in preparing for and responding to active shooter incidents.

Officers also participated in a breakout session focusing on UCA’s full scale exercise “Active Shooter 2010” held in March 2010, which included all phases of the exercise and lessons learned.

Arch Jones, Jr. has joined the UCA Police Department as its director of organizational and community services. He had previously served as assistant director of Admissions. This non-sworn position will assist the police department in ensuring that its delivery of police services are aligned with the university community’s needs and expectations. It will allow the UCAPD to plan and develop programs and strategies for strengthening community partnerships with insight and perspective from a higher education administration professional.

Dr. James W. Hikins has joined the UCA faculty as professor and chair of the Department of Speech Communication and Public Relations.

Hikins’ immediate challenge and goal is to facilitate growth, focus, and excellence in the department, especially with regard curriculum, teaching, and engagement activities beyond the campus, he said.

“I also want to see the department expand significantly its research profile, both regionally and nationally, because I believe that good teaching is enhanced when professors are also doing cutting edge research in their particular areas of expertise,” he said. “If we can achieve these goals, then we will be serving the people of Arkansas well, which, after all, is our most important mission.”

Hikins holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and a Master of Arts in Speech Communication from the University of Iowa, and the Ph.D. in communication from the University of Texas at Austin.

Hikins has taught at Tulane University, The Ohio State University, the University of North Dakota, and the College of Wooster. He is co-author of Communication and Knowledge: An Investigation in Rhetorical Epistemology and author of Remarks on the Development of Rhetoric, as well as numerous journal articles on rhetorical theory and criticism. He has also published work on the rhetoric of disaster. Recent editorials on the BP oil disaster by Hikins appear in the Huffington Post and the Houston Chronicle.

“I am both thrilled and honored to have been supported by my faculty and the UCA administration to become chair of the Department of Speech Communication and Public Relations at UCA,” Hikins said. “The short time I have been chair confirms the assessment that prompted me to accept the position, namely, that I have an excellent group of talented and motivated colleagues and that I can contribute to the department’s overall program.”

Maj. Tracy D. Koivisto has been appointed the new chair of the Military Science Department at the University of Central Arkansas.

Maj. Koivisto, a logistics officer in the U.S. Army, is the first female to lead the department. She joined UCA on July 1.

Maj. Koivisto will be teaching the senior cadets with Military Science and Leadership 401 and 402 in the fall and spring. She has served in the Army for more than 16 years in California, Virginia, Germany, Israel, Maryland, Kansas, Illinois, and Iraq. Maj. Koivisto has also served in command of an Air Defense unit.

“I am excited to be here to continue the growth and progress LTC Akiman accomplished,” she said.

Maj. Koivisto’s goals for the Military Science Department are two-fold.

“For those students who take the program through to completion, my goal is to produce officers/leaders instilled with the warrior ethos who are prepared to lead America’s sons and daughters and are prepared to make a positive impact on their first units of assignment,” she said. “For those students who try the program and choose not to continue, my goal is that they grow as individuals by gaining insights into leadership, developing confidence, becoming more physically fit, and learning organizational skills all of which will provide lifelong benefits.”

Maj. Koivisto, a native of northern Wisconsin, is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Madison, commissioning through the ROTC program. She earned her master degree from the University of Oklahoma, and was an assistant professor of military science at the University of Maryland. She is married to Keith Kovisto, who is a paramedic. They have a daughter, Aila.

The Office of University Training has announced its 2010-2011 Education Seminars schedule. The seminars are available to UCA employees and students. University employees and students may register by e-mailing name, department, ID #, name of seminar, and desired seminar date to training@uca.edu.

New staff are required to attend the sexual harassment and diversity seminars. The Instructional Development Center will provide new faculty sexual harassment and diversity seminars through the New Faculty program. Contact IDC at idc@uca.edu or 450-5240 for more information.

Returning faculty, staff, student workers and graduate assistants are asked to attend the sexual harassment and diversity seminars on an annual basis. All other seminars are available for your professional development on a voluntary basis.

Staff orientation for non-faculty hired as of May 2010 is scheduled for Oct. 6 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Student Center #213/214

To register for seminars, visit training@uca.edu. Specific questions may be directed to the Office of University Training at 450-3135 or Charlotte Strickland, education seminar coordinator at 450-5470 or training@uca.edu.

