ARKANSAS: Winter 2021-2022

ARKANSAS

For members of the Arkansas Alumni Association Inc.

Winter 2021-2022

For members of the Arkansas Alumni Association Inc. Winter 2021-2022 Vol. 71, No. 2

The 150th Anniversary EDITION

FALL 2021 POINTS OF PRIDE Alumni Association At-A-Glance Total scholarship impact to date is

6,856 awards

76 virtual events

held in the first 9 months of 2021, connecting with more than

2,732

totaling over

alumni, students, faculty, staff & friends.

$13,536,300

Alumni scholars represent all seven colleges and 46% participate in an

honors program

525 students share in the 546 scholarship awards totaling over

$1.16 million for the 2021/2022 academic year

Freshman Alumni Endowed Scholars

Current year scholars represent

18 states from Virginia to California and

two f Emily McMennamy 65 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

Carolina Redmond

ries. nt

eign cou r o

**Scholarship records as of October 5, 2021. Current year data is fluid with student changes.

Photo by Whit Pruitt

arkansas

WINTER / Vol 71, No. 2

For members of the Arkansas Alumni Association Inc.

4

The Past

The university’s growth during the last 150 years includes expansion of the academic programs, confronting iniquities of the past, and broadening the mission of the U of A.

34 The Present 54

Come As You Arkansas and the 2021 Homecoming anchored this year’s commemoration of the university’s sesquicentennial, which continues into the spring semester.

The Future

The U of A continues building toward a better and bright future with programs of research, arts, honors and service to students who want to excel at their academics.

2 Campus View 10 Graduate School 17 Colleges and Schools 23 Athletics 64 Forward Look

On the Cover: The corn field of alumni Bob and Pat Schaefers provided a natural canvas for a sesquicentennial maze.

WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 1

ARKANSAS

Campus View

Celebrating the YOU of A University Relations

Ron Rainey ✪ B.S.A.’91, M.S.’93, Ph.D.’01

Publisher Arkansas Alumni Association

Executive Director Brandy Cox Jackson ✪ M.A.’07 Editor Charlie Alison ★ B.A.’82, M.A.’04 Associate Editor Catherine Baltz ✪+ B.S.’92, M.Ed.’07 Creative Director Eric Pipkin Photo Editor Russell Cothren ✪

The University of Arkansas celebrates 150 years of delivering on its landgrant mission. Its mission is to foster innovation through research, teaching and extension — disseminating discoveries to every community across Arkansas. As I reflect on the amazing legacy of those transformational discoveries and ongoing investments in human capital, three areas overflow my thinking.

First, I celebrate the overwhelming educational, social, economic and environmental cumulative impacts on our state and globally. Just think for a moment about the individual alums who have been a part of the U of A legacy. Our Razorback family includes a U.S. president, senators and representatives at state and national level, governors, mayors, CEOs, entrepreneurs, athletes, entertainers, artists, husbands, mothers and countless innovators. The University of Arkansas continues to play an instrumental role in developing skills that lead countries, states, companies, communities and most importantly families. The collective impact is immeasurable as we reflect on the U of A’s 150-year history.

So, as we look to the next century of innovation, I am overwhelmed with pride thinking of the ongoing contributions.

As we think on the social equity of those past and future changes, it is my hope that the U of A will lead our country going forward to address some of the inequities that resulted because of some of our social and legal systems that shackle our innovations. We cannot move forward meeting the full potential of the land-grant mission unless we fully accept our role in ensuring that all communities are equally able to benefit from U of A innovations.

2 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

Secondly, I think of the U of A’s longest tradition, Senior Walk. The YOU of A cares so much about each of its graduates that we engrave the names of each graduate in stone forever, etched on the sidewalks. This honor includes more than 200,000 names engraved on more than 4 miles of sidewalks proudly displayed across our beautiful campus.

It is important to think of the collective impact of each one of those individual graduates. More importantly, we should recognize the exponential synergy of all of the lives touched by each graduate.

Those impacts have and continue to lead families, communities, businesses, states, our country and foreign countries. It is important for us to ponder the global impact of our graduates socially and economically.

Lastly, I invite you to ponder your personal journey with the U of A as a graduate, friend and/or supporter. As I reflect on my journey, I think of all the things that Fayetteville and the U of A added to my life. During my time at the U of A, I found my spouse and lifelong relationships that continue to impact my life both personally and professionally. I want to mention a few of those influences on the pages of this issue. First and foremost is my family. Not only did I meet my lovely wife, Jenel, in Fayetteville but I was able to share Senior Walk with my beautiful daughter, Marlee, in the spring of 2021.

She is first author on this article as she serves as my editor for all my association president letters. Regardless of where life takes her, my daughter’s journey includes the U of A. From her early years, when she literally thought she was a U of A (Campus View continued on page 63)

Photographers Chieko Hara Whit Pruitt ★ B.A.’17 Writers & Contributors Andy Albertson M.F.A.’13 DeLani Bartlette B.A.’06 M.A.’08 Robby Edwards Jennifer Holland ★ M.E.D.’08 Kendall Curlee Shannon Magsam Matt McGowan Mark Rushing ✪ B.A.’93 Amy Schlesing B.A.’11 Amy Unruh M.A.’20 MEMBERSHIP SYMBOLS ✩ Student Member; ★ Member; ★+ Member, A+; ✪ Life Member; ✪+ Life Member, A+ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor are accepted and ­encouraged. Send letters for publication to Arkansas Magazine, Office of University ­R elations, 200 Davis Hall, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701. Letters should be no longer than 250 words and may be edited for length. Typewritten letters are preferred. Anonymous letters will not be published. Submission does not guarantee publication.

Arkansas, E xc l u s i ve l y fo r M e m b e r s of the Arkansas Alumni Association, Inc. (ISSN 1064-8100) (USPS 009-515) is published quarterly by the Arkansas Alumni Association, Inc. at 491 North Razorback Road, Fayetteville, AR 72701.

Annual membership dues are now $55 per household and a portion is allocated for a subscription to Arkansas. Single copies are $6. Editing and production are provided through the UA Office of University Relations. Direct inquiries and information to P.O. Box 1070, Fayetteville, AR 72702-1070, phone (479) 575-2801, fax (479) 575-5177.

Periodical postage paid at Fayetteville, AR, and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to P.O. Box 1070, ­Fayetteville, AR 72702-1070.

ARKANSAS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Mission Statement The Arkansas Alumni Association connects and serves the University of Arkansas Family.

Vision Statement The Arkansas Alumni Association will be nationally recognized as a model alumni relations program.

Value Statement The Arkansas Alumni Association values: • service • excellence • collaboration • relationships • diversity • learning • creativity Arkansas WINTER-2021-2022-165 All photos by University Relations unless otherwise noted.

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Portrait of Progress

James McGahee Among the first students to enroll at the U of A in 1872 was James McGahee of Woodruff County. At the time of its founding, the U of A was called the Arkansas Industrial University, and its board of trustees announced that it was “throwing the institution open to all without regard to race, sex, or sect.” The new land-grant university offered 219 four-year scholarships, and McGahee was one of the beneficiaries.

Even though the university’s charter did not deny access to students of color, McGahee was not integrated into the then all-white classes. Instead, he was taught separately

by Noah Gates, the first president of the university.

According to newspaper reports of the time, McGahee was studying for the ministry of the Episcopalian Church, and his grades were excellent.

However, McGahee appears to have studied at the U of A only through the end of the 1873 academic year, perhaps due to the end of Reconstruction in Arkansas or perhaps because a Branch Normal College of the 4 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

university had been approved for Black students to attend at Pine Bluff, starting in 1875.

Regardless, he would be the last African American student to attend the U of A until Silas Hunt enrolled 75 years later in 1948. McGahee’s name dropped into obscurity and was only revived when professor Gordon Morgan M.A.’56 wrote about rumors that Black students had attended the university in its early days. A graduate student from the Department of History unearthed McGahee’s last name and then found his first name in the first Catalog of Studies.

uring the 1871-72 winter, the building at right was D hastily erected to serve as the first classrooms for the Arkansas Industrial University. It contained brand new student desks, maps on the walls and a bookshelf upstairs that was the beginning of the university’s library. The large number of students who enrolled during the spring caused the university to add the building at left and attach the two together by a covered walkway at the back end of the buildings.

Photo courtesy Special Collections

The Inaugural Year

The Building of Campus as Seen by Its First Graduate

BY RAJENDRA GUPTA

The Arkansas Industrial University, known today as the University of Arkansas, opened its doors to eight students on Jan. 22, 1872, but more students arrived throughout the spring semester. About March 1, a student named William J. Waggener B.A. 1876, M.A. 1885 enrolled for the classes. He was among the first graduating class of six students to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree from AIU in 1876. As a matter of fact, by happenstance, he was the first one to receive the degree, making him the first among the firsts.

In 1885, the Board of Trustees of AIU also conferred upon him an honorary Master of Arts degree. Waggener became the first professor of physics at the University of Colorado and is credited with starting the department of physics there.

Years later, Waggener wrote a long letter to Marie Gates Southworth, daughter of the first president of the University, Noah P. Gates. The letter describes in detail his observations and experiences during his tenure at the university, 1872-76.

Waggener described the physical facilities: The classes started in a hastily built two-story frame building “standing hidden among the black-oak trees.” All classes that first semester were held in that building.

“The next building, likewise a two-story frame but larger in all dimensions than the first, was erected during the summer vacation between the first and second years. It stood westward of the first building and was united with that by hallways, roofed over and enclosed. Over the nextfollowing summer vacation, an addition of corresponding size was made to and in the rear of this second building.”

And, “At the end of the fourth year of work (near about the middle of June, 1875) the main building was so nearly completed that the closing exercises for that year were held in the chapel of that building.”

By the end of the spring semester, he said he recalled “that they quite comfortably filled the whole of one floor of the temporary two-story building, when they all came together, as they did at certain times every day. At a very rough guess, I should say they were from fifty to one hundred of them.”

Waggener pointed out that the public schools in

Arkansas were in the germinal stages at that time although some academies of transient nature were in operation.

“Under these circumstances a body of students adequately prepared to enter a college course was not possible; nor could this preparation, either at the outset or for many years thereafter, be made in the state, except at the university itself and herein lay perhaps the heaviest task of the pioneer teachers at the University.”

The fractional opening year was almost wholly devoted to filling gaps.

“For the great majority of the students there were, along with studies of preparatory or high-school grade, also reviews of arithmetic, geography, English grammar and reading: and sometimes the whole body of pupils were put together through general exercises of a practical character, sometimes mathematical, sometimes elocutionary, sometimes in grammatical precision of speech and so forth. On some occasions this general meeting was organized into the form of a debating society and made an extemporaneous discussion of some question proposed by the instructor, who at the time guided and aided, by criticism and otherwise, the participants; and thus introduced these to a knowledge of parliamentary rules, and of the ethics and etiquette of debate. Out of these last mentioned lessons grew the first literary and debating society in the University. It was formed during the first year and started chiefly under the guidance of Miss Gorton, but with much helpful advice and kindly criticism from President Gates also.”

The first teachers were President Noah P. Gates, professor Mary R. Gorton, and professor Charles H. Leverett.

Waggener had nothing but the highest praise for the pioneer teachers. “It must be said however that its members, with very few exceptions indeed were men and women who, like the three that conducted work of the opening year, put their hearts and souls into their work and labored for the welfare of their young charges with a devotion and earnestness so far surpassing that of the mere place-holder that their deep and friendly interest made itself seen and felt by all: and this earnestness and untiring activity went far — very far indeed — to compensate for the smallness of the number of workers.”

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Portrait of Progress

Anna Putman B.A.1884 In the 1870s, women had few educational opportunities, but Fayetteville, as the home of the Fayetteville Female Seminary, was a haven for women’s education.

Indeed, when the Arkansas Industrial University (later renamed the University of Arkansas) first opened its doors in 1872, one of the first students to enroll was a woman named Anna Putman.

As the only woman in the class of eight, Putman was discouraged at first - newspaper accounts said on her first day at the university, she “wept copious tears,” and tried to “induce girl friends of hers to keep her company in the class room.” She went home and told her mother that

6 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

she “would never go to that boys’ school again.” But her mother went to their neighbors and persuaded them to let their daughter, Margaret Campbell, enroll as well. The two young women were great friends during their college years, and remained so throughout their lives.

Putman — along with six other women — was in the first graduating class, earning her B.A. from what was then called the Normal Department, which trained students to become educators. She went on to teach at schools in the Indian Territory in Oklahoma, then became principal at the Indian Seminary. Later she would go on to teach at Fayetteville Public Schools for more than 50 years, and was an early teacher at the Greenwood Normal College. She continued her teaching career even after marriage, which was uncommon in those days.

She passed away in 1928 at her home in Fayetteville.

William J. Waggener

The First Graduate of the University

BY RAJENDRA GUPTA

law for a few short years and went back to About five weeks after the classes started teaching, which he had been doing during at the university, a new student, William most of the time that he was in Colorado.

J. Waggener of Farmington, enrolled for Teaching is what, it appears, was his the classes. Four years later, he became by primary interest. He was principal of the happenstance the first college graduate of Del Norte Public Schools in Colorado for a the university in 1876. brief period before he resigned in 1885 The class of 1876, by a vote, elected to accept a professorship at the University Waggener the class poet and class prophet. of Colorado.

Yes, there was a class prophet among Waggener returned to AIU to receive the first class. In this capacity, he wrote an honorary master’s degree in 1885. No and read the class prophecy in verse to William J. Waggener information is available as to why the Board the graduating class, the faculty, and the Trustees decided to confer an honorary attending public on June 15, 1876. That A.M. degree on him. This was just before long poem, after some revisions, was he was to join the University of Colorado as the professor published in the form of a booklet titled, Vox Clamantis of natural sciences. One wonders as to where he learned in Academia. his advanced physics. Bartlett and Kraushaar state: “As In the introduction to this poem, he lists the names far as can be determined, before coming to Colorado, of the six graduates who received their A.B. degrees Waggener developed his very considerable knowledge in that same day and states: “Upon these six, at that time, his undergraduate study at the University of Arkansas, was conferred the degree of Bachelor of Arts: and they and/ or later in self-study.” were the first graduates to receive any degree from the He had to have been self-taught because only University of Arkansas: also, in the actual course of the introductory physics was being taught at AIU when he ceremonies, I was the first of the six to receive the degree; was a student here, and the first physics professor was not and the other five followed immediately: and the order employed until 1907. had no special significance, as there was no ranking of At the University of Colorado, he was the first and the the graduates.”

Following his graduation, Waggener spent an additional only physics professor during his entire 13-year tenure at the University of Colorado. Bartlett and Kraushaar year at AIU as a tutor. He went on to ultimately become wrote: “The arrival of Professor Waggener in the Fall of the first physics professor at the University of Colorado, 1885 marks the real start of physics at the University Boulder. Records available at Colorado indicate that of Colorado.” He designed new physics courses, during the period of 1885 to 1898, William J. Waggener acquired laboratory spaces, and designed new laboratory was variously listed as a professor of natural sciences, equipment. He remained at the University of Colorado natural philosophy, physical sciences, and physics and until 1898, when ill health forced him to resign. astronomy. He is credited with having inaugurated the Bartlett and Kraushaar wrote: “Almost single handedly university’s Department of Physics. he built a Department of Physics where none had Albert Bartlett and Jack Kraushaar of the University of Colorado pieced together a great deal of information from existed before. There must have been many elements of frustration in this tremendous task. … He was vigorous in available public sources about Waggener’s activities after his devotion to teaching both physics and astronomy.” he left AIU in 1877. Noteworthy among these is that he Waggener died in Los Angeles on Jan. 16, 1942, at the studied law at a law firm in Denver and was admitted to age of 86. the Colorado bar on May 12, 1880. He only practiced

WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 7

Portrait of Progress

George Howard Jr. B.S.L.’54, LL.B.’54 George Howard Jr., one of the Six Pioneers in the U of A School of Law, became a civil rights leader after graduation and the first African American justice to serve on the Supreme Court of Arkansas.

Howard was born in 1924 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and later recalled that the racism he experienced in the navy led to his choice of a career in law.

After the war, Howard enrolled in Lincoln University in Missouri. However, when he learned that the University of Arkansas was accepting applications from Black students, he transferred to the U of A in 1950. He was the first Black person to reside in campus housing and became the first Black student to hold an elective office on campus when he successfully ran for president of Lloyd Halls.

After earning law degrees, Howard returned to Pine Bluff and opened a private law practice, where he became a leader in the state’s civil rights movement. He litigated 8 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

numerous suits aimed at ending discrimination and segregation in the school systems, theaters and other public places, while also seeking to remedy the inequalities in the criminal justice system.

Over the course of his life, Howard broke down racial barriers in the courts. In 1970, Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller appointed Howard to the Arkansas State Claims Commission, making him the first Black person to sit on that panel. Later, Gov. David Pryor B.A.’57, LL.B.’64 asked him to fill an unexpired term on the Arkansas Supreme Court, earning him the distinction of being the first African American justice.

