News

Terry Pillow

Mr. Terry Pillow was born in Poplar Bluff, Mo., because there was no hospital in Corning. He grew up in Corning, Ark. and followed his older sister, Dianne, to Conway to attend the State College of Arkansas, renamed the University of Central Arkansas in 1975.

While at UCA, Pillow was an active member of the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity and class officer. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing in 1976. He worked full time at Browning and White, a Conway men’s clothing store. Following graduation, he traveled to Dallas, made a wrong turn, and met Mr. Stanley Marcus who then selected him for a position at Neiman Marcus in their executive training program.

Pillow has achieved outstanding success in business. He has worked his way up through the ranks in the clothing industry to his most recent position as Chief Executive Officer of Tommy Bahama Group, Inc., which has more than 4,000 employees and approximately $600 million in sales revenue. He served as CEO of Tommy Bahama Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Oxford Industries Inc. from 2008 to 2016. Terry has recently celebrated retirement as CEO and advises for Oxford Industries.

Prior to that, he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ralph Lauren Footwear Co., Inc., a subsidiary of Reebok International Ltd. He also served as the President of Collection Clothing Corp., Senior Vice President of Reebok International Ltd. and the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Rockport Company.

Prior to joining Reebok International Ltd., he served as the President of the apparel division of Coach Leatherware, a subsidiary of Sara Lee Corporation. From 1989 to 1994, Mr. Pillow served as the President of A/X Armani Exchange, New York. He also began his tenure as the CEO of Chaps Ralph Lauren at the age of 29.

Pillow also has been very generous and supportive of the College of Business, establishing an endowment to support the College of Business in honor of his late parents, Homer and Regina Pillow. “I’m often reminded of how influential my time at UCA has been in my life and career. UCA is built on a reputation of excellence, and I’m proud to be an alumnus and to support UCA’s long tradition of commitment to educating students,” Pillow said. “UCA provided me with the foundation to be successful and truly go anywhere and accomplish anything. I want to encourage those students who are looking for a college to consider UCA. I was a young man in Corning, Arkansas and my time at UCA helped me realize that you can truly go anywhere with an education from UCA,” Pillow added. He enjoys speaking to classes and students at UCA and hopes to remain a familiar face on campus and in the College of Business.

The 2017 College of Business Student Honors Banquet was held on Thursday, April 6 in the McCastlain Ballroom.

This was a night to celebrate the achievements of College of Business majors in the areas of awarded scholarships, service, and academic performance.

Scholarships: Tonight we celebrate awarding over $70,000 in
scholarship dollars to undergraduate and graduate students in the
College of Business. The faculty, students, and staff are grateful for the generous donations and support from individuals, businesses, and
professional organizations.

Service: The College of Business has 9 student led organizations that provide opportunities for students to develop leadership skills, network with business and community leaders, and participate in regional and national competitions. The service awards are designed to recognize our student’s time, effort, and leadership.

Academics: The UCA College of Business has outstanding students in every academic area. The academic awards celebrate the one student (per major) who stood out this year. The students recognized this
evening took advantage of their education and combined exemplary
academic performance with internships, professional development and experiential education, volunteerism, participation in clubs and
activities, and other important experiences.

Click the link to see the recipients with their awards, 2017 COB Student Honors Banquet.

Touring Maverick Transportation

Maverick Transportation hosted a group of twenty-one UCA students at their headquarters in North Little Rock, AR on March 28, 2017.  Maverick is one of America’s largest trucking companies and has hired more UCA Logistics and Supply Chain students than any other single employer.

Students were guided on the tour by UCA alumni Erik Neville and Callie Heathscott, both of whom work in Maverick’s Human Resources Department.  Students not only toured Maverick’s offices but also sat in a new Freightliner and viewed Maverick’s training center where employees are able to utilize simulators to improve their driving skills.  Following the tour, students heard from Maverick executives John Culp (President), Doug Richey (Executive VP and COO), Kim Williams (VP of Sustainability), and Kevin Williams (VP of Logistics) who discussed the company’s history, culture, and operations.  A question and answer session followed with lively discussion.

New Freightliner

Training Center

2016-2017 Beta Gamma Sigma Inductees

The Beta Gamma Sigma International Honors Society Induction Ceremony for 2016-2017 was held on March 31, 2017 in the COB Foyer.  The swearing in of new members was led by the Dean of the College of Business.  New members with their parents and loved ones were congratulated by members of the UCA College of Business and subsequently invited to light refreshments.

