The Bear Ledger

Nearly $13,000 in grants was awarded by the UCA Foundation this spring to faculty for scholarly programs and projects.

The UCA Foundation awards grants twice each year to faculty for programs that enhance learning opportunities at UCA. These grants, generally in amounts less than $3,000, are intended to encourage creative programs that may serve as “seeds” for future programs and provide for deserving programs and activities. The grants are funded through unrestricted gifts to the UCA Foundation.

“Such grants are essential to the vitality of teaching and learning at UCA. Foundation grants to faculty and professional staff support a variety of educational endeavors, all of which directly benefit students and faculty and enrich our academic efforts, said Dr. Lance Grahn, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “And, quite simply, none of this would be possible without the generosity of donors whose unrestricted gifts to the UCA Foundation fund this grant program. I am very grateful to everyone whose unrestricted giving supports mentored undergraduate research and the development of new academic initiatives at UCA.”

Tim Thornes in the Department of Writing was awarded a grant for his proposal, “Community role of this linguist: student engagement in practical approaches to language preservation and revitalization.” Thornes will take linguistics students to the 38th Annual Symposium of the American Indian and the Oklahoma Workshop on Native American Languages in Talequah, Okla.

Catherine Swift in the Division of Undergraduate Studies was awarded a grant for her proposal, “Habitat for Humanity at the University of Central Arkansas.” Swift has proposed establishing a campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity International through collaboration among State Residential College, the College of Liberal Arts and the Faulkner County chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

Casey Griffith, Undergraduate Studies; Donna Bowman, Honors College; and Alison Hall, College of Liberal Arts, were awarded a grant for their proposal, “Service-Learning Workshop: Building Capacity for Student Success.” Griffith, Bowman and Hall will organize an online audio seminar that will introduce 15 to 20 participating faculty to service learning ideas, as well as a one-day workshop that will be an active-learning experience in which 20 faculty will receive training and guidance from and experienced service-learning professional.

Joanna Castner Post and Jennifer Deering from the Department of Writing were awarded a grant for their proposal, “UCA Writing Center Supports Literacy in Rural Arkansas.” Castner Post and Deering will work with UCA Writing Center tutors to develop a pilot community outreach project designed to support early literacy success in an elementary school at Mt. Vernon/Enola.

Rebecca Lancaster and Barbara Williams were awarded a grant for their proposal, “Communicating with Sensitivity.” Lancaster and Williams will collaborate with a committee of volunteer faculty from UCA and representatives of Conway Regional Medical Center and the Conway Regional Health Foundation to develop a series of programs designed to educate the general public about ways to effectively support friends in times of distress.
The intent of the project is to develop DVD presentations for information programs for civic groups, churches, schools, agencies and public service announcements to foster a greater understanding of how to help friends facing serious challenges.

For more information on UCA Foundation faculty grants, visit http://www.uca.edu/foundation/facultygrants.php.

Carey Voss was driving down a country road when she came across a scene that inspired her — dead commercial poultry along the roadside.

Voss, an art instructor at UCA, was trying to think of a way to create participatory art in a rural setting. While in New York and Washington DC, Voss used participatory art to express her frustration with those who failed to acknowledge the existence of people around them. The constant foot traffic on the busy sidewalks was the perfect venue for her art. When Voss moved back to Arkansas, her venues were limited.

“I was trying to think of participatory art without a pedestrian culture,” Voss said. “I was thinking ‘How do you interact with a car culture?’ “

Voss solved her problem when she came across the scattered dead chickens on the road. She began making “road kill” sculptures as a memorial for the dead animals she came across in her travels.

Voss uses biogradeable material — wheat paste, flour and water, soil and wild flower seeds –to make the papier mache “road kill.”

“I thought it would be neat to make something meant to be destroyed,” she said. “But, it also goes back to acknowledgment. How do you acknowledge that something existed?”

Voss began the project with chickens and eventually moved on to turkeys and bats. She recently completed a rabbit with tire tracks along its body.