Howard finished out the term and returned to private practice, only to be called on six months later by another Arkansas governor, Bill Clinton, who appointed Howard to the Arkansas Court of Appeals, another first.

While Howard was serving on the Court of Appeals, President Jimmy Carter nominated him to fill a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, making him the first African American in Arkansas to serve as a federal judge.

Howard was still working diligently when he died in 2007 at the age of 83.

Silas Hunt Makes Educational History

Enrollment Begins Long and Arduous Desegregation of U of A

BY CHARLIE ALISON ★ B.A.’82, M.A.’04

in Fayetteville’s black community and bring On Feb. 2, 1948, Silas Herbert Hunt a lunch with him. arrived in Fayetteville to seek admission In April, the Arkansas State Press to the School of Law. He had planned reported hearing from Hunt and that to attend law school at the University “it won’t be long before the Arkansas of Indiana but was inspired to enroll at Negro will have a leader to pull him the U of A after a friend Ada Lois Sipuel from under the oppression of white was denied entrance to the University of supremacists,” adding that “Mr. Hunt Oklahoma and had just won her lawsuit advises the Negro to get off his knees and days earlier. fight for racial equality.”

With Hunt were Wiley Branton, Harold Tragically, Hunt suffered a hemorrhage Flowers, a lawyer from Little Rock, and of one of his lungs, apparently caused Gelieve Grice, a photographer for the by tuberculosis, in July 1948. He was AM&N College newspaper. Since its treated initially at the Veterans Hospital opening, the U of A had admitted students in Fayetteville, but had to withdraw from of every other race and ethnicity: white, classes before the fall semester began and Asian, Native American, and Latino, but was moved to the veterans hospital at it had not admitted blacks since the fall Springfield, Missouri, where he died in semester of 1873. Seventy-five years.

April 1949. The university awarded a law Dean Leflar reviewed Hunt’s academic degree posthumously to Hunt in 2008 on record and found it satisfactory. He Top, Silas Herbert Hunt at admitted Hunt and sent him to the the Dickson Street entrance the 60th anniversary of his enrollment.

Following him, Jackie Shropshire registrar’s office to enroll in classes. to campus in 1948. Above, Jackie Shropshire, who LL.B.’51 enrolled in the School of Law Branton, who wanted to enroll in the entered the School of Law in fall 1948; Benjamin Franklin Lever College of Business, was turned down in fall 1948.

M.S.’51, M.Ed.’55, D.A.S.’64, Dorris on the basis that AM&N offered some Tate Hamilton and Dorothy Hoover M.A.’64 enrolled as undergraduate business courses. University officials told graduate students; and Edith Mae Irby B.S.’52, M.D.’52 Branton that they wanted to integrate in a gradual way enrolled in the university’s College of Medicine in Little to avoid inflaming passions of the white majority in Arkansas. Branton accepted the decision without liking it. Rock.

Lever, Hamilton, Hoover and Irby took classes Hunt’s action to enroll in the U of A was the first step alongside white students from the beginning of their in desegregation of the Southern educational system, six admission. President Jones described discussions of years before Brown v Board of Education. His enrollment segregated medical or agricultural facilities as absurd. also began a long and arduous desegregation of the Would an agricultural student need to maintain a separate University of Arkansas. row of crops? Would a medical student be required to When he started his law courses, Hunt was required use a cadaver of the same race? The Graduate School and to take them in a separate room downstairs from the rest the College of Medicine integrated entirely. Similarly, the of the white students. He had to use a separate restroom Graduate Centers were operated with integrated classes and seek permission from a secretary whenever he wanted from the start. to use it. He wasn’t allowed in the law library but had to It would take 25 years, a lawsuit filed by two Black request that law books be sent to him. He couldn’t live on students and student protests to remove the policies and campus or eat at campus dining halls, but rather had to procedures that perpetuated segregation into the 1970s. walk a mile and a half from the home where he boarded WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 9

Portrait of Progress

Dorothy Hoover M.A.’54 Dorothy Hoover, an aeronautical research scientist, provided the mathematical equations necessary to design swept-back jet plane wings that allowed supersonic speed while maintaining stability. Later, she worked as a mathematician, solving mathematical problems for the theoretical division at the Goddard Space Flight Center during the America race into space.

A native of Hope, Arkansas, Hoover earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics in 1938 from Arkansas AM&N, now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and then a master’s degree from Atlanta University before taking a job as a mathematician at Langley Research Center. Hoover worked with Robert T. Jones, the premier aeronautical engineer of the century, on development of swept-back wings and co-authored a research report on supersonic lift and tapered wings. By the time she left Langley, her job title was aeronautical research scientist.

Hoover came to the U of A in 1953 just as the 10 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

university started integration. In 1954, she and another student became the first Black women to earn master’s degrees from the university. Hoover was the only student to earn a Master of Arts in physics that year. While at the university, she wrote a research paper, “On Estimates of Error in Numerical Integration,” that was published in the Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science. After graduation, she then received a John Hay Whitney Foundation Opportunity Fellowship to pursue doctoral work at the University of Michigan.

In 1959, she was hired by the Goddard Space Center, where she combined her work in physics with her background in mathematics to co-author an article titled “Non-Separable Theory of Electron-Hydrogen Scattering” and contributed more groundbreaking research for flight both within and beyond earth’s atmosphere.

Author Margot Lee Shetterly included Hoover in her book, Hidden Figures, nicknaming her as the “other Dorothy” among the small pool of Black women who provided the calculations and proofs necessary for space flight. She described Hoover as “exceptionally fluent in abstract mathematical concepts and complex equations.”

Graduate School

Expanding the University’s Reach and Service

BY CHARLIE ALISON ★ B.A.’82, M.A.’04

By the mid-1920s, though, the number In the late 1800s, a young woman of faculty who held doctoral degrees had described as “tender, unselfish, loving, grown to nearly 50, and many of the considerate, brave” and having a “gentle departments now had sufficient labs and disposition” began work on a master’s library resources to support graduate degree. Leila Ruth Droke B.A. 1903, the research. On May 5, 1927, the university’s oldest daughter of mathematics professor Board of Trustees announced the creation George W. Droke B.A., M.A.1880, of the Graduate School and appointed John LL.D.1892 had earned a Bachelor of Arts Clark Jordan as its first dean. President in 1903 and helped found the Arkansas John C. Futrall reported that 59 students chapter of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. were pursuing graduate degrees, adding: After her graduation, she took a job “Establishment of a graduate school at the teaching Latin and English at Springdale University is the outgrowth of the rapidly High School. After two years of teaching, increasing demand on the part of people of though, she returned to the university to the state for work leading to the degrees of pursue graduate studies with the intention master of arts and master of science.” of attaining a master’s degree.

In the late 1940s, the Graduate School The university had not awarded many integrated its ranks. Benjamin Franklin graduate-level degrees. Prior to 1900, the Lever M.S.’51, M.E.’55, D.A.S.’64 was university had awarded a few master’s the first Black student to pursue a graduate degrees and at least two doctoral degrees Top to bottom, Leila Ruth degree in agronomy and graduated in 1951. to faculty members for doing research in Droke and Benjamin No effort was made to develop doctoral their respective fields of study, more in an Franklin Lever. programs until after World War II. honorary way. For instance, a Master of Today, the graduate school boasts a record-breaking Arts was awarded in 1883 to Sara Eugenia Harris, who enrollment, with 4,415 graduate students enrolled had earned her bachelor’s degree with the university’s in fall 2021. Recently retired Dean Patricia R. Koski first graduating class and was then appointed an adjunct placed a high value on increasing diversity within the professor of English and history. She was advanced to full professor upon award of the master’s degree, but there was graduate student body, promoting funding, programs and recruitment of underrepresented students. no general graduate degree plan at the time.

“For years, the administrators and staff of the Graduate Lucy Byrd Mock B.A. 1894, M.A. 1905 appears to be School have worked to make graduate education the first student to earn a master’s degree after curricular accessible to students from every part of Arkansas, the requirements were created at the end of the 1890s. She United States and the world,” Koski said. “As a result of earned Master of Arts in 1905. Droke, however, was that dedication, the Graduate School is well-positioned to the first student to follow a prescribed curriculum of expand even more in the coming years.” coursework and research that included writing a thesis Adding to the optimism for the future, the Graduate to fulfill partial requirements of a master’s degree at School expects to see accelerated growth and collaboration the university. For her thesis, she chose to translate in connection with the introduction of micro-credentials “The Legend of Walther of Acquitaine” from the epic for graduate students as well as the completion of the poem written during the 10th century by Ekkehard I, a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of St. Gall in Switzerland. Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research, a stateof-the-art collaborative framework designed to facilitate Development of a full-scale Graduate School remained the integration of research across disciplines. two decades away.

WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 11

Portrait of Progress

Mengjiao Liao B.A.’14, M.S.O.M.’16 Mengjiao Liao was just a high school student in her hometown in Hunan Province, China, when she was selected to travel to the United States as an international exchange student in Arkansas. Now a resident of Toronto, Canada, Liao is helping others achieve their dreams of studying internationally as one of the University of Arkansas’ most active international alumni.

Liao was already a college student at a different university when she accompanied a friend to a campus tour in Fayetteville on a typically beautiful fall afternoon.

“I wasn’t considering transferring, but I fell in love with the campus, went back home and started my application process,” she said.

Liao dove into activities as soon as she arrived on campus, volunteering for the International Culture Team in the Office of International Students and Scholars. She was active in the organization throughout her undergraduate and graduate years, making countless presentations to groups about life as an 12 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

international student.

“ICT was the way I shifted from being a guest on campus to a host,” she said. “Being involved with other people from all over the world is what prepared me most for life and my career.” After completing her master’s degree in Operations Management, Liao stayed in Arkansas for several years, working as a data analyst.

She has continued her volunteer work through a nonprofit organization in Canada that connects international immigrants and refugees with basic services.

The program reminds her of the lessons she learned at Arkansas, Liao said, attributing her experiences with a wide range of people at the U of A for her ability to talk to just about anyone from any culture.

“Arkansas inspired me to be outgoing, to be helpful to strangers,” she said. “I learned to be respectful of other cultures and how to introduce myself to others to learn more about the world,” Liao said.

Liao also remains actively involved with international programs at Arkansas as a donor to the ICT Scholarship Fund and as a mentor to countless international students in campus programs.

International Education

Broadening Minds While Broadening Horizons

BY CHARLIE ALISON ★ B.A.’82, M.A.’04

fall 1949, including the university’s first The first international student to attend Fulbright Scholar, Roger Meindre B.A.’50 the university came in 1880, less than a of Lyon, France. He was 22 years old when decade after the university opened. Saul he came to the U of A, and had earned Bertig was not only the first international bachelor’s degrees in mathematics, Latin student but also very likely the university’s and Greek at a business school in Paris, the first Jewish student. Bertig was from École des Haute Etudes Commerciales. He Galicia, Austria, and appears to have come continued his studies in the U of A College to the university because an older brother of Business Administration. had immigrated to Arkansas and started The other two students sponsored a business in Little Rock. He left the through the exchange program were Peggy university before graduating to work with A yearbook photo of Heim of France and Ingeborg von Groll his brother at Ozark. of Berlin, Germany, the very nation with Two decades later, a student named Oishi Ichitaro Takata, the first international student which America and the Allies had been at Zenki M.A.’06, a graduate of Kumamoto whose name appears on war just five years previous.

College in Japan, came to the University Senior Walk.

Von Groll had studied at the Free of Arkansas about 1905. He had studied University of Berlin, the University of Freiberg and the economics and political science at the University of Friederich Wilhelm University. She faced diffidence at Wisconsin at Madison. Zenki was the first international the U of A, not so much from Arkansans but rather from student to earn a degree at the university, a Master of Arts some of the international students whose countries had in 1906. been overrun by Germany during the war. Her stay at the Other international students continued to find their university changed her in ways she had not expected. At way to the university during the first half of the 20th the end of her year, she wrote: century, but an Arkansas alumnus was about to change “It is only through knowledge of each other that people the whole scheme of international education by the can come to mutual understanding, the understanding middle of the century. which is the key to many of today’s world problems.

In 1946, Sen. J. William Fulbright B.A. ’25, LL.D.’47, a My stay in Arkansas has brought me understanding former president of the university, introduced legislation to and, therefore, appreciation of America and Americans. create an international exchange program that would send For twelve years I was taught to distrust democracy and Americans abroad to learn about cultures foreign to their own experience and, in turn, bring international students to individual freedom — the Nazi state was everything and the individual’s highest virtue lay in unquestioning American universities so they could better understand us. obedience. Coming to Arkansas has given me my first Fulbright’s idea was born out of the tragedy of the opportunity to see democracy in practice and to breathe second World War and rooted in his own international an atmosphere of freedom.” experience as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.

On the flip side are the U of A students headed abroad.

Spurred by congressional approval of the bill, the Thousands of U of A students also undertake studyU of A president at the time, Lewis Jones, appointed a abroad coursework each year as a matter of broadening committee of faculty and students to determine ways that the university and community might make sure that these their own horizons.

Prior to the pandemic, more than 700 U of A students new Fulbright Scholars and other international students traveled abroad each year to study in far-flung cultures, would find the university a hospitable place to study and and the university hosted nearly 1,400 international feel a sense of “home.” students from around the world.

They raised enough to help support three students by WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 13

Portrait of Progress

Sandra Kurjiaka When Sandra Kurjiaka moved to Arkansas in 1972 with her family following the relocation of her husband’s job, she had no idea how much her life would change in the decade that followed. By the early ‘80s, she had come out as queer, left her husband, and fiercely advocated for the LGBTQ population as executive director of the Arkansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

While her office was in Little Rock, her work drew her to Fayetteville often. During the first PRIDE March in Fayetteville in the early 1980s, they found a bomb had been placed at the speaker’s podium. When officials wanted to call off the march, Kurjiaka insisted they go ahead with the event.

“I told the cops they’d have to do more than that to get us to call this off,” she said. “Fayetteville had such a reputation as being the only open place in Arkansas where gay people were okay. As things turned out, the truth was quite the opposite.”

Kurjiaka was also an early contact for the Gay and Lesbian Students Association, a student organization at the U of A that sought funding from the Associated 14 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

Student Government, but was denied. When a member of the association contacted Kurjiaka, she was flummoxed.

“Well of course they’re going to give you money,” Kurjiaka recalled with a laugh. “They had no way to say no.”

The Arkansas ACLU represented the association in a lawsuit, Gay and Lesbian Students Association v. Gohn, in which the lead lawyer, Clayton Blackstock, argued that denial of funding is a discrimination against gay and lesbian students and a violation of their Constitutional rights. A federal judge ruled that the funding decision did not amount to discrimination, but an appellate court overturned the lower court, saying, “We hold that a public body that chooses to fund speech or expression must do so even-handedly, without discriminating among recipients on the basis of their ideology. The University need not supply funds to student organizations; but once having decided to do so, it is bound by the First Amendment to act without regard to the content of the ideas being expressed.”

The decision remains a landmark legal decision for the advancement of LGBTQ rights in Arkansas and opened a path to greater tolerance and acceptance at the University of Arkansas.

BAD Influence

A Student Organization Drives Changes in Campus Culture

BY DELANI BARTLETTE B.A.’07, M.A.’08

for five minutes on stage [at the pep rally].

Despite a 1964 court ruling forcing the The president of BAD was supposed to U of A to integrate its dorms and treat all speak, air our grievances, and the plan was, students equally, Black students on campus we would then leave.” were still being treated as “unwanted Their request was denied, so members outsiders” in 1968. of BAD “marched onto the Greek Theater On April 4 that fateful year, Dr. Martin stage and just stood,” McKissic said. “When Luther King Jr. was murdered, and U of A we announced there would be no pep rally, students quickly organized a memorial rocks, cans, beer bottles, they filled the air,” march down Dickson Street in his honor. he said, crashing all around them.

Several students wrote letters to the The pep rally was moved to Barnhill, but editor of the Traveler criticizing what they the band didn’t play “Dixie” at the fateful viewed as “excessive” publicity of the event game. The song continued to be played and the Civil Rights movement in general. afterwards, though, and BAD kept pushing The Traveler published these letters without the U of A to stop playing “Dixie,” along comment. An African American student, with their other original demands.

John Rowe B.S.’68, wrote to the Traveler On March 6, 1970, about 70 members of responding to those critics. However, the BAD staged a “sit-down” in Mullins’ office Traveler did not print Rowe’s letter, asking Top, Bill Denman, dean until, as they put it, they got “a positive instead for repeated revisions. of students, talks with On May 14, 1968, about 70 students demonstrators. Above, the response” to the demands the university Traveler announces Gene had been “considering.” Mullins, Vice from the newly formed Black Americans McKissic’s ASG win.

President Denman, and several other top for Democracy along with the Southern administrators met with the group.

Student Organizing Committee engaged Hunt said he felt like they had gotten “a little more in their first public action, blocking access to the student newspaper’s building. The members of BAD criticized the positive response than before.”