Here are the seminars scheduled for September:

Sexual Harassment

September 2 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. Student Center #213

September 20 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Student Center #213

September 23 X-period Student Center #213

Sexual harassment online training is available on the UCA web page at “Human Resources” or “Training and Development” or at http://training.newmedialearning.com/psh/ucentralarkansas/choice.htm

Diversity

This year’s topic of discussion – Sexual Orientation

Sept. 9, 2:30 – 4 p.m. Student Center #215

Sept. 16, 1:30 – 3 p.m. Student Center #215

Sept., 22 1;30 – 3 p.m. Student Center #223/224

Sept. 28 9 a.m.– 10:30 a.m. Student Center #215

Professional Development

Sept. 8, noon -1:30 p.m. SC #215 Intellectual Properties & Copyright Law
Jud Copeland (College of Education)

Recent legislative changes in the U.S. copyright law and intellectual property policies have highlighted the need to broaden knowledge of how information is produced and consumed inside the educational environment. What do instructors need to know about copyright and intellectual property for their own teaching, scholarship and publications? What do they need to know to direct the work product of their students? What do students need to know to become responsible researchers, creators, and authors? This presentation is a direct response to these issues.

Lt. Rhonda Swindle of UCAPD plans to marry Tyler Bradley from Norman, OK. on Friday, Oct. 22 in Conway. Lt. Swindle will be moving to Oklahoma after 13 great years at UCA.

The Arkansas Humanities Council will receive $97,620 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support the annual statewide History Day in Arkansas and to expand the council’s efforts to preserve and document African-American cemeteries throughout the state of Arkansas.

History Day in Arkansas, held at the University of Central Arkansas, brings together secondary students from across the state to share and study history. The program allows students to express what they have learned through creative and original dramatic performances, media presentations, research papers, exhibits, or websites. The first and second place winners of History Day in Arkansas advance to the national competition in Washington, D.C.

The Arkansas Humanity Council’s long-standing African-American cemetery project works to preserve, document, and interpret not only cemeteries, but the histories of African-American communities throughout Arkansas. Grant funds will help with clearing cemetery sites and marking gravesites, in addition to connecting local communities with a humanities scholar or archeologist who can educate citizens about ways to maintain and protect cemeteries.

U.S. Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor and U.S. Representatives Marion Berry (AR-01), Vic Snyder (AR-02) and Mike Ross (AR-04) recently announced the grant, which is funded by the national We the People program. We the People encourages and strengthens the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture across the U.S.

The University of Central Arkansas rolled out five new Steinway pianos July 30 as the university announced its commitment to become the next All-Steinway School in Arkansas, a distinction achieved by only 118 schools across the globe.

“The University of Central Arkansas saw a need for a high-quality piano program in the central part of the state and we are pleased that we have alumni and friends who have already stepped up to help us purchase these beautiful new Steinway pianos,” UCA President Allen C. Meadors said. “With these pianos, we will be able to recruit some of the best students and faculty not only in the state, but also from around the world, to our music program. We will also be able to host some really wonderful performances like the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis in February.”

During a press conference in the lobby of Snow Fine Arts Center, university officials announced a $1 million private fundraising campaign through the UCA Foundation to secure the funds needed to replace 90 percent of the university’s remaining piano inventory with Steinway products. More than $400,000 has already been raised.

The first five pianos purchased are New York Steinways and include a 9-foot concert grand piano that will be for the concert stage and used during performances three to five times per week. In addition to the concert grand, UCA also rolled out two 7-foot grand pianos to be placed in teaching studios and two smaller grands for piano majors.

Private funds designated for this project will be used to purchase an additional 40 pianos that are a mix of Steinways built in New York and other Steinway facilities.

The pianos will be placed in studios, classrooms and recital halls throughout Snow Fine Arts Center and will benefit approximately 200 music majors along with an additional 100 non-music majors taking classes in the department.

“The College of Fine Arts and Communication and the Department of Music are delighted to have these New York Steinway pianos,” said Dr. Rollin Potter, dean of the college of fine arts and communication. “We determined about three years ago that the most serious need besides a new building for our fine arts program was new pianos because nearly everyone in the program uses them. The All-Steinway School program gives UCA the best product and the best maintenance plan.”

With the proper care and maintenance of the pianos – which is required to become an All-Steinway School – the pianos should last 50 to 100 years. The university’s current piano inventory, much of which is in need of replacement or repairs, are between 30 and 40 years old.

“We have received support from the Stella Boyle Smith Trust and other individual donors to begin this program,” said Shelley Mehl, Vice President of Advancement. “The Steinway group has been a great partner and we look forward to raising the remaining funds to become an All-Steinway School as soon as possible.” – Jennifer Boyett