Voss shows the original “road kill” sculptures in galleries. Her pieces are professionally photographed for documentation before being placed on the roadside.

The papier mache animal is placed in the area where Voss came across the dead animal that inspired the piece. She recently installed a turkey sculpture outside of Ozark, near Altus. She logs the GPS location in order to go back to see if the wildflower seeds inside the “road kill” sculptures germinated and produced flowers.

“I think I approach things differently than other artists,” Voss said about her work. “I feel like I have almost a Buddhist perspective in a sense that I see the artist as an observer. I am not trying to teach something. I don’t believe I am trying to make better people or moralize. I am just trying to observe. And, for myself, I am just trying to acknowledge.”

Volunteers are needed to serve as ushers and assistants for UCA’s Spring Commencement ceremonies slated for Saturday, May 8 at the Farris Center. This is a UCA community service that has been performed for many years by staff members and sponsored by the Staff Senate. The duties include passing out programs, assisting graduates and faculty, and welcoming visitors with smiling faces.

There are three ceremonies:

10 a.m. ceremony
Ushers need to be there at 8:30 a.m.
Graduates from the Colleges of Education, Liberal Arts, and Natural Sciences and Mathematics

1:30 p.m. ceremony
Ushers need to be there at noon.
Graduates from the Colleges of Health and Behavioral Sciences

5 p.m. ceremony
Ushers need to be there at 3:30 p.m.
Graduates from the Colleges of Business, Fine Arts and Communication, and the University College

For more information, contact Faith Hopkins at faithh@uca.edu or 450-5027.

Donna Stephens, a member of the journalism faculty at UCA, has been selected to receive the Arkansas Activities Association’s 2010 Distinguished Media Service Award.

Stephens has been a member of the journalism faculty since 1999 and currently is a freelance sportswriter. She is scheduled to receive the award at the 2010 AHSCA-AOA Hall of Fame banquet in Hot Springs on July 16 at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

To be eligible for this award, the recipient must have contributed in an official capacity or have made a special contribution in the area of news media service to the Arkansas Activities Association, its member schools and the students attending them, for a period of a minimum of three consecutive years.

Stephens has been a sportswriter in Arkansas since 1984. She covered high school sports, golf, the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference and the Arkansas Razorbacks, among other beats, for the Arkansas Gazette until October, 1991. She continues as a freelance writer for the North Little Rock Times, Maumelle Monitor, 501 Life magazine and the River Valley & Ozarks and Tri-Lakes sections of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

She is the producer of the acclaimed 2006 documentary film “The Old Gray Lady: Arkansas’s First Newspaper,” which tells the story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gazette, and “The Crisis Mr. Faubus Made: The Role of the Arkansas Gazette in the Central High Crisis” (2010).

Stephens taught in public schools for seven years at West Fork, Pulaski Oak Grove, Arkansas School for the Blind and Mayflower. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Mass Communication at the University of Southern Mississippi and is in the research stage of her dissertation, which will be on the history of the Arkansas Gazette.
— From the Arkansas Activities Association

The UCA Child Study Center recently earned accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the nation’s leading organization of early childhood professionals.

The center went through an extensive self-study process measuring the program and its services against the ten early childhood program standards and more than 400 related accreditation criteria. The program received accreditation after a site visit by NAEYC assessors to ensure that the program meets each of the ten program standards. NAEYC accredited programs are also subject to unannounced visits during their accreditation, which lasts for five years.

The UCA Child Study Center is the only preschool in Faulkner County that has earned NAEYC accreditation. The program is one of only six in the state of Arkansas that holds and maintains this quality standard for the children and their families.

The NAEYC accreditation system was created to set professional standards for early childhood education, and to help families identify high-quality preschools, child care centers and other early education programs.

The center is located on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas and is an integral part of the Early Childhood Special Education Department and the College of Education.

“We’re proud to have earned the mark of quality from NAEYC, and to be recognized for our commitment to reaching the highest professional standards,” said Kathy Moore, director of the UCA Child Study Center. “NAEYC Accreditation sends a clear message to families in our community that children in our program are getting the best care and early learning experiences possible.”