Eventually, the final decision on “Dixie” rested with Traveler for “not representing the whole student body, and it therefore should not be published until there is a change newly appointed Razorback Band director, Eldon Janzen.

After consulting with the band, Janzen discontinued in discriminatory editorial policies.” playing it.

The group drew up a list of 13 demands and presented Throughout the rest of the 1970s, “BAD spoke to it to U of A President David Mullins ✪ B.A.’31, the issues that mattered most to students of color on LL.D.’83, but received little response. Gene McKissic B.A.’74, J.D.’76 said, “We had to do something dramatic, the Fayetteville campus.” It continued to push the university to expand its desegregation efforts. It started an so the university would take note, so the media would independent campus paper, BAD Times, and organized take note.” several programs and events by and for Black students.

That “something” would be at a pep rally on Nov. Its effect on the U of A proved enormous.

25, 1969, before the famous “shootout” between the Ritche Manley Bowden ✪ B.S.I.E.’86, past president of undefeated Razorbacks and their archrivals, No. 1-ranked the Black Alumni Society, put it this way: “The members of Texas. To heighten the stakes even more, then-President Richard Nixon would be attending the nationally televised BAD were trailblazers, and because of them, the university has an African American Studies Department, Black game. As McKissic said, “Fayetteville was the focal point athletes on scholarships, multicultural centers, the Office of of national sports attention and media.”

Diversity and Inclusion, and the Black Alumni Society.”

As part of their non-violent protest, he said, “We asked WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 15

Portrait of Progress

Wali Caradine B.Arch.’74, B.A.’74 Wali Caradine, who was born in 1949 in West Memphis, Arkansas, dreamed as a boy of becoming an architect. He was drawing and doodling from early on, and won an art contest in middle school. His seventh grade art teacher suggested a career in architecture - a profession he hadn’t known existed. His bicycle newspaper route - and a small stipend from his boss - helped fund his college education.

In 1974, Caradine became the first African American to graduate from what is now the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. The fourth of seven children, and the eldest boy, he was the only one in his family to attend college.

He received additional training after college at the Construction Management Institute in Dallas, and during his prolific career, he made contributions to both the design and construction industries. He began his career as a designer at Pat Kelley Magruder Architects in West Memphis, before eventually founding Design and Construction Associates in 1978, which became one of

16 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

the largest minority-owned contracting firms in Arkansas.

In the mid-1990s, Caradine returned to his first love of architecture and design, partnering with Ron Bene’ Woods to form Woods Caradine Architects. Working together more than a decade, their notable projects included two academic centers for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and the Statehouse Convention Center Expansion in Little Rock, and serving as associate architects for the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock.

Caradine also designed and built projects in the Pathfinder Complex in Jacksonville for Pathfinder Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides support services for people with developmental disabilities and behavioral health needs, and he also served on its board of directors for several years. He left Woods Caradine Architects in 2007 to form Caradine & Company, where he practiced until his retirement in early 2017.

Several mentors supported Caradine over the years, including John Williams, founder of the U of A’s architecture program. Caradine repaid that by mentoring many young professional architects and interior designers, and also helped found the Arkansas Chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors in 1986.

Colleges and Schools

Growth of Student Body, Fields of Study Prompted Organizational Changes

BY CHARLIE ALISON ★ B.A.’82, M.A.’04

Efforts were occasionally made in the 19th century to separate the university into colleges, at least on paper.

President Albert Bishop as early as 1874 contemplated the eventual creation of four colleges: a college of agriculture, a college of engineering, a college of natural science and a college of general science and literature.

Schools of military science and commerce were also anticipated, but nothing came of the plan until the 1890s, when a separation was stated in the catalogs of study, including creation of a Conservatory of Music, but this early separation proved artificial and ephemeral without enough student population to truly support separate colleges. By the early 20th century, though, the university had matured and grown enough to support the division.

Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences The turn of the century proved a turning point for agricultural studies. In 1905, the university established the College of Agriculture with William George Vincenheller appointed its first dean. At the same time, the Agriculture Building, which included classroom space and research labs, and a Dairy Building opened on campus, the first major additions since the Agricultural Experiment Station was built in 1888.

Although the university was established to provide agricultural education and research, few students signed up for the agricultural course of study during the first 30 years. This was a chicken-and-egg problem that affected most land-grant universities: a scarcity of faculty trained in the science of agriculture, few proper textbooks for agricultural studies, students who grew up in farm families and couldn’t see the need for “education” in agricultural ways, and the general difficulty that the university faced in a state without much support yet for public education.

Of the students who did come, most were assigned to the Preparatory Department and never pursued collegiatelevel study. Not until the end of the 19th century did student enrollment in agriculture reach double digits.

Albert E. Menke, superintendent of the university farm, even suggested that instead of a four-year degree, perhaps the agricultural program should offer a two-year diploma, something tangible that would let the state see that students were learning and making progress even if they weren’t earning degrees in large numbers.

In 1912, Reynolds successfully separated the College of Liberal Arts, Sciences and Engineering into two separate colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering.

Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences The College of Arts and Sciences by that time included ten departments: ancient languages; biology; chemistry; economics and sociology; English; history and political science; modern languages including German and the Romance languages; mathematics and astronomy; philosophy and pedagogy; and physics. Over the years, the college broadened its academic programs to a total of 17 departments, including anthropology; art; communication; geosciences; journalism; music; psychological science; social work; and theatre while some of the earlier departments have been split or renamed.

The college also developed numerous interdisciplinary programs of study that offered a secondary major, one that required a student to have a primary major, or a minor. These studies have included African and African American studies; American studies; Asian studies; gender studies; indigenous studies; interdisciplinary studies; international studies; Jewish studies; Latin American and Latino studies; medieval and Renaissance studies; Middle East studies; religious studies; and Southern studies.

College of Engineering Engineering was taught from the very beginning as part of the university’s mission to offer “education for the industrial classes.”

(College and Schools continued on page 19) WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 17

Portrait of Progress

Gayle Pontz LL.D.’37 Although women have attended and graduated from the University of Arkansas from its very beginning, Gayle Pettus Pontz was the first woman to graduate from the University of Arkansas School of Law, earning her LL.B. in 1937.

Born in Louisiana, Pontz came to Arkansas as a young girl when her family moved to Arkadelphia. At the U of A she studied law alongside Marjorie Hunt and 39 male students in their law class. While a student, Pontz served as secretary for the U of A Bar Association and was on the university’s Honor Roll.

After graduation, she returned to her home state of Louisiana, where she embarked on a distinguished legal career, breaking barriers as she went. She served at the first woman assistant to the U.S. Attorney for the State

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of Louisiana and as a law clerk for the Louisiana State Supreme Court and the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal before her retirement in 1978.

In 1985, the Women Law Students Association in the School of Law established an award in her name to recognize university alumnae, women law students, and others who best represent the accomplishments of women and the legal community as a whole.

Recipients of the annual award are recognized for their work in helping women thrive in law school, creating a community that will raise awareness of women’s issues, and advancing women in the legal profession. Pontz was the first to receive the award, which has since been awarded to several renowned women in law including Elsijane Trimble Roy ✪ J.D.’39, LL.B.’39, Susan Webber Wright, ★+ M.P.A.’73, J.D.’75 and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

(College and schools continued from page 17)

By 1912 when the College of Engineering was created, it already included separate departments of civil engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Occasionally other programs of study such as mining engineering were added or deleted from the offerings. The first dean was William N. Gladson D.Eng.’38, who had taught electrical engineering since 1894. Over the years, the college added departments of biological and agricultural engineering; biomedical engineering; chemical engineering; computer science and computer engineering; and industrial engineering.

The college also offers a graduate program in operational management, which offers online education primarily for active-duty armed forces members stationed around the world, and more recently added an interdisciplinary undergraduate program in data science.

Its research programs tend to pursue real-world solutions for known challenges, the sort of research that benefits Arkansans but also the world beyond, from building better highways to improving the resilience of the power grid to developing bio-delivery methods for medicine targeted specifically at disrupting cancer cells while avoiding nearby healthy cells.

Most recently, the college spear-headed development of an interdisciplinary major in data science with concentrations offered through Fulbright College and the Sam M. Walton College of Business.

College of Education and Health Professions The “Normal Department” was renamed the School of Education in 1913 and eventually the College of Education in 1917. During the 19th and early 20th century, the program was primarily intended to teach undergraduate students about the best methods of teaching elementary and secondary-age students.

Education students followed a three-year curriculum for most of that period, although the university could award a teaching license to any student, regardless of their course of study, who had finished at least two years of college classes. James R. Jewell LL.D.’27 was appointed the first dean in 1913, and a Bachelor of Science in Education was approved the next year to provide a four-year degree, and a master’s degree was added in 1916. In 2002, when nursing restarted on the Fayetteville campus, it’s name was broadened to the College of Education and Health Professions.

In the 1950s, the Ford Foundation’s Fund for the Advancement of Education provided a grant for the

university to create a five-year program that would allow a student to pursue a normal major for deeper learning in an academic program and then take education courses as well to finish with a degree and a teaching license. It was an innovative program nationally that worked well for college students wanting to become high school teachers in specific subjects but less so for elementary teachers who needed a broader knowledge base. When the grant ran out, the college dropped the program.

The college’s single teacher education program evolved in name to the curriculum and education program and grew to include 24 programs: adult and lifelong learning; athletic training; career and technical education; childhood and elementary education; communication sciences and disorders; community college leadership; counselor education; education policy; educational equity; educational leadership; educational studies; educational statistics and research methods; educational technology; education reform; English as a second language; exercise science; higher education; human resource and workforce development; kinesiology; nursing; occupational therapy; physical education; public health; recreation and sport management; secondary education; and special education.

School of Law The university attempted to create a law school at the Fayetteville campus in 1890, but the program found only a handful of students and very little serious intent on the part of local lawyers who served as instructors.

It was abandoned the next year. Instead, Dean Frank Goar was encouraged to work with the Little Rock Law Class to organize it as a School of Law under the auspices of the university, to operate in a fashion similar to the university’s medical college in Little Rock. This class, which started in 1868, became part of the university in 1893 and operated as part of the university until 1913, when the Board of Trustees severed ties with it.

A decade later, the university restarted a School of Law at the Fayetteville campus with Julian S. Waterman serving as the first dean. The school and a student editorial board began publishing the Arkansas Law Review in 1947 to serve state lawyers with an understanding of recent cases affecting Arkansas law. In 1973, Bill Clinton joined the law faculty as an instructor, and Hillary Rodham soon after became a faculty member as well.

While on the faculty, the two were married at a house just off campus, now owned by the university and operated by the city of Fayetteville as a museum about the future (College and Schools continued on page 21) WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 19

Portrait of Progress

Mary Anne Davis Mary Anne Davis became a role model to hundreds of women on the University of Arkansas campus during her 46 years as a teacher of English and mathematics, as the dean of women for more than a decade and as an early suffragist in Arkansas.

Davis was born Feb. 1, 1873, at North Middleton, Kentucky, and studied at New York University, the University of Chicago and Hamilton College in Lexington, Kentucky, where she was valedictorian of her class, graduating with special honors in mathematics.

At the age of 20, she was elected the Arkansas delegate to the 1893 convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, hearing speeches in Washington, D.C., by Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy Stone, among others.

That same year, she was hired by the university as an instructor in the Preparatory Department, teaching students age 15-18. She served in that role for more than a decade before being promoted to the faculty of the 20 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

English Department in 1915. In teaching poetry, she became a well-regarded poet in her own right.

In 1897, Davis guided several students in the founding of the Delta Phi, the second sorority on campus. It affiliated with the national Zeta Tau Alpha sorority in 1903, becoming its fourth Zeta chapter in the country.

Davis became dean of women in 1911. In that role, she became a favorite consort and mentor to the women of Carnall Hall, the only women’s residence hall on campus at the time. The residents held annual celebrations for “Miss Mary’s Birthday Party,” commemorating Davis’ 30th birthday, no matter her real age.

She died of pneumonia on Dec. 26, 1939.

“A vivid personality, the Arkansas Alumnus wrote, “Miss Mary Anne’s memorable quality was her zest for life. This was reflected in her teaching of English.

She inspired her students with a love for literature, particularly poetry.”

Three years later, the second women’s residence hall opened at the northeast corner of Maple Street and Garland Avenue, and it was named Davis Hall in her memory.

(College and schools continued from page 19)

president and secretary of state. Bill Clinton started his political career while at the university in 1974, running unsuccessfully for Congress and then successfully for Arkansas attorney general, governor and then president of the United States. In 1975, Hillary Clinton founded the School of Law’s Legal Clinic, an outreach service that allowed law students to gain legal experience representing real local clients while under the mentorship of law professors. She served as first lady of Arkansas and the United States before entering politics, becoming a U.S. senator from New York and then serving as U.S. secretary of state. The Legal Clinic continues to meet new needs, expanding over the years to include federal practice, immigration cases, human-trafficking issues and transactional law cases, among others.

Sam M. Walton College of Business In 1926, the university created a School of Business Administration with a two-year curriculum open to students who had completed two years of general education work. Twenty-six students enrolled the first year. In 1937, the name was changed to the College of Business Administration and the curricular requirements were changed to a full four-year program.

In 1998, the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation made a gift of $50 million to the college of business to providing support for faculty and students as well as funding for establishment of research and service centers. The gift was the largest in American history offered to a business school at the time. The Board of Trustees named the college of business in honor of Sam M. Walton, the Arkansas retailer who started with a couple of dime stores and turned them into Walmart, the world’s largest retail company. Walton’s widow, Alice Walton said of the gift: “We believe that a nationally competitive business school at Arkansas’ flagship university will be a cornerstone of economic development for our state and region, and will make important contributions to the national and global marketplace as well. We have seen the College of Business Administration make rapid strides in quality and impact over the last five years, and trust that this gift will help propel it into the ranks of the nation’s truly great business schools.”

Indeed, the college rose in national rankings and has remained among the top 30 public business schools in the country for nearly two decades. The college has

added a Graduate School of Business and offers programs in accounting; blockchain enterprise systems; economics; finance; information systems; international business; management; marketing; retail; and supply chain management.

Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design The teaching of architecture courses began in the Department of Civil Engineering prior to World War II, and the program became a Department of Architecture in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1948, joining the other fine arts departments in the new Fine Arts Center in 1950. The department moved to Vol Walker Hall in 1969 when it became available after the opening of Mullins Library. Then it became an independent School of Architecture in 1976. By then the program in landscape architecture had been added, and in 2010, the program in interior design, which had started in Bumpers College, was migrated to the school as well.

In 1985, Verna C. Garvan donated a 210-acre tract of forest along the banks of Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs to the landscape architecture program for development as a tourist attraction. Garvan Woodland Gardens opened to the public in 2001 and continues to provide students with field opportunities in landscape architecture and architecture all the while becoming a premier botanical garden of the south-central United States. In 1995, the school created another outreach program, a Community Design Center with professional staff guiding students through projects to give cities in Arkansas ways to use the built environment to solve challenges being faced, whether it was controlling stormwater flooding, restoring neighborhoods or envisioning a transportation network for a community. The center routinely wins national and international awards for its innovative and holistic designs, weaving architecture and landscape architecture into the existing tapestry of a community.

In 2009, the school was named in honor of Fay Jones ★+ B.Arch.’50, an alumnus among its first class of graduates, a professor and first dean when the school was created, and a renowned architect and recipient of the American Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal whose masterwork, Thorncrown Chapel near Eureka Springs, was named No. 4 by the AIA in its list of the greatest American architectural designs of the 20th century.

The school broadened its name to cover “architecture and design” in 2015, and as if to add an exclamation mark, the school started its first graduate program — a Master of Design — in 2018.

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Portrait of Progress

Jon Richardson More than a half-century ago, Jon Richardson stepped onto the field as the first Black scholarship football player at the U of A, blazing the way for thousands of future Razorbacks in all sports. While other African-American players had been part of the football team as walk-ons prior to his arrival on campus, Richardson’s career helped change the course of the history of the Razorbacks, the university and the entire state of Arkansas.

The native of Little Rock lettered for coach Frank Broyles’ Razorbacks from 1970-72. As a tailback, Richardson was second on the team in rushing in 1970 with 441 yards and nine touchdowns on 104 carries.

He ranked third on the squad with 17 receptions for 240 yards and a score on a team that went 9-2 and finished the season ranked No. 11 in the nation in his sophomore season.

In 1971, Richardson was third on the club with 483

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yards rushing and three touchdowns on 104 carries, including a career-best effort of 154 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Oklahoma State. He hauled in 13 catches for 87 yards in helping the Hogs to an 8-3-1 mark and a No. 16 national ranking.

As a senior, he ranked second on the team with 313 yards on 97 attempts and led the squad with seven touchdowns. He tallied 14 receptions for 105 yards, ranking him fourth on the squad. He also broke the school record with 501 yards in kickoff return yardage in his final collegiate campaign. His 19 rushing touchdowns still ranks on the U of A career record list.

