UCA Magazine

Alumni Awards Dinner

The 2025 UCA Alumni Awards Dinner brought a garden-party atmosphere to the President’s Home as alumni, friends and campus leaders gathered to celebrate this year’s honorees. Debbye Jo Smith ’73 received the Karen Sullards Alumni Service Award, Dr. M. Nicholas Farr ’12, ’14, ’19 was recognized with the Young Alumni Award and Maria Kramer Wile ’14, ’21 was named Alumni Volunteer of the Year.

Scholarship Reception

The 2025 UCA Foundation Scholarship Reception celebrated the theme “Bear Tracks: The Full Circle Journey,” highlighting the lifelong impact of scholarship support.

Half-Century Club Induction

The Class of 1975 took center stage this year as the newest members of the UCA Half-Century Club. Classmates returned to campus to mark their 50-year milestone, reconnect with lifelong friends and revisit the memories that shaped their time at UCA.

Kennedy Holland

Kennedy Holland, 21, was crowned Miss Arkansas 2025 in June at the Robinson Center in Little Rock. The Greenwood native was Miss University of Central Arkansas (UCA) in 2024 and competed in this year’s Miss Arkansas Pageant as Miss Metro 2025. She is the daughter of Katie and Sean Holland and a senior communication major at UCA with plans to pursue a master’s degree in nonprofit management.

UCA Aviation Academy Opens Bill Cope Memorial Hangar

Arcs of water sprayed across the taxiway at Conway Regional Airport Friday, Aug. 22, as the water cannon salute – a time-honored aviation tradition – marked the grand opening of the Bill Cope Memorial Hangar, which is home to the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) Aviation Academy.

Homecoming 2025

The University of Central Arkansas (UCA) celebrated Homecoming the week of Oct. 27-Nov. 1 with a full schedule of campus and community events. Students, alumni and friends returned to Conway to reconnect, take part in campus traditions and show their UCA spirit. The week concluded with the crowning of Kyle Payne as Homecoming King and Abby Holycross as Queen.

Distinguished Alumni

2025 Laurels & Stripes, presented by Centennial Bank and co-chaired by Lisa and Brad Hegeman ’89, ’96, was UCA’s biggest night of the year as more than 300 attendees honored two new Distinguished Alumni, recognized donors who created 17 new scholarships over the last year and celebrated all of UCA’s many accomplishments.

Miss UCA 2025 Tori Kiser

After growing up participating in pageants and competing on dance teams, 2025 Miss UCA Tori Kiser was prepared to take the stage and advocate for her social impact initiative.

11th Annual UCA Day of Giving

The University of Central Arkansas raised $1.51 million in its 11th annual Day of Giving. The total is the fourth time the university has topped $1 million since 2020.

Bears are Central to NWA

Northwest Arkansas is among the nation’s fastest-growing areas for many reasons, and the University of Central Arkansas is one of them. As a long-standing pipeline of professional talent for Fayetteville, Springdale, Bentonville and Rogers, UCA is uniquely positioned to shape business, communities and culture in NWA.