Spring 2022
Fall 2021
The 2022 Spring Presidential Scholars List
The 2022 Spring Dean’s List
UCA Debate and Forensics Placed at 2022 IPDA Competition
UCA Debate and Forensics competed at the 2022 International Public Debate Association National Championship and brought home some wins.
Jayce Burney won 1st place in the Professional Division, 6th place Professional Speaker Award, and 4th place speaker in the Team IPDA Division. @jayce_burney
Aurora King won 6th place Speaker in the Division and received recognition as a Tournament Octafinalist. @aurora.kings
Adam Cox won 2nd place Speaker in the Division and received Tournament Quarterfinalist. @coxadam200
C. J. Parrish won 3rd place IPDA Speaker Award as well as Varsity Division Octafinalist. @craigoryparrish
The International Public Debate Association is an interscholastic debate association with competitive programs ranging from California to Florida and from Texas to Michigan. Their mission is to provide an opportunity for individuals to develop their advocacy skills in a forum that promotes appropriate and effective communication.
The team is coached by Associate Professor of Business Law and Director of Forensics Anthony McMullen.
Arkansas College Media Association 2022 Awards
The Arkansas College Media Association (ACMA) named The Echo as College Newspaper of the Year and Addison Freeman won Reporter of the Year.
News6 also won Television Outlet of the Year by the ACMA.
Students from News6 won the following awards:
- Interpretative and Investigative Reporting Award
- 1st place: Trevor Cook
- 2nd place: Chase Mauk
- News Reporting Award
- 1st place: Ladell Tyler
- 3rd place: Berris Teague
- Sports Feature Award
- 2nd place: Thomas Gillette
- 3rd place: Brett Walker
- Honorable Mention: Brett Walker
- Weather Award
- 2nd place: Anthony Reiter, Trevor Cook, and Collin Gallimore
ACMA is composed of student media outlets at public and private two-year and four-year colleges and universities in Arkansas.
PR Alum Robert Rochell Wins Super Bowl
Robert “Scoota” Rochell and his team, the Los Angeles Rams, won the 2022 Super Bowl!
Robert Rochell, a fall 2020 UCA Public Relations graduate, joined the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 after graduating a year early to prepare for the draft process.
Rochell was an All-American cornerback at UCA, and one of three Bears to ever be selected for the Senior Bowl.
- Watch Rochell get the call.
- Rochell’s story is both tragic and inspiring. Check out this KATV package.
PR alum Robert Rochell drafted into NFL
Robert “Scoota” Rochell, a fall 2020 public relations graduate, became the highest drafted player in UCA football history, going in the fourth round of the NFL Draft to the Los Angeles Rams.
Robert Rochell plays the role of a public relations spokesperson during a class assignment in spring 2019.
Rochell was an All-American cornerback at UCA, and one of three Bears to ever be selected for the Senior Bowl. He completed his PR degree requirements a year early to prepare for the draft process.
- Watch Rochell get the call.
- Rochell’s story is both tragic and inspiring. Check out this KATV package.
Echo editor-in-chief elected to SPJ Arkansas Pro Chapter board
Ronak Patel, editor-in-chief of The Echo, UCA’s student newspaper, was elected to the board of directors of the Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists during the organization’s annual membership meeting in July.
Ronak Patel
Also during the meeting, Lauren McCabe, a recent UCA graduate and former Echo editor, was elected secretary, and Rob Moritz, Lecturer I in the journalism department, was also re-elected treasurer.
Patel, an English major and journalism minor, has previously worked as photo editor, online editor, social media editor and associate editor for The Echo. McCabe, who recently received a B.A. in English, was editor-in-chief of The Echo in the fall of 2019.
The Arkansas Pro Chapter is an affiliate of the national Society of Professional Journalists, whose mission statement states that it is “dedicated to the perpetuation of a free press as the cornerstone of our nation and our liberty.”
A UCA campus of SPJ was recently created and about 15 students are members. For more information about joining the campus chapter email Rob Moritz at rmoritz@uca.edu.
–Rob Moritz