Richardson was inducted into the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor in 2005 and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2019, Richardson was selected to the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame.

Although Richardson passed away in 2002, his legacy continues to live on through the countless AfricanAmerican men and women who have represented the University of Arkansas as Razorbacks.

A Winning Tradition

Razorbacks Offer Arkansas a Team to Rally Round field, won most of their games that season In the 1880s, students petitioned the and then traveled to Mississippi to play for Board of Trustees to set aside 2.5 acres of the “championship of the south” against the campus for baseball and football and the Mississippi State College for Women. asked for funding to improve the grounds.

Their send-off from Fayetteville included The trustees agreed to set aside the land a parade, the cadet band and hundreds of but would not approve any funding, so people wishing them well at the depot on whatever improvements occurred came at Dickson Street. Arkansas won the contest the industry of the students.

12-9 and was invited by the University Companies of cadets competed against of Illinois to play in the “national each other in a “Foot ball match” as well championship” to finish their season, by as tug of war, foot races and a greasedthen into early 1910. President Tillman pig chase during Thanksgiving of 1886. and Coach Bezdek, however, stopped the The first intercollegiate games in football, program, saying that the basketball games tennis, baseball, and track and field began were being overemphasized. in 1894 with an athletic association.

Perhaps the university’s greatest athlete The first football games were played on in its history, Wear Schoonover B.A.’30, the front lawn of Old Main, but by the Top, Coach Hugo Bezdek; J.D.’33 lettered in football, basketball, early 1900s, the university had graded Below, “Schmidt’s Barn,” baseball and track, serving as captain of an athletic park along the eastern side the first fieldhouse. both the basketball and football teams. of Garland Avenue, where the Fine Arts The basketball team won the Southwest Center and Union Mall are today. An oval Conference title three years in a row, accumulating a 33-3 440-yard track was built north of it about where the record against conference foes. Although Schoonover was School of Law is now. a top basketball player, his real prowess proved to be on Sports writers, competitors and eventually students the gridiron, where he set conference records for most themselves began referring to the Arkansas team passes caught in a season, 33, and most yards gained, 342 colloquially as the “razor-backs” as early as 1905. In the yards. He also set the conference record for receptions in fall of 1909, the football team waged its first undefeated a single game, catching 13 passes for 152 yards against season. Many years later, myths grew up that the Baylor in 1929. Because the Southwest Conference football coach, Hugo Bezdek, told a crowd of fans that disbanded in 1996, he will always hold those records, but his boys played like a wild band of razorbacks after the he also still holds two University Arkansas records more Louisiana State game near the end of the season and that than 90 years later — number of receptions in a game and students voted the next year to change the mascot to the number of interceptions in a game.

Razorbacks. Both bits of lore appear to be apocryphal, In 1948, Clyde Scott B.S.E.’49 of Smackover became but the popularity of the razorback as a mascot for the the first Razorback to win an Olympic medal, finishing university clearly passed a tipping point in popularity second by just a hair in the 110-meter hurdles at the during the 1909 football season and teams referred to London Olympics. Two more alumni, Gordon Carpenter themselves as the Razorbacks from that year forward. and R.C. Pitts B.S.’54 won gold medals as part of the Within a couple of seasons, silhouettes of a lean feral U.S. men’s basketball team. The first Razorback to win an hog appeared on baseball jerseys and in the pages of the individual gold medal was triple-jumper Mike Conley in yearbook, which changed its name from the Cardinal to 1992, and Veronica Campbell-Brown B.S.B.A.’06 won the Razorback in 1915. the first women’s Olympic medal in 2000 running for her Interestingly, the football team wasn’t the only team home country of Jamaica, following up with the first gold winning big that year. The women’s basketball team, medal in 2004. She holds eight medals altogether. which played on a dirt court at one end of the football WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 23

Razorbacks

The university’s first national championship came in football in 1964, when the team finished its regular season under coach Frank Broyles as one of two undefeated teams. The other team, the University of Alabama, lost its bowl game to Texas, and the Razorbacks won against Nebraska, playing in the Cotton Bowl.

A women’s campus athletic association was organized for intramural competition in field hockey, tennis and golf during the 1920s, but intercollegiate women’s sports weren’t played through the middle of the 20th century. In 1972, though, Congress approved an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender by educational institutions. Known as Title IX, its most immediate effect was to require athletic programs to offer women opportunities for intercollegiate competition if that option was afforded male students. Ruth Cohoon ★ M.Ed.’68, a professor in the College of Education, became the first director of women’s athletics in 1972.

In 1994, coach Nolan Richardson led the Razorback men’s basketball team to the NCAA national championship, working their way through the bracket of 64 teams down to a final against the storied Duke Blue Devils. Richardson’s style of play was speed and quickness, what he called “40 minutes of hell.”

In the last minute of play, with President Bill Clinton in the stands and the score tied, Scotty Thurman floated a high-arching 3-point shot into nothing but net to give Arkansas a lead and the eventual win. Razorback Corliss Williamson was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Richardson remains the only coach to win an NCAA Division I championship, 24 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

oach Nolan Richardson cuts down nets after the NCAA championship win in C 1994.

the NIT championship, and a Junior College National Championship.

For national championships, though, no college in America comes close to competing with the Arkansas men’s and women’s teams in cross country, and track and field. Men’s teams under coach John McDonnell won 40 national championships during his 36-year career, the first coming in 1984. His successor, Chris Bucknam continued the winning

ways with a national indoor title in 2013. Meanwhile, coach Lance Harter’s women’s cross country and track and field teams started winning national championships in 2015 after a long string of close national finishes. By the end of 2021, the women’s teams had won six national championships including a Triple Crown, winning indoors, outdoors and cross country in the same calendar year.

WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 25

A Lens on Campus

Photos from Razorback Yearbook and Special Collections Division

Looking Back Across the Years

op left, Members of the T Army ROTC units practice marching drills on the lawn of Old Main in 1926.

Although the university had included military training and a cadet corps from its founding, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps wasn’t created until 1916.

26 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

iddle left, When the new M university library opened in 1968, landscaping and a name for the library were not quite ready. A variety of trees and bushes were soon added, and when U of A President David Mullins ✪ B.A.’31 retired in 1974, the university’s primary research library was named in his honor.

Top right, The first automobile parking lot on campus was just south of Old Main, more or less where Gearhart Hall is today. Little did they know what was to come.

bove, The 1971 Miss A Ebony pageant, started by the student organization Black Americans for Democracy, included: from left, finalist Margaret Turner; first runner-up Faye Henderson; Janice Robinson, Miss BAD 1973; Linda Hinton, Miss BAD 1972; finalist Joyce Taylor; and Miss Congeniality Erseline Blanks ★+B.A.’74.

Photos from Razorback Yearbook and Special Collections Division

op left, A blueprint depicts T the western face of the first Agriculture Building, now known as the Agricultural Annex, in 1906, when it was erected along with Carnall Hall and four other buildings.

op right, The yearbook T described the IBM Room of the College of Business Administration as one of the busiest spots on campus. Here, a professor and three students examine the data being printed on an early computer long before they arrived in the form of a mobile phone.

bove left, After World A War II, enormous numbers of students enrolled in the university, which required a boom in temporary housing such as Camp Leroy Pond.

It was built about where present-day Bud Walton Arena now sits. In the distance is Razorback Stadium and more temporary housing.

bove right, In the late A 1950s, the university built housing for married couples and international students and named it Carlson Terrace after T.C. Carlson, a long-time director the university’s finances.

Designed by Edward Durell Stone, it covered the area where Bogle Stadium and The Gardens now are.

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Photos from Razorback Yearbook and Special Collections Division

A Lens on Campus

Top, R.D. Rucker ★+ B.A.’74, foreground, leads a march in April 1969 on the first anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The march, sponsored by the Black-White Organizing Committee, started at Memorial Hall, stopped in front of Vol Walker for speeches and then resumed down Dickson Street where it passed the Kappa Sigma fraternity house.

28 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

bove left, Peabody Hall A and Carnall Hall with the first tennis courts terraced between them on the site of the presentday Graduate Education Building.

Middle right, Professor Lyell Thompson ★+, center in white shirt, talks with students and staff of the Fine Arts Center Gallery in 1975. The center, designed by noted architect Edward Durell Stone, was the first educational building in America to bring all of the fine arts under one roof.

bove right, An open-air A performer entertains a crowd of students in front of the Arkansas Union in 1978. An expansion in the 1990s covered the middle bridge, turning it into the present International Connections Lounge.

Photos from Razorback Yearbook and Special Collections Division

op left, Built in 1903, the T first Engineering Hall on campus stood about where the Honors College wing of Gearhart Hall stands today.

After White Engineering Hall was built just to the east, this building was converted for use by the School of Business and later was home to the ROTC units.

op right, Professor Allen T Hermann, left, watches while Zhengzhi Sheng Ph.D.’86 pours liquid nitrogen into a shallow bowl to cool an yttriumterbium compound to 288 degrees below zero, at which point it became superconducting, meaning that electricity flowed through it without resistance.

bove left, The all-male A “Pep Leaders” pose for a photo in their cardinal and white uniforms at a football game during the fall 1915 season. iddle right, Not long M after the adoption of the Razorback as the university mascot, football games started entertaining halftime crowds with a pig chase by freshmen, in which the pig was often greased.

bove, Frank Zappa A donned a Hog hat when he performed at the U of A in 1975. Other performers have included Reba McIntyre, Snoop Dogg, Chuck Berry and Louis Armstrong.

WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 29

Photos from Razorback Yearbook

Photo by Russell Cothren

A Lens on Campus

op left, Students T participating in an Honors Passport study abroad opportunity listen to Dean Lynda Coon, in light blue, talk about the entrance to a building in Spain.

30 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

Top right, An unidentified student braces himself against the Spoofer’s Stone after hearing about the terrorist attacks on Sept.

11, 2001. Arkansas alumna Sara Low ★+ B.S.B.A.’95, was a member of American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center, killing all aboard.

iddle right, The staff M of KRFA, the student radio station during the 1980s. Students began broadcasting in the 1920s on KUOA. Students started KUAF in 1973 before it became an NPR affiliate and KRFA as an alt-music station. KRFA went on to become KXUA in 2000.

bove, In 2015, more than A 400 students celebrated Holi, the Hindu religious and cultural celebration also known as the Festival of Color. The event was one of numerous cultural events from around the world to which students are invited each year.

University Relations Photos from Razorback Yearbook

op left, Brandy Baze T B.S.E.’09, an infielder for the Razorback women’s softball team in 2007 fields a ball against the University of Kentucky for a quick out.

op right, The Pi Beta T Phi sorority raised more than $1 million to help build the Pi Beta Phi Gate at northern entrance to campus. It was dedicated in 2012.

Above right, Lydia Lincoln ★ B.S.H.E.’60, a student from Little Rock and a member of Zeta Tau Alpha, uses a pair of water skis to go snow skiing behind Ed Dozier’s little car.

bove left, Omega Psi Phi A fraternity perform a step dance in 1975 in front of the Arkansas Union. In the years since, the step dance tradition has continued to build in popularity.

WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 31

A Timeline of U of A History

From Academics to Athletics, From Tradition to Invention, A University Continues to Grow in Service to Arkansas The University of Arkansas, the state’s first public university, has been and remains a central partner in the state’s higher education system, its economy and its culture for the last 150 years. Founded legislatively in 1871 and opened for classes in 1872, the U of A has evolved across the decades to meet the needs of Arkansans — broadening the coursework and degree programs available to students, conducting research in fields that improve our lives, and pursuing service programs that reach into Arkansas communities. When the data points along the university’s history are measured collectively, they consistently show a university willing to make changes for the better, both today and into the next 150 years.

32 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

150 Years in the Making

Helping Arkansas and the Nation Through Teaching, Service and Research 1871 The first state-funded institution of higher education is founded when the Arkansas General Assembly approves an Organic Act establishing a land-grant university.

The Buildings and Grounds Committee chooses the homestead and farm of William McIlroy as site of the new university and purchases it from the McIlroy family for $12,000.

1872 Eight students – seven boys and one girl, all from Fayetteville – attend the first day of classes on Jan. 22 at the Arkansas Industrial University. Their names were William Brooks, Frank Buie, John Carlisle, Cyrus R. Gilbreath, Andrew S. Gregg, Albert Gregg, Anna Putman and Robert Putman.

Admission continues through the semester.

The university’s first Black student, James McGahee, from Woodruff County, enrolled in early February. He achieved good grades and continued through at least the end of spring 1873.

President Noah Gates taught McGahee separately from the white students.

1873 The state’s leading educator, Joseph Carter Corbin, becomes ex-officio president of the Board of Trustees. Corbin, a Black educator who earned bachelor’s, master’s and a doctoral degree from Ohio University, had been a conductor on the Underground Railroad prior to the Civil War. Corbin signed the contract for construction of the main academic hall, now known as Old Main.

1875 Construction of University Hall, today known as Old Main, is finished and celebrated by a crowd of thousands who picnicked and watched fireworks.

1876

1888

The first students graduate with college degrees from Arkansas Industrial University. Their names are Belle L. Gorton, Alfred W. Gregg, Agnes Harris, valedictorian Sara “Sallie” E. Harris, Albert P. Johnson and William J. Waggener.

The first men’s residence hall is built west of Old Main. Later in the early 20th century, it is named in honor of university President John L. Buchanan.

1878 The Board of Trustees adopted a resolution to “keep a record of the names of all students upon whom a degree of A.B. is conferred; and also, the various degrees of alumni of the University.” The seeds of the Arkansas Alumni Association were planted with the recording of those 25 names.

1885 The Board of Trustees fires the entire faculty and replaces them with new teachers. The mass dismissal occurred because a large faction of the faculty had been at loggerheads with President Daniel Harvey Hill and appeared to be approaching the new president, George Edgar, in a similar way.

1886 The strict rules separating male and female students gave rise to the use of the Spoofer’s Stone on the Old Main lawn as a place for romantic partners to surreptitiously pass notes by placing them in the cracks of the stone.

Alice Polson graduates from the university. A granddaughter of John Ridge and daughter of Flora Chamberlain (Ridge) Polson, she is believed to be the first Native American graduate of the university.

She also was listed as an instructor during her senior year.

1892 Electricity comes to campus after a steam-operated powerhouse is built just south of Dickson Street near the railroad tracks.

1893 Students publish the first student publication, University Magazine, with Julia Vaulx as editor. It is soon after renamed The Ozark.

1895 The student body chooses the color cardinal red over heliotrope purple as the school color.

Chi Omega sorority is founded at the university. Over time, Chi Omega becomes the largest women’s sorority in the United States.

1897 Students begin publishing a yearbook titled the Cardinal. Its name is changed to the Razorback in 1915.

1899 The Arkansas Industrial University changes its name to the University of Arkansas after an editorial campaign by the student magazine, The Ozark.

1901 The state legislature prohibits the existence of fraternities and Greekletter secret societies at the university.

Two years later fraternities opened back up.

1894

1904

Athletic competition begins with teams outside the university. A football team is mentioned by 1894 with tennis, baseball, and track and field also starting at about this time if not earlier. Professor John C. Futrall serves as an early coach.

The university’s first Rhodes Scholar, Neil Carothers, is selected to attend Oxford University.

1905 The senior class begins the longest tradition at the University of Arkansas, writing their names in a wet slab of concrete to start Senior Walk. Each year, a new graduating class is added, and earlier classes were also added in the 1930s.

Oishi Zinki, a student from Japan, earns a Master of Arts degree in 1906. He appears to be the first Asian student to attend the university and first international student to earn a degree.

The first earned master’s degree is awarded to Lucy Byrd Mock.

The Arkansas Alumni Association begins printing an alumni magazine.

The College of Agriculture is established with William George Vincenheller as the first dean. The college was divided into seven departments: agricultural chemistry, agronomy, animal husbandry, dairy husbandry, entomology, horticulture and veterinary science.

A physics program begins at the university.

1906 Students begin publishing The University Weekly, the university’s first newspaper. It was renamed The Arkansas Traveler in 1921.

Leila Droke submits the first thesis as a partial requirement for a master’s degree. For her thesis, she chose to translate “The Legend of Walther of Acquitaine” from the epic poem written during the 10th century by Ekkehard I, a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of St. Gall in Switzerland.

1907

1909 Brodie Payne, an alumnus of the university, submits the winning entry for the university’s “Alma Mater.”

Henry D. Tovey, a professor of music and director of the Glee Club, arranged the music.

The university’s football team goes undefeated for the first time and the Razorback was officially adopted as the university’s mascot after Coach Hugo Bezdek stated after a big win that his team played like a “wild band of razorback hogs”.

1910

1914

Students from Oklahoma establish a student organization called the Oklahoma Tribe and elect Nelson Prewitt as chief. The yearbook lists 27 members.

The Southwest Athletic Conference is created with Arkansas and seven other universities in Texas and Oklahoma as the founding members.