The qualified teachers, student workers, and graduate assistants work well as a team and bring the high standard of early childhood education to each and every student at the center, Moore said.

The center’s goal is to:

• Provide a community service to area families and a distinguishing characteristic for UCA.

• Serve as a model of developmentally appropriate activities with best practices demonstrated to benefit students in the program and college students involved in the teacher education program.

• Serve as a site for research and study of young children. Many departments from all over the UCA campus visit the Child Study Center for field opportunities throughout the semester.

• Provide an inclusive preschool program where children who have disabilities and who speak English as a Second Language are included in a regular classroom setting.

NAEYC Accreditation is a widely recognized sign of high-quality early childhood education. Almost 8,000 programs, serving one million young children, are currently accredited by NAEYC – approximately 8 percent of all preschools and other early childhood programs.

“The NAEYC Accreditation system raises the bar for preschools, child care centers and other early childhood programs,” said Mark Ginsberg, Ph.D., executive director of NAEYC. “UCA Child Study Center’s NAEYC accreditation is a sign that they are a leader in a national effort to invest in high-quality early childhood education, and to help give all children a better start.”

Later this month, the UCA Foundation and UCA Athletics will recognize UCA coaching legend Dr. Fletcher B. Lowry with plaques commemorating the endowment of a scholarship in his honor.

The Dr. Fletcher B. Lowry Scholarship Fund was endowed at the $25,000-level following a major gift from Lowry and his wife, Jo Nell. The couple will be honored during a reception at Buffalo Alumni Hall on Friday, April 30 at 5 p.m. prior to the home baseball game against Northwestern State. During the reception a plaque commemorating the endowment will be unveiled. It will be permanently installed on the Donor Wall of Honor in McCastlain Hall.

A second plaque honoring Lowry will be installed at the baseball stadium and Lowry will be recognized during the pre-game festivities.

Lowry coached baseball, basketball and football and served as a UCA administrator between 1955 and 1988. He had the most wins in UCA baseball history (208-114-6). He was a two-time NAIA District 17 Coach of the Year and won or tied for six Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference titles.

“Dr. Lowry and his wife, Jo Nell, have made a thoughtful commitment to UCA,” President Allen C. Meadors said. “We are truly honored to have such a legendary coach who has left a lasting legacy at this university with the endowment of this scholarship.”

The scholarship will be awarded beginning this fall to athletes participating in the baseball program and to students pursuing a course of study in physical education at UCA.

“The Lowry name is very dear to UCA Athletics and especially our baseball program,” Athletic Director Brad Teague said. “Dr. and Mrs. Lowry have been working for some time on a manner in which to honor their family name through a gift to baseball. By endowing a scholarship for baseball, they are able to affect student-athletes’ lives forever. This Lowry name, one which is synonymous with UCA Baseball, will provide financial assistance to our baseball scholarship budget forever. This is the most meaningful way for the Lowry legacy to be known.”

For more information or to make a contribution to the Dr. Fletcher B. Lowry Scholarship Fund, contact the UCA Foundation at 501-450-5288.

John Gale and James Hikins have been named chairs in departments within the College of Fine Arts and Communications.

Gale will be the new chair of mass communication and theater department. Gale came to UCA in 2003 as the director of the University College and taught classes in the mass communication and theatre department.

“John Gale is no stranger to the UCA campus, and his supportive leadership style is well known and highly respected,” said Rollin Potter, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications. “He will be very instrumental in bringing the department to even higher levels of excellence.”

Hikins will take over as new chair of speech and public relations. He comes to UCA after four years as the John Drushal and Pocock Family Distinguished Visiting Professor at The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. He earned his Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Texas in 1985 and has taught previously at North Dakota, Ohio State, Texas and Tulane.

Potter said Hikins “has had a very distinguished career in the department’s disciplines and will bring strong leadership to these programs.”

The Office of Minority Student Services honored 97 minority students on April 9 during the annual Minority Student Services Achievers Dinner.