Members of this society  represent the top 10 percentile of AACSB accredited national and international business schools.  Members to this society are recruited by invitation based upon their excellent academic achievements.  This year the UCA College of Business inducted 7 members from the MBA program, 9 members from the Seniors class and 10 members from the junior class.

MBA Inductees: Brittany Hart, Ericka Guiterrez Fonseca, Patrick Hum, Justin Lee, Justin McCarty, Erica Rials and Robinson Tamara.

Senior Inductees: James Allen, Ahi Charles, Megan Cook, Colton Johnson, Ellen Huckabay, Andrew McFarlane, Matthew Montgomery, Roberto Rojo and Alvinn-Emmanuel Etranny Yao.

Junior Inductees: Anne Atahi, Angel Breaux, Fatim Coulibaly, Savannah Covington, Christina Cunningham, Rachel Durler, Thomas Moore, Justin Pham, Ashley Smith and Tianhu Wu.

The Business & Information Technology (BIT) Club is having its last meeting of the school year on Tuesday, April 4th.  The event, which will be held in the College of Business Auditorium (Rooms 107/208) during X-period (1:40 – 2:30 p.m.), is open to all majors on campus.  Cole Powell, a current graduate student in the UCA College of Business, will be the featured speaker.  Cole works at the Walmart Corporate Offices in Bentonville as an Associate Buyer for Wireless phones, in Merchandising in the Entertainment division.  His area consists primarily of exclusive brands such as Straight Talk and Family Mobile, but they also work with nationwide carriers like AT&T and Verizon.  Cole received his BSBA in Management from the University of Arkansas in 2013, with a concentration in leadership.   The BIT Club will also conduct Officer Elections for next year, as well as discuss our upcoming field trip to the Acxiom Data Center in Conway on Thursday, April 13th.  Refreshments will be served (PIZZA!) and door prizes will be awarded.  All students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend.

The Theta Lambda chapter of Beta Alpha Psi chapter at the University of Central Arkansas earned two first place awards at the organization’s Southwest Regional meeting in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday, February 25, 2017.

Anastasiya Klimiankova of Belarus, Obed Onyemakonor of Nigeria, and Nathan Scheuter of Conway (all undergraduate accounting majors) competed in the Strategic Planning category of Best Practices using their project, “Building on the Past and Preparing for the Future.” The students competed against nine other regional teams and won the competition.

Emelyn-Doriane Djoké of Côte d’Ivorie (undergraduate accounting major) and Tuan Nguyen of Vietnam (post-baccalaureate accounting major) competed in the Community Outreach category of Best Practices using their project, “Diversity in the Accounting Profession.” The students competed against three other regional teams and won the competition.

The students who participated in the competitions earned the right to compete at the national meeting this August in Anaheim, California. Other UCA accounting students attending the conference were Jean Piere Leon Chavez of El Dorado, Kylie Garrett of Heber Springs, Jacob Hoelzeman of Conway, Johnathan Long of Bauxite, and Alyman Ouattara of Côte d’Ivorie (all undergraduates) and Sultan Faretdinov of Kazakhstan (graduate student). During the conference, students attended sessions on professional development, ethical behavior, leadership skills, service, and professional networking.

The UCA Department of Accounting received contributions from BKD, LLP which allows the students to travel to the southwest and annual conferences. [Read more…]

The Business & Information Technology (BIT) Club is having its second meeting on Tuesday, February 14th. The event, which will be held in the College of Business Auditorium (Rooms 107/208) during X-period (1:40 – 2:30 p.m.), is open to all majors on campus. Candice Offonry, UCA College of Business Graduate (2010) and currently a University Recruiter at Acxiom, will be the featured speaker. There will be a panel discussion with four current MIS majors who are doing internships at Acxiom: Brandy Bryant – Delivery Analyst; Noah Heffron – Tester Intern; Emma K. Lybrand – Applications Developer Intern; and Jhade McConnell – Entry Solutions Developer. Refreshments will be served and door prizes will be awarded. All students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend.

The College of Business and the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics are co-hosting a Student Research and Project Presentation Day in the College of Business on March 28th.

Prizes up to $500 will be awarded for freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors who present original research or projects related to their College of Business courses. To learn more, please visit the event page at uca.edu/acre.