1912

The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps is established on campus, taking the place of the cadet corps.

The administration expels 36 students for publishing an underground newspaper called The X-Ray that criticized the university’s policies and its professors. Nearly every other student on campus “strikes,” refusing to go to class until the 36 are reinstated. Gov. George Donaghey resolves the dispute, returning the students to the rolls.

The College of Liberal Arts, Sciences and Engineering is divided into the College of Arts and Sciences, and the College of Engineering, and the Normal Department within it becomes the College of Education.

1913 William Edwin Douglas, a student, writes the lyrics for the Arkansas “Fight Song,” which is later set to music by professor Henry Tovey.

1917

In April, the university enters into an agreement with the War Department to provide instruction, meals, lodging and training grounds and facilities to enlisted men starting in the summer training for deployment to Europe during WWI. 1918 By the fall of 1918, the U of A had trained 600 U.S. soldiers as wireless operators, truck drivers, mechanics, carpenters and cement workers.

The campus is quarantined after more than a quarter of students on campus contract the flu during a global pandemic. At least 18 students on campus, including soldiers training for deployment to Europe as part of World War I, die as a result of the flu.

1919 Thirty men and one woman associated with the university — alumni and students — died in service during World War I. Beverly Ann Bird of Waldron left the university to volunteer as a nurse. She was the last of the Arkansas students to die, contracting the flu while serving at Camp Meade in Maryland.

1921 Students vote to create an Associated Student Government.

1922 Students organize the university’s first fall Homecoming to welcome alumni back to campus for the SMU game. Sometime during the 1920s, according to campus lore, some farmers attending a football game used a traditional hog call to cheer on the Razorbacks. The cheer becomes formalized as “Wooo Pig Sooie.”

1923 Doy “Hank” Hancock, a member of the Choctaw Nation, becomes the first-known Native American to edit the Razorback yearbook.

He also drew the first “running Razorback” and graduated in 1926.

1924 The university Board of Trustees approves establishment of a School of Law with Julian S. Waterman named its first dean.

1926 The School of Business Administration is established with a two-year curriculum of advanced work after students fulfill two years of college work, mostly in the College of Arts and Sciences.

1927 The Board of Trustees creates the Graduate School, and John Clark Jordan is named the first dean.

1930 The Chi Omega Greek Theatre is built on Dickson Street. The theatre was donated to the university by the national Chi Omega Sorority to honor the founding of the first chapter at the University of Arkansas.

1935

1938 A new football stadium with a track is built. Initially known as Bailey Stadium, it was renamed Razorback Stadium in 1940 and is now known as the Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

1944 The university’s first Medal of Honor recipients are named during World War II: Maurice Britt, Nathan Gordon, Edgar “Buck” Lloyd, and Seymour Terry. Alumnus James Stone also receives the honor during the Korean War. 1946 Alumna Jobelle Holcombe becomes the first woman to be given an honorary degree by the university.

Although architecture courses were offered prior to World War II, the architecture department wasn’t created until after the war. It later became the School of Architecture and still later the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design.

Vol Walker Hall is built as the university’s first library building, and a new Chemistry Building is erected. The old Chemistry Building becomes home to the School of Law. (Continued on back of page)

Maxine Sutton

Billie Rose Whitfield

Marjorie Wilkins

1948

1951

1954

Silas Herbert Hunt enrolls in the School of Law at the university, becoming the first Black student to attend the university since Reconstruction and starting the desegregation of Southern higher education six years before Brown vs. Board of Education. Hunt attended segregated classes in the basement of the School of Law. White students were not restricted from taking these classes and a few attended with Hunt on a regular basis. Hunt’s pursuit of a law degree was cut short by illness. He died in 1949.

The university becomes the first land-grant institution in the nation to assemble a foreign agricultural foreign mission. The college sent two dozen researchers and faculty members to Panama to help establish a teaching, research and extension program similar to the U.S. land-grant model.

Dorris Tate Hamilton and Dorothy Hoover become the first two Black women to earn degrees at the Fayetteville campus. Hamilton earned a Master of Arts in English became a teacher and later principal at Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Hoover earned a Master of Arts in physics at the June commencement and became an aeronautical research scientist for Langley Research Center.

Donna Axum, a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority, wins the Miss America contest in Atlantic City.

The first Black undergraduates — Maxine Sutton, Billie Rose Whitfield and Marjorie Wilkins — are admitted to the university but not allowed to live in the residential halls, instead being housed separately in a frame house next to Holcombe Hall. All three join the marching band but are not allowed accompany the band away from campus.

Gordon Morgan and Margaret Clark are the first Black faculty members.

Fifty years later, two residence halls at the Northwest Quad were named in their honor.

1949 An Air Force ROTC unit is established at the university not long after the program was approved at the national level.

1950 The first students graduate from the architecture program.

The first Black students graduate from the University of Arkansas.

Jackie Shropshire earns a law degree; and Benjamin Franklin Lever earns a master’s degree in agronomy.

Edith Irby earns a medical degree the next year.

1952 The first doctoral degrees are awarded. William James Broach earns a Doctor of Philosophy in chemistry. James William Cady, Norval Denver Hazelbaker, Jesse Dee Henry and Wanda Hollingsworth Walker earn Doctor of Education degrees.

1964 The University of Arkansas football team goes undefeated and is declared the national football champion by the Football Writers Association of America. Jerry Jones, current owner of the Dallas Cowboys, was a member of the team.

1974

1969 Freshman Mike Ibsen begins selling red plastic hats molded into the shape of a running Razorback. Sales of the Uncle Heavy’s Hog Hat, as it was known, totaled more than a half million dollars during the next 30 years.

1971 The university celebrates its centennial.

1973 KUAF begins broadcasting as a student radio station.

Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton started their careers as faculty members of the School of Law and were married in Fayetteville.

1984

1989

1998

The department of architecture, then part of the College of Arts and Sciences, is advanced to become the School of Architecture. Fay Jones is named the first dean.

The Health, Physical Education and Recreation Building, or HPER building, opens, offering students recreational and athletic opportunities as well as classroom space.

The first Black sorority — Delta Sigma Theta — and fraternity — Omega Psi Phi — are chartered on campus.

1985

Faculty member Doris Cook of the Department of Accounting is the first woman to earn the rank of University Professor. She joined the Business College faculty in 1947, taught for 50 years on faculty and three more years after retirement.

The Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation donates $50 million to the College of Business Administration at the University of Arkansas, the largest single gift ever made to an American business school.

As a result the college was renamed in honor of Sam M. Walton.

1978 The Inspirational Choir is organized and begins providing concerts on campus as well as touring the state and eventually the nation and the world. It’s now known as the Inspirational Chorale.

1981 The separate position of chancellor is created for the University of Arkansas campus at Fayetteville, and the first chancellor named is Bill A. Nugent.

Charles Oxford is the first vice chancellor for academic affairs.

1982 The Alumni Center opens near Razorback Road. It was later expanded and dedicated as the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House.

Merike Manley is the first Black student elected homecoming queen.

The Sturgis Fellowship is established in Fulbright College, starting the university’s development of prestigious fellowships over the next 20 years, including the Boyer Fellowship and the Bodenhamer Fellowship.

1986 The university first connects to the internet when funding from the National Science Foundation allows connection to the NSFnet and development of an ARKnet.

1987 Professors Zhenzhi Sheng, Allen Hermann and several graduate students mix the rare earth elements yttrium and terbium with barium and copper oxide to create a substance that sets the high temperature record for superconductivity.

1991 Old Main is rededicated after major renovation. Shuttered for most of the 1980s, Old Main was given new life after a fundraising drive raised more than $6 million for renovations.

The Black Alumni Society is created, the first affinity chapter of the Arkansas Alumni Association, and alumnus Wendell Griffen is elected president.

2006 The university establishes the Silas Hunt Legacy Award to honor and recognize Black alumni and faculty who have made significant contributions to the university, Arkansas, the nation and the world.

2008 The School of Law posthumously awards a law degree to Silas Herbert Hunt on the 60th anniversary of his enrollment at the university. Hunt died of tuberculosis after his first year of classes.

1994

2002

2011

The University of Arkansas men’s basketball team, coached by Nolan Richardson, wins the NCAA National Basketball Championship, defeating Duke University.

The University of Arkansas announces that the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation has given $300 million to the university, the largest single contribution to a public university ever. The donation was used to increase the endowment for the University Libraries, create an Honors College and match gifts for endowed positions.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching elevates the University of Arkansas to its highest classification: a research university with “very high research activity,” one of just 108 schools with that distinction. The university has continually held that designation since.

The Hog Tag program begins. Thanks to the Arkansas Alumni Association, Razorback license plates become available with revenues supporting scholarships for students.

2003 Students, faculty and staff celebrate the successful completion of the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century, which raised more than $1 billion, much of it added to the university’s endowment.

The Dalai Lama visits campus and gives talk at Bud Walton Arena.

2012 The Arkansas Alumni Association establishes its first international alumni chapter in Panama.

2014 Kim Needy becomes first woman to lead the Graduate School and International Education as dean in its 87-year history.

2015 Professor Brent Williams receives the university’s largest known grant, $32 million, to create a summer work program for adolescents who have disabilities and receive supplemental security income but have never had the chance to seek employment.

2016 Fayetteville ranked No. 3 in the “Best Places to Live” report by U.S. News and World Report. It has remained in the top 10 of the ranking ever since.

2017 The Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation provides a gift of $120 million to endow the School of Art at the University of Arkansas.

The gift, part of Campaign Arkansas, is the largest ever made to support or create a school of art in U.S. history.

An additional $40 million gift from the Windgate Charitable Foundation will fund expansion of the university’s art and design district.

2021 Professor Paul Thibado and his students find that a natural wave-like movement through graphene could be used to create an electrical current, potentially creating a clean, limitless energy source.

2019 The women’s track and field team wins the triple crown of NCAA championships, winning the national championships in cross country and in both the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons. The men’s and women’s teams have combined to win more than 45 national championships in track and field, and cross country.

2020 The university changes in-person classes to remotely taught classwork and the university moves to remote operations for employees because of the coronavirus pandemic in March.

The university receives its secondlargest gift ever: A $194.7 million grant from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation establishing the University of Arkansas Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research.

Charles Robinson, the first Black educator to serve as provost of the university and second in the SEC, is named the interim chancellor.

The university celebrates the 150th anniversary of its founding.

Coleman Warren, ASG president and a senior majoring in industrial engineering and political science, is named the university’s 11th Rhodes Scholar. The U of A’s previous Rhodes Scholar was Anna Terry in 2000.

Photos submitted

Serving Alumni Since 1878 Arkansas Alumni Association

BY BRANDY COX JACKSON ✪ M.A.’07

The Arkansas Alumni Association has been driven to serve since its inception in 1878. Even in the face of adversity, we have grown stronger. Throughout our many years, the Arkansas Alumni Association has taken the lead in critical initiatives and conversations on behalf of our university. The challenges of 2020 and 2021 have been no exception. Your Arkansas Alumni Association has persevered to connect and serve the University of Arkansas family because building our community is at the heart of all we do. We take pride in making your alumni experience the best it can be whether in person, on campus, or online around the world.

The Arkansas Alumni Association has supported students on our campus in various ways for more than 100 years. Our formal scholarship program has been going strong for more than 30 years when the first two alumni endowed scholarships were awarded.

In the 2021-22 academic years, we awarded 546 scholarships to deserving University of Arkansas students. Alumni scholars represent every undergraduate college at the U of A and come from 18 states and 2 countries outside the United States. The total impact to date has been 6,856 scholarship awards totaling more than $13,536,300.

Reaching out to our alumni around the world, we continued to expand our reach by connecting virtually through more than 76 virtual events. The association partnered across campus this past year to host online discussions covering topics from Design Excellence to Razorback Athletics. Through these virtual engagement opportunities, we connected with more than 2,732 unique alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends from Seattle to Singapore.

As we look to 2022, the Arkansas Alumni Association is thrilled to reengage with our alumni through in-person gatherings once again. We kicked off the New Year at the Outback Bowl with more than 100 alumni and Razorback fans joining us for our two-night New Year’s Eve package in Tampa to Call the Hogs. For those who are ready to travel the world again, we are offering more than 20 travel opportunities with Razorbacks on Tour, including a wide array of possibilities to accommodate your travel comfort level. Please join the Arkansas Alumni Association in 2022 as we connect and serve our University of Arkansas family.

Updates to our events and offerings can be found at www.arkansasalumni.org or download the Arkansas Alumni app.

WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 33

The Present

Come As You Arkansas A Festive Day to Celebrate 150

Above, Cheerleaders at the Chi Omega Greek Theatre kick off the Come As You Arkansas celebration. ight, top to bottom, Students enjoy refreshments during R an open house at the Multicultural Center. ould a celebration on the University of Arkansas campus C go without pizza? he Razorback Marching Band brought the fife and drum to T the party to start off the day with pomp and excitement. he Multicultural Center brought the tunes and students T brought the groove.

Photos by Russell Cothren ✪ and Chieko Hara

34 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

bove left, Big Red woke up early to celebrate Come As A You Arkansas and went to bed late after a long day of festive fun. bove right, Students from Thayden Charter School help A assemble geometric sculptures from bamboo during the Math Circus at Gearhart Hall.

Above middle, The Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House was decked out for the 150th anniversary celebration and an open house for members during Come As You Arkansas. bove, Jennifer Mortensen, a teaching assistant professor A of biological sciences, talks with a visitor about a bird banding project that is being partially funded by the Women’s Giving Circle. eft, Architectual professor Angela Carpenter B.Arch.’05, L right, manager of the fabrication department in the Fay Jones School of Architecture, demonstrates 3-D printers to Jace Beckwith and Christy Steward of Malvern, Arkansas.

WINTER 2021 / ARKANSAS / 35

The Present

Calling All Hogs Home

Celebrating 150 Years On the Hill

BY MERCEDES GAZAWAY ★ AND LISY MCKINNON ✪ B.A.’97

The University of Arkansas’ 99th Homecoming Celebration marked the exciting return of a longstanding tradition, fully displaying the spirit of Razorback Nation, which remains unaltered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Homecoming week was particularly special this year as the university continued to celebrate its sesquicentennial. As we prepared for this year’s homecoming celebrations, we took the opportunity to reflect on the beginnings of this tradition on The Hill.

The first Homecoming parade was on Nov. 16, 1922, with the university’s 50th anniversary. Starting at the Fayetteville square, the parade included floats that represented five sororities as well as the Carnall Hall dormitory. In preparation for the Homecoming festivities, the city of Fayetteville paved Dickson Street and added streetlights.

The first Homecoming queen, Aliece McHenry, made a ceremonial opening kick-off during the Homecoming football game. C.T. Smith, captain of the football team, then presented her with a large floral arrangement. The Razorbacks were victorious over the SMU Mustangs with a 9-0 win. To celebrate, they concluded the evening by gathering on the Fayetteville Square for a Homecoming pep rally.

“The Arkansas Alumni Association connects and serves the University of Arkansas family, and each year we embrace the festivities of Homecoming as a time to welcome our alumni back to campus,” said Brandy Cox Jackson ✪ M.A.’07, associate vice chancellor of alumni relations and executive director of the Arkansas Alumni Association. “There is only one Razorback, and we are a proud community grateful for our traditions, our relationships and our home on The Hill.”

Homecoming week provided the backdrop for the campus to display pride and gratitude for the U of A.

Theme The 2021 tagline, Celebrating 150 Years On the Hill, was chosen to integrate Homecoming with our sesquicentennial as we celebrate our past and present while looking to our future. Subsequent 36 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

taglines will incorporate the unifying themes established

by University Relations and our growing understanding of belonging, which is being led by interim Chancellor Robinson ✪.

Homecoming Festivities Homecoming kicked off with the association’s annual Homecoming Online Auction, which began on Friday before Homecoming week.

On Monday, October 11, the Associated Student Government and Arkansas Alumni Association hosted a lunchtime Homecoming kick-off celebration in the Union Mall to engage with students. Ice cream was provided for the event by Simple + Sweet Creamery as attendees enjoyed music from DJ Derrick.

The Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry hosted the fifth annual Pack the Pantry Food Drive event to stock the food pantry. The entire Razorback community showed their support through both physical and monetary donations that will help support our campus community.

At the university, 38% of students experience food insecurity. Additionally, while 54% of students know about local food pantries, only 2% use one. On average the pantry serves 800-900 household members monthly.

This year’s food drive resulted in the Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry bringing in $1,307.55 in monetary donations and more than 30,000 items!

On Wednesday, the Night Hogs Concert gathered alumni and local community members at George’s Majestic Lounge. This event featured two local DJs — DJ Raquel, a U of A student, and DJ Derrick, a frequent featured performer at events across the region. Food for the event was donated by Slim Chicken’s and a photo booth was provided by Little Photo Booth.