UCA minority upperclassmen students, who earned a grade point average of a 3.5 or better, were recognized for academic achievement and success in the college environment.

“The purpose of this program is to divert some of the negative attention, which seems to shadow this population,” said Angela Jackson, interim director of Minority Student Services. “Our goal is to showcase and uplift those students who are reaching their potential and achieving at UCA.”

Keynote speakers for the event were seniors Sarah N. Garcia, Catrina L. Chester, Pamela R. Johnson, and Aida A. Kuettle.

Students recognized during the dinner were: Ace Gangoso; Aida Kuettle; Alan Nguyen; Alexandrea Behne; Alisha Neblett; Allen Thomas; Amanda Kroger; Amanda Smallwood; Amber Haydar; Amy Rogers; Angela Atkins; Ayvee Cruz; Billie Chan; Brian Smith; Cameron King; Carlos Merino; Cassandra Hernandez; Catrina Chester; Charles Ausler; Christina Day; Christina Villa; Country Hendershot; Darnell Clayborn; Darryl Gash; Deborah Oluokun;
Desiree Randle; Devon Patterson; Dishanta Kim; Dulce Armas;

Ebony Moore; Edgar Castro; Elise Hampton; Elizabeth Moore; Eric Sanders; Erika Lozano; Faryn Ingram; Gregory Sketas; Harold Crow; Hazlett Hernandez; Henry Fortuna; James Cordova; Jamie Derusse; Jared Larry; Jasmine Craig; Jennyfer Delvasto; Jerene Makia; John Crone; John Green; Jonathan Amoakohene; Jonathan Randle; Jordan Karpe; Justin Wertz; Kari Wernecke; Karl Smith; Kathren Wood; Kayla Hill; Kayla Nabholz; Kelsey Springwater; Keoni Sauer;

Kiara James; Kirby Rendleman; Krystle Glass; Lacy Cox; Lindsey Smith; Luis Montiel; Lydia Pendleton; Lyna Van; Lynn Nguyen; Marion Russell; Melissa Lavender; Michael Wood; Natalie Johnson; Neil Ermitano; Nicholas Garza; NiravKumar Patel; Pamela Johnson; Quynh Phan; Ralph Cosio; Ranee Davis; Rashawn Edwards; Raven Cruz; Rebecca Krisell; Rebecca Moses; Rebecca Smith; Russel Viegas; Ryan Wadkins; Sarah Garcia; Shalisa Walker; Summer Clauer
Tammy Eick; Terrance Williams; Thuy Hoang; Tsungyen Chen; Venusa Phomakay; Wilson Alobuia; and Yvon Cobian.

Several new faces have joined the University of Central Arkansas. They are:

March

Corliss Williamson, head basketball coach, Men’s basketball, March 15.

Pam Giblet, fiscal support specialist, Physical Plant Office, March 16.

April

Anthony Walker, assistant coach, Men’s basketball, April 1.

Carl Bostic, institutional bus driver, shuttle bus, April 5.

Six UCA employees will retire this spring. They are:

Joel Pouwels, associate professor of World Language, Literature and Culture, will retire May 10 after 26 years.

Glenda Middleton, administrative specialist III, Honors College, will retire May 31 after 24 years.

Clint Johnson, professor of in the department of Economics, Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, will retire May 15 after 35 years.

Donna Smith, assistant professor of accounting, will retire May 15 after 32 years.

Charlene Bland, administrative specialist III, history, will retire June 30 after 34 years.

Henry Barrow, institutional services assistant, custodial care, retired April 2 after 10 years.

Linda Palmer, freshmen enrollment specialist, will present an author discussion at Faulkner County Library on April 15. Penny Hatfield, interim director of admissions, will read from Palmer’s novel, My-Wolf. The event starts at 7 p.m.

Marvin Williams, the UCAN program coordinator and academic advisor, was honored on Feb. 27 in his hometown, Osceola, Ark. by the St. John Baptist Church at their annual Black History Program.