On Thursday, the association hosted the 76th Alumni Awards Celebration. After a year of waiting, 12 distinguished alumni and faculty were honored for their contributions to the U of A, their communities, and their professions. The Fayetteville Town Center was once again decked out for a reception and program enjoyed by 240 guests. In a creative nod to the times, take-away

charcuterie boxes were presented to attendees in place of a sit-down banquet.

The university campus was covered in red and white as Greek houses, residential halls and student organizations decorated the campus in celebration of Razorback spirit.

On Friday morning, the association hosted the annual Senior Walk Dedication for the Class of 2019. Many of our most recent graduates returned to see their names engraved in “stone” as they were honored by Arkansas Alumni awardees, Mike Utley ✪ B.A.’69 and Jeannie Whayne. The event began with a brunch at the Inn at Carnall Hall featuring three Class of 2019 alumni, Nikki Anderson ✪ B.A.’19, B.S.B.A.’19, J.P. Gairhan B.A.’19 and Manny Mejia B.S.B.A.’19, M.B.A.’21. The brunch was followed by a ribbon-cutting on Arkansas Avenue which included photo opportunities and interviews with local media.

Friday afternoon, a new tradition was launched with a Homecoming Patio Party at the Walton Arts Center hosted by the association. Guests enjoyed carnivalstyle fare and fellowship while awaiting the start of the evening’s premier event – the Homecoming Parade down Dickson Street.

The longest-standing tradition in Homecoming – the Parade – was a success as student organizations and community members danced down Dickson on their way to the Chi Omega Greek Theater. Led by Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan riding a ladder truck from the Fayetteville Fire Department, this year’s parade featured 65 entries. Dickson Street was packed from Highland to Harmon for the Razorback Band, Spirit Squad, Tusk, Residence Life and Greek Life, Alumni Awardees Leslie ✪+ B.Arch’79, Ph.D.’05 and Ted Belden ✪+ B.Arch.’81, Alumni Board President Ron Rainey ✪ B.S.A.’91, M.S.’93, Ph.D.’01, past Homecoming Queens and Kings, and our 2021 Homecoming Court. The Mustang Club of NWA and the Corvette Clubs of NWA and Little Rock generously supplied vehicles and student volunteers manned the parade route while the entire community celebrated this tradition.

Friday’s events culminated with the Homecoming Pep Rally, sponsored by the Razorback Booster Club.

Participants gathered in the Chi Omega Greek Theatre for the traditional Roll Call, the introduction of nine past queens and two former kings, performances from the Razorback Band and Spirit Squads and the announcement of this year’s Homecoming Queen and King, Grace Crain and Jack Berg. The Homecoming Pep Rally was filled to the brim with Razorback fans as we prepared for the game on Saturday.

Saturday began with an 8:30 a.m. Hog Wild Tailgate before the Razorbacks faced off against the Auburn Tigers at 11 a.m. McClard’s provided catered BBQ meals for pre-registered guests. Hot Dogs, Andy’s Custard, Magnolia Coffee and McBride Beverage Distributors also provided refreshments for guests on the patio. The 2021 Homecoming Court mingled with guests while the Queen and King were interviewed for Pig Trail Nation in Alumni Alley. Attendees enjoyed an elevated view of Hog Town, a front-row seat for the start of the Hog Walk and a performance from the Razorback Band.

The Bumpers College Alumni Society hosted their annual Homecoming Tailgate at the Hawkins Family Terrace and the Maudine Sanders Student Plaza and Garden. The event encouraged donations and raised $1,595 to benefit the Arkansas Alumni Association Fund of Excellence on behalf of the Bumpers College Alumni Society.

The Black Alumni Society partnered with the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Latino Alumni Society, the PRIDE Alumni Society, the Dr. Barbara A. Lofton Office of Diversity and Inclusion in Walton College, and the Indigenous Employee Impact Group to host a tailgate in Alumni Alley.

The association extended Homecoming celebrations through the following week hosting the Faculty Appreciation Luncheon on Oct. 19 and capping off activities Oct. 22 when the Homecoming Online Auction closed. The association hosted a last-minute Facebook Live before the auction closed at 10 a.m. During this live engagement, our $35,000 goal was reached and by the end of extended bidding at 10:30 a.m. the online auction had raised over $40,000.

In the end, the annual Homecoming Online Auction had a record-breaking year with $52,000 raised through the generosity of 184 donors who attracted 391 bidders (143 winners) vying for 307 different items. Also included in the total were three cash donations making this year’s event a rousing success that will benefit our alumni scholarship program for years to come.

Homecoming is more than just a football game though we all adore our Razorbacks — even when the outcome doesn’t go our way. Homecoming reminds us of our connection to this great university: it’s about Calling All Hogs Home and recognizing that we are One Razorback.

One Community. It is a celebration of our school, the farreaching impact that graduates have had all had over the world and alumni returning to an institution that helped form them into the people they are today. Alumni are already looking forward to next year’s Homecoming and continuing to celebrate our Home on The Hill.

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The Present

On Friday, October 15, members of the Class of 2019 and other members of the University of Arkansas family celebrated the Class of 2019 Senior Walk dedication.

Photos by Whit Pruitt

Senior Walk Dedication

The newly opened Unity House, a site for Greek chapters in the National Pan-Hellenic Council and United Greek Council was dedicated during Homecoming.

Photo by University Relations.

Unity House Drop In

The Arkansas Alumni Association hosted its 76th Alumni Awards Celebration honoring the accomplishments of 12 alumni, faculty and friends and included recipients in seven award categories.

Photos by Catherine Baltz

Alumni Awards

Former Chancellor G. David Gearhart ✪+ J.D.’78, Ed.D.’89 dedicated a steel curvahedra sculpture in the courtyard at Gearhart Hall.

Top, Gearhart reflected on the value of public art that ‘intertwines art and science.’ Bottom left, Gearhart and grandchildren cut the red ribbon. Bottom right, Gearhart and interim Chancellor Charles Robinson catch up.

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Photos by Chieko Hara

Curvahedra Sculpture Dedication

Photos submitted

Spirit Squad Drop In Alumni of the Razorback Spirit Squads gathered for a drop-in on Homecoming Friday at the new Frank O’Mara Track & Field High Performance Center.

Photos submitted

Food Drive In celebration of the U of A’s Homecoming 2021, the Full Circle Food Pantry hosted its fifth annual Pack the Pantry Drive!

Photos: All photos provided by VAC

Photos submitted

ASG Alumni Society Drop In ASG alumni gathered with family and friends at JJs on Dickson to watch the Homecoming Parade.

Photo by Whit Pruitt.

Parade Friday afternoon dozens of floats and hundreds of marchers, Tusk, Homecoming Court, past Homecoming Kings and Queens made their way up Dickson to the Chi Omega Greek Theatre.

Photos submitted

Homecoming Banners Festive banners adorned our residence halls and Greek houses.

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The Present

Pep Rally

Hog Wild Tailgate Alumni, friends and fans gathered at the Janelle Y. Hembree House before the Homecoming Game.

Photos by Catherine Baltz

Photos by John Baltz

The annual pep rally, sponsored by the Razorback Booster Club, immediately followed by the parade Friday evening. It concluded with the recognition of the 2021 Homecoming Court and Homecoming King and Queen announcement.

Alumni and friends gathered in Alumni Alley at the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House for the 2021 BAS and DEI Homecoming Tailgate.

Photo by Catherine Baltz

DEI Tailgate

Top Left: The 2021 Homecoming Queen, Grace Crain, and King, Jack Berg, were crowned at halftime of the Homecoming game. Top Right: The King and Queen were crowned by Interim Chancellor Charles F. Robinson.

He was assisted by the 2020 Homecoming King Phil Necessary and Queen Katie Gardner. Bottom: The 2020 Homecoming Court pictured together. Back Row (l-r): Jacoby Hurst, Pierce Reitnauer, Jack Berg, Anthony Kammerer, Preston Starkey, Braylon Alcorn & Caleb Parker. Front Row (l-r): Stephanie Verdaris, Fernanda Alcantara, Amelia Catanzaro, Grace Crain, Stephanie Nguyen, Jenna Ronquest & Leen Abochale.

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Photos by John Baltz

Homecoming Court

Homecoming Lawn Decorations

Photo by Whit Pruitt

Photos by Whit Pruitt and John Baltz

Students in the Greek system created colorful lawn decorations. Calling all Hogs!

NPHC Gardens This social space was dedicated during Homecoming weekend.

Read more on page 46.

Photos by Russell Cothren

Photos by Whit Pruitt

Gameday Top and bottom left: The Razorback Band and Spirit Squads engage the Homecoming crowd.

Top right: Miss Arkansas, Whitney Williams enjoying Homecoming game from the field. Bottom right: Razorbacks celebrating on the field during the game against the Auburn Tigers.

Faculty Awards Luncheon Left: Faculty Awardees Benjamin Runkle, Jeannie Whayne, Ro DiBrezzo & Greg Thoma. Right: Professors Elliott West, Kathryn Sloan, Interim Chancellor Charles Robinson, Awardee Jeannie Whayne, Alessandro Brogi, & Laurence Hare, Jr.

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The Present

Changing Lives through Student Support

Alumni Association Endowed Scholarship Program

BY JACKSON COOPER

we celebrate the past and look to the future, read about the academic accomplishments of 11 current and former Arkansas Alumni Association Endowed Scholars in their own words.

Tradition runs deep at the University of Arkansas.

The Arkansas Alumni Association has established its scholarship program as a legitimate campus tradition.

It offers life-changing opportunities through financial support and engagement with the alumni network. As

Newest Endowed Scholars Carolina Remond Peoria, Illinois

Photo submitted

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Carolina Remond, a freshman supply chain student from Peoria, Illinois, has embraced every new opportunity college has had to offer. Despite setbacks due to the pandemic, she transitioned into independence with ease.

“I was most surprised by my own adaptability. Making new friends has been easier than I expected.” After going through sorority recruitment, she was surprised at how quickly she felt a sense of belonging in the organization she joined. Additionally, Remond quickly became involved with the Latinx Network on campus, which allows her to connect with others who share her culture.

“I’m 50% Cuban, but I never really got the opportunity to learn about that side of myself growing up. I enjoy having the ability to connect with my culture,” she said.

Coming off the heels of quarantine, Remond takes great pride in keeping herself physically and mentally healthy.

She loves frequent trips to the UREC Fitness Center in the Arkansas Union, which offers a less crowded

environment than the Health Physical Education and Recreation Building.

Remond, a Walton Honors student, has welcomed the rigor of her new schedule. “I really like my classes; they are challenging to the point where I feel driven to succeed.”

Remond’s drive exemplifies the value she places on her education at the University of Arkansas.

When asked what it means to be a new recipient of the Alumni Association Endowed Scholarship, she replied, “It means everything. It means a lot less stress on me and my family. My relationship with my mom is great because we don’t have to worry about finances. I’m happy knowing that I get a great education and a big school experience for an affordable price.”

When Emily McMennamy decided to attend the U of A, she was concerned that having to work a job while attending school would negatively impact her college experience. She was extremely excited to find out that she would be a recipient of the Alumni Endowed Scholarship. “It took the financial burden away,” she said. “I can focus solely on my classes, organizations and volunteering.”

The freshman pre-nursing student from Little Rock has grown to love her new schedule on campus. After a year of receiving her education online, she emphasized that the atmosphere in Fayetteville makes all the difference. “I love that we are back in the classroom,” McMennamy said.

“Being outside every morning to walk to class makes me appreciate my new schedule even more.”

Admittedly, having the extra time in her schedule afforded by not having to hold a job has made Emily’s adjustment more challenging than she expected. “I’m quickly having to learn better time management with all of the activities and organizations I’m involved in,” she said. “A master calendar and advice from upperclassmen have certainly helped me get a handle on everything.”

Nearly all of McMennamy’s free time is spent in the new and improved Mullin’s Library or volunteering.

McMennamy is very enthusiastic about the opportunities available to her at the University of Arkansas. “It is super easy to get involved. There’s always something to do on campus.” So far, McMennamy has become a member of the Student Alumni Association and joined Kappa Kappa Gamma. Through her few months of college, Emily has discovered that one of her favorite aspects is meeting new people every day.

Photo submitted

Emily McMennamy Little Rock, Arkansas

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The Present

Current Scholars Isabella Tomboli, food, nutrition and health

Ethan Hackworth, music education Junior Heber Springs

University Relations

Sophomore White Hall

Jacob Vincent, criminology Sophomore Germantown, Tennessee

Samantha Giudice, international and global studies and Asian studies Junior Springdale

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Elizabeth Meneses, journalism Senior Jacksonville

Sally Senn, architecture Senior El Dorado

Graduates: Where are they now?

Caroline Cremin Tulsa, Oklahoma Graduated December 2020 Before starting college, Caroline Cremin didn’t know exactly where she wanted to be. She had applied to schools all over the country, but nothing was drawing her to one perfect place. That was until she received the Alumni Association Endowed Scholarship.

“I hadn’t truly considered Arkansas until I received this scholarship. After arriving here, it felt like this is really where I needed to be.” Cremin, now a graduate and surgical sales consultant, works in emergency rooms, such as Mercy Hospital. Day-by-day, she is expanding her network as a surgical sales consultant. “My goal long-term is to build my own distributorship within the healthcare industry,” she said. Thanks to the Endowed Scholarship, Cremin is confident that she has been placed in one of the best areas in the country and is glad to have chosen the U of A.

Lori De Boer Stillwater, Oklahoma Graduated May 2020 As a result of the pandemic, the graduating class of 2020 did not have an easy time transitioning into the workforce, but Lori De Boer made the most of it. “It was sort of an unstable period, but I actually received a job opportunity a few months before I graduated.” She is adamant that the Alumni Endowed Scholarship not only helped her with paying for school but also gave her a support system in the alumni association that she could rely upon whenever she needed it. De Boer is currently working as a software engineer for the U.S. Air Force but has many plans for her future. “I would like to use my degree in computer science to support myself financially, like game or web design, while I explore other activities like philanthropy,” she said. “I want to do something that allows me to see the positive impact that my work has on the world.”

As a pediatric surgical medical nurse, Lauren Love has learned a lot since graduating from the University of Arkansas. “As a nurse, learning how to manage the pandemic has definitely been challenging,” Love said. “My coworkers and I have really had to band together during this period.” Despite life throwing Lauren a few curveballs, she felt that she had a firm grasp on it thanks to everything she learned at the U of A. She now plans on returning to school so that she can become a pediatric nurse practitioner. Love knows that the opportunities presented in college are not to be wasted. When asked what advice she would give to incoming students, she said, “Take advantage of opportunities during your experience here. On top of new friends, these connections can help you in your professional life after college.”

Phot os submitted

Lauren Love Allen, Texas Graduated December 2019

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The Present

NHPC Gardens

A Social Space Dedicated During Homecoming Weekend

BY MARK RUSHING ✪ B.A.’93

Deatrich Wise Jr., B.S.’16 a former Razorback football standout and now in his fifth season in the NFL with the New England Patriots, first noticed tributes to underrepresented students while visiting other university campuses during his away games. He wondered if the U of A would consider something similar for Black Greek students, then spoke to others about the idea.

Several years later, with lots of help from other students, his vision became a reality this fall.

The university and the National Pan-Hellenic 46 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

Council dedicated the NPHC Gardens on Oct. 16, just prior to the Razorbacks’ Homecoming football game against Auburn.

“To current NPHC students, this is the space for us, a space that we can call our own, where we can create memories, fellowship, unity and relationships that will last for a lifetime,” Wise said before the event. “Allow this space to be a place to honor the ones who came before us and the ones to come after. Let this plot be filled with fun, happiness and positive experiences at all times.”

Opposite: Hundreds of students, alumni and faculty turned out for dedication of the National Pan-Hellenic Gardens across Stadium Drive from Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Homecoming morning. Top left: Madison Russell, a senior in childhood education, speaks to the crowd. Top center: Alumnus John L Colbert B.S.E.’76, M.E.’81, Ed.D.’17 waves to friends during the ceremonies. Above left: Charesse Woods and Summer Perkins join the dances of celebration. Above center: The president of the Arkansas Alumni Association, Ron Rainey, second from left, is joined by, from left: Eric Sims M.A.’92, Ph.D.’96, Victor Wilson B.S.B.A.’85 and Vel Moses B.S.E.’89, M.E.’90. Above right, Interim Chancellor Charles Robinson addressed the crowd as part of the dedication.

Photos by Whit Pruitt

The NPHC Gardens, located south of the Administration Building and overlooking Razorback Stadium, will serve as a monument, commemorating the rich heritage of the National Pan-Hellenic Council and the historically Black fraternities and sororities at the U of A. “As an undergraduate student, there was a lack of representation for the Black Greek culture on campus,” Wise said. “I wanted something to represent our history and culture, but also have a plot to showcase who we are as Black fraternities and sororities. This design is beautiful and well thought out. This will forever be brilliant.”

The area includes large, rectangular stones for seating,

centered around a lighted stage, embedded into the hillside.

“It is not just a gathering place, but it is a place for our Black sororities and fraternities to call their own,” Parice Bowser, assistant vice chancellor for Greek life and associate dean of students, said. “It’s a place to build community. A place to be a community. A place to program, educate, but most importantly, a place of belonging as members of The Divine Nine — The National Pan-Hellenic Council at the University of Arkansas.

“I can’t wait until everyone sees it for the first time and then begins to use it moving forward.”

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Photos by Russell Cothern

The Present

Cool Beans

Fourth-generation farm family shows its sesquicentennial spirit

BY MARK RUSHING ✪ B.A.’93

David Petter ✪ B.S.B.A.’83 says his father’s guidance was simple when it came to considering a future in farming.

“He said, if you want to come back and farm, you’re going to have to have a college degree.”

David remembers being a little reluctant, but it helped that a good friend from Stuttgart, Monica Carter ✪ B.S.B.A.’93, was also heading to the University of Arkansas.

“I wanted to go the U of A since I was six years old,” Monica said. “I just loved watching the Razorbacks with my family, and I didn’t even really half-heartedly consider anywhere but Fayetteville. When we got there, it was almost like you needed each other even more. We grew closer and that ended up being a wonderful, magical time in our life together.”

David and Monica, who have been married for 27 years 48 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

now, both graduated from the Sam M. Walton College of Business in 1993. David admits earning his degree was difficult at times but says the experience and the education they received was a turning point in their lives.

“We grew there,” David said. “It was a building block.

We chose the Walton College of Business, because there’s a huge business side of farming and so understanding accounting, human resources, how to manage people, and develop relationships with people is extremely important.

The university really made us what we are today.”

The Petters visit campus often, always staying at the Inn at Carnall Hall because David “loves that place.”

“One of the first things we like to do after checking in is just run right across there and find our names (on Senior Walk) because we’re not too far away,” Monica said. “You’re so honored to take the same journey all of

Crop Design Idea Came Out of Left Field “When they asked me if I want to put a logo on my farm, I thought somebody lost their mind,” David said.

But the Petters jumped at the opportunity to support the university’s sesquicentennial efforts while highlighting the U of A’s agricultural roots and fundamental purpose as a land-grant institution and state flagship university — to serve the state of Arkansas as a partner, resource and catalyst.

The result? A billboard of beans — a portion of the university’s sesquicentennial logo cut into a field of soybeans, covering about 3.5 acres, roughly the size of three football fields. The Petters worked with university relations and Precision Mazes, a firm that specializes in crop designs, to turn what was an ordinary field into agricultural art.

“Crop dusters were the first ones to see it,” David said. “They told me it looks amazing and were sending me pictures.”

The university is sharing images of the crop design through its social media channels, a Short Takes video and other communications efforts during the 150th.

As a fourth-generation Arkansas rice and soybean farmer, David says the crazy idea ended up being a perfect fit.

“I’m proud to be a farmer,” David said.

“I like being able to take a seed, one seed, and plant it. At the end of the season, this one seed turns into a handful of seeds. Going through that process you see different growth stages of that crop you’re raising. It’s amazing.

“Farming for the state of Arkansas is very important. Rice is the number one crop here in the state, and around the United States we’re number one,” he said.

Turns out crop designs don’t work well in rice fields, but Arkansas is also one of the nation’s top soybean producing states, so it was soybeans that were sowed and shaped for the university’s sesquicentennial.

“It’s awesome,” David said. “It’s a sight to see.”

pposite: Alumni David O and Monica Petter stand in a field of soy beans on their farm near Stuttgart.

Below: A soy bean field was skillfully cut to show the university’s logo for the 150th anniversary year.

Photo submitted

these people before you had taken. I am a first-generation college graduate in my family and that was such a big deal to me and my whole entire family. It leaves that place feeling magical to me.”

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The Present

A-Maze-ing

Arkansas River Bottom Farmers Met on The Hill

BY MARK RUSHING ✪ B.A.’93

Bob ✪+ B.S.A.’62, M.S.’68 and Pat ✪+ B.S.H.E.’63 Schaefers have been farming for 50 years, buying a large plot of land on the Arkansas River in Mayflower in 1971.

They have four children, 10 grandchildren, and three great-grandkids, but the Schaefers decided they still had enough room on their plate to add a corn maze to the mix.

“At the time there wasn’t a corn maze in the area, so it went over big,” Bob said. “It was just something we could do and the kids wanted to do it.”

The Schaefers opened their first corn maze 16 years ago and have operated a maze every fall since, with the 50 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

exception of the pandemic year of 2020.

The most recent design — a portion of the University of Arkansas sesquicentennial logo — is special for the Schaefers, who met on campus in the 1960s while Bob completed a master’s degree in agriculture and Pat earned a bachelor’s in home economics from what is now known as the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. They both worked for the U of A System Division of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service in other parts of the state before focusing full-time on their own farm.

Photos submitted

“We kind of fell in love with the river bottoms over here,” Bob said. “And we’re honored to have the maze, it looks good.”

Named for Lollie Street that leads to the Schaefers’ farm, the Corn Maze at Lollie portion of the farm covers 10 acres. The operation also includes wagon rides and other family-friendly activities.

“We give the kids an ear of corn when they get here to feed to the cows,” Bob said. “This is the closest to a cow that some of these kids have ever been in their life. Some get a little scared and just throw the corn down and run.”

The Schaefers’ oldest son, Daryl M.S.’92, runs a produce farm and pumpkin patch right next to his parents. He also graduated from the U of A with a master’s degree in agriculture, focusing on horticulture, from Bumpers College in 1992. Chris, the second oldest, and James, the youngest son, also followed in their parents’ footsteps, managing a rice, soybean, corn and milo farm together nearby. Their sister, Angela, doesn’t

pposite page: Alumni Bob and Pat Schaefers’ corn maze O took on a new look this year. The Schaefers have been creating corn mazes for 16 years and take visitors on hay rides, top left. Top right, The mazes are intricate enough that some include stairway bridges.

farm but Bob says she certainly could.

“She can drive a tractor just as good as I can,” Bob said.

“They’ve all helped us on the farm. Everybody’s involved in some way.”

And it took the whole family being involved this year as Pat was dealing with some health issues right around the time the corn maze opened in October.

“She’s been the driving force behind the maze for years,” Chris said. “She’s always been here running around, doing everything, so we’re all pitching in, so she can rest a bit.”

And after 50 years of farming, Bob and Pat deserve to rest a bit. Arkansas is thankful they’ve shared a little of their life on Lollie.

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Image submitted

The Future

Transforming Research Into the Future Grant of $194 Million Will Drive Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Commercialization

BY ANDY ALBERTSON M.F.A.’13

The Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research will transform the research, innovation and economic development culture of the university during the coming years.

The institute was established in 2020 by a $194.7 million grant from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation. The grant is one of the largest single private gifts ever given to a university for advancing research and economic development.

At the announcement of the institute, Steuart Walton, chair of the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation Board, said, “Arkansas has long been known for its entrepreneurial spirit and as a place where businesses thrive. This grant will support the University of Arkansas as it seeks to drive innovation and transform entrepreneurship and research to commercialization for industries nationwide.”

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson ★+ J.D.’75 said 52 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

at the time, “The enhancement of the University of Arkansas’s focus on research to commercialization and entrepreneurship education will have a lasting impact on the state, its businesses, and economy. The funding is a clear position of confidence in the University of Arkansas and will strengthen their position as a leading public research university.”

“Even during this time of uncertainty — in higher education and beyond — we know the University of Arkansas is positioned to become a national leader in research and innovation,” said Heather Larkin, president and CEO of the Arkansas Community Foundation and board member of the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation. “This grant is a step toward building a stable economy and a future where we are better equipped to respond to a changing environment.”

The grant from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation will be used support the construction of the

A Leader for the Future Ranu Jung, one of the world’s foremost researchers in biomedical and neural engineering, was selected in October to lead the institute. She described her vision for it: “As the university celebrates its sesquicentennial — ‘150 years. 150 years of trailblazers. 150 years of challenges. 150 years of dreams achieved. 150 years of progress’ — I am deeply honored to have been selected as the founding executive director of the institute, a visionary, pioneering, trans-disciplinary institute. We will nurture creativity, foster inclusivity and draw from all that our community has to offer, to pursue research excellence and transform discoveries, to create the future NOW — for the university, for Northwest Arkansas, for the nation and for all humankind.”

The institute is envisioned as a unique approach to research that will distinguish the University of Arkansas by creating a flexible, state-of-the-art collaborative framework designed to facilitate the integration of research across five overlapping clusters of innovation: • Data science • Food and technology: Food systems and the future of food • Materials science and engineering • Bioscience and bioengineering research in metabolism • Integrative systems neuroscience The grant will grow the university’s research engine and also drive commercialization and entrepreneurship education.

“Dr. Jung’s leadership, commitment to diversity and success in commercialization make her the perfect person to make institute the standard for integrative innovation and university outreach,” said John English ✪ B.S.E.E.’81, M.S.O.R.’83, vice chancellor for research and innovation. “Her groundbreaking work in neural engineering will put the U of A at the forefront of this exciting field and will help attract outstanding researchers to build on the success of our innovation clusters.”

“Dr. Ranu Jung is a transformational leader in the field of biomedical engineering and a great partner to the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation,” said Susan Racher,

Photo submitted

university’s new research facility, which will house the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research and to endow the institute, which will serve as the hub for many activities. Site work for the new building has already begun on the south side of Dickson Street just uphill from the Nanosciences Engineering Building.

anu Jung, new director of R the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research.

vice president and chief financial officer of the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation. “She embodies the very best attributes of the biomedical engineering field: pedagogical inspiration and the entrepreneurial expertise to translate innovative discoveries to advance patient health care. We will greatly miss Dr. Jung’s enriching presence in Miami, but we are excited about the contributions that she and her talented team will make to their field, to patient care and to the University of Arkansas.”

Al Emondi, program manager in the Biological Technologies Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, called Jung a true pioneer in her field.

“It was a privilege to have her as part of the DARPA HAPTIX team,” Emondi said. “Her ability to develop new exploratory neural interface approaches coupled with her ability to smartly leverage existing technologies provided a unique opportunity to provide early proof of concept for future sensory prosthetics.”

Not only will the building and institute add much-needed research space, and act as an interactive and integrated hub for the innovation clusters, it will drive innovation on the edges between identified research clusters.

Funding will help attract and hire 20 new faculty with established research programs and a history of external support. These hires will seek to diversify the University of Arkansas faculty in experiential as well as demographic dimensions.

“This grant will have an enormous impact not only on the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region and state, but on our campus as well,” interim Chancellor Charles Robinson said. “This change will be accomplished through deep engagement of university faculty and students in research, discovery and innovation, entrepreneurship education and commercialization of research.”

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The Future

Serving the Broader Campus

Libraries, Art School, Honors College and Global Campus Lead University’s Changes

BY UNIVERSITY STAFF

University Libraries When the university first opened in January 1872, it included a bookshelf with selected works provided by professors. It was the university’s first library, one which has continued to grow across the decades. It became large enough to take up a wing of Old Main, then required a building of its own: Vol Walker Hall. As research needs grew, the University Libraries outgrew Vol Walker and the David W. Mullins Library was built. Phase I of the David W. Mullins Library renovation was completed earlier this 54 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

year, and Levels 3 and 4 are now open for use. The new spaces offer increased seating, updated technology and a variety of rooms for study and library instruction.

“We’re excited to welcome our students and faculty into a facility designed with the needs of today’s researchers in mind,” the dean of Libraries, Jason Battles, said earlier this year. “The third and fourth floors have something for everyone, with a variety of spaces and easy access to a sizable number of items from our collections.”

The renovated Level 3 is designated for quiet study and features soft lighting and muted colors. Individual study

student population of more than 29,000.

Next though, staff and officials of the University Libraries are making plans for renovation of Levels 1 and 2. Donor support was instrumental to this work to the first phase of the renovation and will also be a critical part of the future renovation.

Honors College

bove top, Parts of the third and fourth floors were A redesigned to encourage study, including use of spaces near windowed areas for informal collaboration. Photo by Chieko Hara bove, The new spaces provide students with ample A opportunity to meet for collaboration, either as individuals over a table or larger groups in one of the 10 collaboration rooms. Photo by Russell Cothren pposite, Two students collaborate on a project on the O renovated third floor of Mullins Library. Photo by Russell Cothren

carrels are available, along with dedicated lounges for graduate students and faculty.

Level 4 is designed for group study and features small collaboration rooms available on a first-come, first-served basis as well as larger, reservable rooms. Two flex-space lecture rooms can be reserved for up to 32 people and are equipped for movie screenings.

Both floors now offer lockers, water bottle refill stations and increased access to power outlets, as well as group and individual restrooms.

“We’re proud of our newly renovated spaces,” said Adriana Gonzalez, associate dean for research and learning. “The library belongs to the students. We want them to have ownership over their space and be equally proud of it in their pursuit of academic success.”

When Mullins Library opened, the student population was 10,549. A major expansion occurred in 1997, when the student population was 13,389. Today, the newly renovated spaces are better equipped to serve the current

The Honors College was created in 2002, when the University of Arkansas received a $300 million gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.

More than one-third of this landmark gift was dedicated to the Honors College, which offers honors studies in all majors, tailored to students’ academic interests. The college annually awards up to 90 freshman fellowships worth $72,000 over four years and more than $1 million in research, study abroad, service learning and internship grants.

The college’s national reputation continues to grow. A recent article in the 2022 issue of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges Guide highlighted the Honors College as one of a handful of programs that offer a great education at low cost, which students are choosing over elite private institutions throughout the U.S. Although the college is still relatively young, its alumni are already making waves in the real world, playing key roles on projects ranging from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to the new national World War I monument just steps from the White House.

“This coming year will mark the 20th anniversary of the Honors College and we have so much to celebrate, from the inspiring success of our alumni to the new academic adventures we are developing for current and future students,” said Honors College Dean Lynda Coon.

Under Dean Coon’s leadership the Honors College has launched a series of seminar and forum courses taught by top professors and community leaders, addressing topics such as blockchain, gene editing, cancer and the future of work. In response to COVID-19, the college offered intersession seminars, Pandemic (2020) and Vaccine (2021), taught by interdisciplinary groups of doctors, scholars and top government officials, including Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

In partnership with top faculty, the college offers Honors Passport, a two-week intersession study abroad experience that takes students to historically and culturally significant sites around the globe, from Peru’s Machu Picchu to the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route through France and Spain.

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The Honors College continues to expand scholarship and mentoring support to students. The Path Program, which recruits and provides scholarships for exceptional students from underrepresented communities, has received nearly $2 million in grant funding from the National Science Foundation as well as generous support from private donors. The Futures Hub, launched this year, helps students make the most of their college experience and prepare for their career, post-degree, by offering workshops, programs and one-on-one mentoring sessions with planning professionals.

Honors students at the University of Arkansas have received numerous scholarships, fellowships, and accolades since the college was established, including the coveted Rhodes Scholarship, awarded this year to industrial engineering and political science major Coleman Warren.

Global Campus The university’s online and professional education programs have their roots in what was originally known as general extension education. It started with a few correspondence courses: classwork was mailed to students who worked through the lessons on their own timetable and sent their work back.

One of the inventive classes was proposed by Henry Tovey, the head of the Music Department. He had an extensive collection of phonograph records and started shipping them to communities across Arkansas along with lecture notes about each musical work and composer.

pposite top, Shawn Austin, associate professor of history, O talks with honors students about Peru in 2017 as part of an Honors Passport study abroad experience. Photo by Russell Cothren ar left middle, Honors students get to see the “vault” at F Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Photo by Daniel Moody eft middle, Students participating in the PATH Program, L which prepares exceptional high school students from underrepresented populations to excel at the U of A, spend social time in the honors lounge. Photo by Chieko Hara

Far left bottom, Benjamin Runkle, an associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering, leads honors students in research of the vegetation growing upon the “green roof” of the U of A’s Hillside Auditorium. Photo by Russell Cothren

eft bottom, Students participating in a service-learning L course designed to help farmers in Mozambique review data at a poultry house. Photo by Kendall Curlee

A civic-minded person would read the lectures to a community group and play the records on a Victrola.

Over the years, similar innovations continued.

Extension courses in the 1920s were broadcast via the university’s first radio station, KUOA, to alumni living as far away Valdez, Alaska, to Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. In the 1950s, faculty members drove to Tulsa to offer lectures via television to a wide audience and also began flying to Little Rock to offer graduate extension courses to students who couldn’t travel to the university.

That same spirit of using innovations to connect students – wherever they live, whatever their academic need – with scholars on the Hill continues today in what is called the Global Campus. In the digital age, the method of delivering those lessons has once again changed, but the quality and personal convenience of distance education remains crucial to giving residents of Arkansas and beyond a chance to pursue quality higher and continuing education.

“Distance education is our passion,” said Cheryl Murphy, vice provost for distance education and head of the Global Campus. “We provide high-quality educational opportunities that empower people and transform lives. The future of the Global Campus is about excellence, excellence in our work and excellence in the work of the people we serve. We are reaching out more than ever before, and people are hungry for opportunities.

When people need access to distance education opportunities, we are there to meet that need and we do it with the highest level of quality and support.”

Online students at the University of Arkansas receive the same high-quality education and many of the services provided to students who walk across campus every day.

True, classes, tutoring and library support are delivered in a different way, but the same academic colleges and schools that develop face-to-face programs and courses on campus also develop those offered online and through blended options.

The online bachelor’s degree programs are ranked among the top 25 of all programs in the country, public and private. Whether a student is pursuing a degree online or on campus, they are part of the Razorback community.

Holding true to its roots, the Global Campus also provides non-degree workforce training opportunities online and in person through its Bentonville offices at the Collaborative, the new U of A education and research presence and catalyst in Bentonville.

Methods have changed over time, but the Global Campus is steadfast in its commitment to bringing the campus to students and learners, wherever they are.

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Student Success Center PHOTOS BY CHIEKO HARA

An architectural rendering of the front of the Student Success Center.

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wo narrow balconies T on the south side will overlook the Old Main Arboretum.

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UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION 1. Publication title: Arkansas 2. Publication number: 10648100 3. Filing date: 10/19/2021 4. Issue Frequency: Quarterly 5. Issues published annually: 4 6. Annual subscription price: $24.00 7. Office of publication: P. O. Box 1070, Fayetteville, Washington, County, Arkansas, 72702-1070 8. General business office: Same as 7.

9. Publisher: Brandy Cox Jackson, P. O. Box 1070, Fayetteville, AR 727021070 Editor: Catherine Baltz, P. O. Box 1070, Fayetteville, AR 72702-1070 Managing editor: Charlie Alison, 106 Davis Hall, 1 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701 10. Owner: Arkansas Alumni Association, Inc., P. O. Box 1070, Fayetteville, AR 72702 11. Known bondholders, mortgagees, or other security holders holding one percent or more of total amounts of bonds, mortgages, or other securitites: none.

12. Tax Status: Has not changed during the preceding 12 months.

Opposite page, top to bottom he sub-ground floor, still under T construction at the time of this photo, will offer a small eatery and courtyard adjoining Memorial Hall. wide reception area will offer A students quick directions for their next steps in being successful. arge arched passageways on one L side of the building are intended to provide social spaces for students to work on projects and meet with peer coaches. side door awaits its real A doorway.

This page top to bottom skylight in the center of the A Student Success Center offers natural light through the ground floor and sub-ground-level floor. worker runs electrical and A ethernet lines through ceiling conduits.

13. Company Name/Publication Title: ARKANSAS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, INC/ARKANSAS - THE MAGAZINE OF THE ARKANSAS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 14. Issue date for circulation data: September 24, 2021 15. Extent and nature of circulation A* B* a. Total number of copies 19,158 13,215 (net press run) b. Paid Circulation (1) M ailed outside 18,148 12,215 county (2) M ailed in-county 0 0 (3) P aid distribution 0 0 outside mail (4) O ther paid 73 50 distribution c. Total paid distribution 18,221 12,265 d. Free or nominal distribution (1) O utside county 0 0 (2) I n-county 0 0 (3) O ther classes 10 8 (4) O utside mail 363 550 e. Total free or nominal 373 558 rate distribution f. Total distribution 18,594 12,823 g. Copies not distributed 564 392 h. Total 19,158 13,215 i. Percent paid 97.99% 95.65% *A. Average number of copies each issue during the preceding 12 months. *B. Number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date.

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Creating an Economy for Arkansas

One of the Earliest Missions of the U of A, Serving the State, Becomes Even More Important During 21st Century

BY ANDY ALBERTSON M.F.A.’13

U of A were leveraged 13.56 times — The University of Arkansas has for each dollar of state funding, the helped grow Arkansas’ economy since university pumps $13.56 back into 1871. And as our flagship university the state economy. has grown over the years, so has its University operations and support for the state. associated economic activities According to the most recent contributed more than $89.5 study by the Center for Business million in state and local taxes and Economic Research in the Sam through income taxes, business taxes, M. Walton College of Business, the property taxes and other related U of A’s annual economic impact taxes. Additionally, student spending has increased to $2.2 billion, more contributed $453.5 million to the than tripling from $725 million in economy.

2009. The university feeds Arkansas’ The U of A has 77,183 alumni economy through operations, in Arkansas, earning $2.7 billion construction, development and in wages. Those alumni paid transfer of new technology to the $130 million in state income marketplace, and through alumni M

ervyn Jabarach, director of the Center taxes, $65 million in state sales employment and student and for Business and Economic Research taxes and $12 million in county visitor commerce. sales taxes. More than 82 percent “One of the University’s vital roles of the 2018 graduating class had jobs or were is to serve as an economic engine for the accepted to graduate school and their average starting State of Arkansas,” said interim chancellor Charles salary was $51,997.

Robinson. “Studies show time and again that the U of A The U of A’s research expenditures, entrepreneurial and is succeeding in this mission and providing an invaluable technology transfer programs also grew, improving lives service to the people of our state.” through discovery and creating new jobs through business The Center for Business and Economic Research growth and commercialization of new products. The analyzed the university’s economic impact in 2009, U of A issued 35 patents (11 in the U.S. and 24 in other 2014 and 2018. The most recent report shares a view countries) and had 84 patent applications in 2020. of the effects the university has on the state and region And businesses at the U of A’s Arkansas Research through its unique land-grant mission of teaching, and Technology Park have been awarded more than $26 research and service to Arkansas. The return on million in Small Business Innovation Research and Small investment is staggering.

Business Technology Transfer awards over the last seven years — accounting for nearly half of the $54,393,485 in small business awards granted to the state of Arkansas Return on Investment during that time period. The university also continued its economic outreach to the state with the establishment State and federal funding that supports the university of the Collaborative in Bentonville, which supports is used to produce outcomes that exceed the costs. For workforce development, executive education example, The Economic Impact Report shows that in and entrepreneurship.

2018, the $166.8 million in state appropriations to the 62 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

(Campus View continued from page 2)

OFFICERS

President Ron Rainey ✪ ’91, ’93, ’01, Little Rock, AR President-Elect Don Walker ✪+ B.S.A.’74, Fayetteville, AR Treasurer Kristen Collier Wright ✪ B.A. ’98, J.D.’01, Forrest City, AR BOARD OF DIRECTORS Class of 2022 Linda Bedford-Jackson ✪ ’80, Austin, TX Ashleigh Buckley ★ ’07, ’10, Fort Smith, AR Sarah K. Hudson ★ ’07, ’10, Washington, DC Paul Parette ✪+ ’89, Dallas, TX Bill Stovall ✪+ ’72, Charleston, SC Richard Welcher ★ ’99, ’04, Fayetteville, AR Brian Wolff ✪ ’89, Washington, DC Kristen Collier Wright ✪ ’98, ’01, Forrest City, AR Class of 2023 Tori Bogner ✪ ’13, ’16, Fayetteville, AR Kathleen Gonzalez ★ ’11, Rogers, AR Cecilia Grossberger-Medina ★ ’08, Fayetteville, AR Regina Hopper ✪ ’81, ’85, Alexandria, VA Robert Koenig ✪ ’90, Leawood, KS Wes Shirley ★ ’99, ’02, Fayetteville, AR Cameron Sutherland ★+ ’11, ’14, Fayetteville, AR Shambrekia Wise ★ ’08, Dallas, TX Class of 2024 Amy May Hopper ✪ ’15, Belton, MO Chris Johnson ✪ ’93, Little Rock, AR Bobby Jones ✪+ ’84, Savannah, GA Faheem Khan ✪ ’91, Lewisville, TX Connie Lewis Lensing ✪ ’74, ’77, Memphis, TN Nathan Looney ✪ ’09, Little Rock, AR Courtney Norton ✪ ’07, Fayetteville, AR Oliver Sims ✪ ’85, Carrollton, TX Kristine Stover ✪+ ’81, Tulsa, OK Cedric Williams ✪ ’93, Forrest City, AR

cheerleader (smile) to watching her smile with me as we “Call the Hogs!” Her path will continually be influenced by the YOU of A. My personal and professional mentors are countless. Three relationships that bear mentioning are my undergraduate mentor, professor Frank Farmer; my graduate mentor, professor Bruce Dixon; and my life-long friend, Dean Deacue Fields. The evolution of those relationships allows me to refer to them by their first name instead of their titles. I loved discovering life over pool and basketball games with Frank. I have to throw it in that I won most of those games and still laugh at his disgust when I tried to dunk on him (not a regulation rim…). Bruce inspired my appreciation for research/discovery and made me an expert, if only for a few years, in econometrics. He taught me to walk in my role, as professor. Dean Fields is a colleague/mentor whom I met professionally as a young agricultural economist. He has played a role in how I think strategically about personal and professional engagements to this day. He

truly helped to “explore the possibilities.” I stand with pride as I see the impact of his vision and leadership on our state’s leading industry, agriculture.

Today, I count it a privilege knowing that I can call on them either personally or professionally! There are countless others that have influenced me for either a season or continue to grow me for a lifetime. My circle of graduate school friends recently reunited on campus 30 years following our graduation. It is those life-long relationships that continue to amaze me!

We talked as much about how our families have evolved as we reflected on our individual professional development.

As I close, I invite you to reflect on your journey with the U of A. What is your YOU of A? As we look with anticipation on the next century of U of A impacts, I hope that you will join me in recognizing and toasting the collective transformational impact. I also hope that you will stay connected to enhance not only past accomplishments but be a part of future successes.

Marlee & Ron Rainey, president of the Arkansas Alumni Association Inc.

STAFF Associate Vice Chancellor for Alumni and Executive Director of the Arkansas Alumni Association Brandy Cox Jackson ✪ MA’07 Director of Alumni Programs and Special Events Deb Euculano ✪ Director of Finance Hal Prescott ✪ Lisa Ault ★ BSBA’94, Associate Director of Business Operations; Catherine Baltz ✪+ BS’92, MED’07, Assistant Director of Communications; Tim Barker ★, Fiscal Support Analyst; Shanedra Barnes ✪, Assistant Director of Revenue Management; Jen Boyer ★ BSBA’19, Special Events Coordinator; Collin Brunner ★ B.S.H.E.S.’10, Assistant Director of Membership Experience; Florence Galbraith ★, Fiscal Support Analyst; Mercedes Gazaway ★, Assistant Director of Internal Relations; Brock Haegele ★ BA’17, Assistant Director of External Relations; Mary Kate Harrison ★ BA’15, MA’17, Special Projects Coordinator; Lisy McKinnon ✪ BA’97, Interim Director of Marketing and Communications; Elaine Olson ★; Administrative Specialist-Alumni Programs and Special Events; Emily Piper ★, Administrative Specialist; Patti Sanders ✪+ BSA’08, Associate Director of Alumni Scholarships; Julie Simpson ★, Associate Director of Facilities and Special Events

lockwise from top-left, Ron’s circle of friends from Graduate School includes alumni from C the master’s program in agricultural economics. He joined the Class of 2019 in dedicating their segment of Senior Walk. He and his daughter, Marlee, found his name on Senior Walk.

Rainey and Dean Deacue Fields attending the Sports Hall of Honor.

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When Razorbacks Believe

Unleashing the Power of Collective Determination

BY INTERIM CHANCELLOR CHARLES F. ROBINSON ✪

The stories collected here remind us that our land-grant mission has been the foundation of our progress as a university through times of adversity and accomplishment alike. For 150 years, that mission has guided our teaching, research and service to create opportunity for our students and the state of Arkansas. This is what connects us as we gather for traditions like Homecoming or to Call the Hogs – a belief in the good that we can accomplish as Razorbacks, together.

Thanks to the dedication of so many who came before us, we have much for which to be grateful.

Our campus is home to a record number of students — more than 29,000 — who are more diverse and academically prepared than any class before them. We are witnessing unprecedented support for our research and entrepreneurial endeavors and expanding our capacity to improve lives through innovation, collaboration and outreach. And every day we see our students and alumni become leaders and difference makers who invest their talents and knowledge in their communities. The 64 / ARKANSAS / WINTER 2021

University of Arkansas, and our land-grant mission, is stronger than ever.

It is for this reason that, even as we celebrate this milestone in our history, we must remember our responsibility to the future. Today, we are standing in the breach between yesterday and tomorrow, and we have an obligation to roll up our sleeves and do the work that will make success possible for future generations of Razorbacks throughout the next 150 years. We have the same call to mission that was first answered in 1871, and we must muster the same courage to believe in the promise of higher education to create a better world.

For when we believe together, we unleash the prodigious power of our collective determination to solve any problem, to overcome any obstacle, to achieve any and every goal, together.

It is a tremendous honor to serve as interim chancellor as we celebrate our 150th year as Arkansas’ flagship institution. I believe in our collective power as Razorbacks and look forward to the great things ahead of us.

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P.O. Box 1070, Fayetteville, AR 72702 • Phone 888-275-2586 • Fax 479-575-5177 • www.arkansasalumni.org

Dear Members, From the first graduating class in 1876 to a campus of more than 29,000 students, the University of Arkansas continues to transform lives through education, research, outreach, innovation and entrepreneurship. This special sesquicentennial issue of ARKANSAS magazine celebrates 150 years of the University’s dedication to the state of Arkansas. It also looks to our future as we continue our work to build a better world.

The U of A’s commitment to the state of Arkansas is constant and unwavering. As a land-grant institution, we prepare graduates with essential job skills, enhance the state’s economy through innovation, provide life-changing opportunities to experience new ideas, and cultivate individual creativity through collaboration. Our students represent every county in the state and our graduates are leaders and volunteers who contribute to their communities and the world. The University of Arkansas endeavors to improve lives and continues to achieve these ends.

As the official alumni engagement organization for our alma mater, we support the university’s mission as we connect and serve the University of Arkansas family. The generosity of loyal alumni like you enables the association to keep our alumni and friends connected to each other and the university, to shape future leaders through student programming, and to award more than 500 student scholarships every year. Without the support of our members, the Arkansas Alumni Association would not be able to sustain this level of impact on students, faculty and the alumni community. For this, you have earned our enduring gratitude.

As we continue to celebrate the 150th anniversary, it is important to remain focused on the future. Just envisioning a better world isn’t enough. It takes discovery, collaboration and dedication to move things forward. Now is an incredibly exciting time to be a part of the University of Arkansas family, and we invite you to remain our partner in providing transformational opportunities for the next generation of Razorbacks. You, our members, serve as both the motivation and vehicle for us to fulfill our mission. You are our University of Arkansas family.

We hope you will enjoy this look into what unifies us as Razorbacks, and we eagerly anticipate all that we will achieve together.

With Pride in Arkansas,

Brandy Cox Jackson, CFRE, MA ’07 Life Member, Arkansas Alumni Association

Your Connection Starts Here

P.O. Box 1070 Fayetteville, AR 72702

PERIODICALS

Office of University Advancement

Greetings from the University of Arkansas!

From the first graduating class in 1876 to a campus of more than 29,000 students, the University of Arkansas continues to transform lives through education, research, outreach, innovation and entrepreneurship. This special sesquicentennial issue of ARKANSAS magazine celebrates 150 years of the University’s dedication to the state of Arkansas. It also looks to our future as we continue our work to build a better world.

The U of A’s commitment to the state of Arkansas is constant and unwavering. As a land grant institution, we prepare graduates with essential job skills, enhance the state’s economy through innovation, provide life-changing opportunities to experience new ideas and cultivate individual creativity through collaboration. Our students represent every county in the state and our graduates are leaders and volunteers who contribute to their communities and the world. The University of Arkansas endeavors to improve lives and continues to achieve these ends.

As we continue to celebrate the 150th anniversary, it is important to remain focused on the future.

Just envisioning a better world isn’t enough. It takes discovery, collaboration and dedication to move things forward. Now is an incredibly exciting time to be a part of the University of Arkansas family, and we invite you to remain our partner in providing transformational opportunities for the next generation of Razorbacks. You serve as both the motivation and vehicle for us to fulfill our mission.

You are our University of Arkansas family.

We hope you will enjoy this look into what unifies us as Razorbacks, and we eagerly anticipate all that we will achieve together.

With Pride in Arkansas,

Mark Power Vice Chancellor for Advancement

ADMN 416 • Fayetteville, AR 72701 • 479-575-6800 • www.uark.edu The University of Arkansas is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.

P.O. Box 1070 Fayetteville, AR 72702

PERIODICALS

SENIOR WALK

OLD MAIN

Begun by the Class of 1905, Senior Walk contains the names of more than 200,000 graduates, beginning with the first class inscribed at the foot of the Old Main steps. It is a unique, much-loved tradition of the University, covering nearly five miles of paved walks throughout the campus. Originally stamped by hand, the names are now etched by a machine known as the Senior Sand Hog, invented in 1986 by University Physical Plant employees.

CHI OMEGA GREEK THEATRE

Illustration by Ross Maute

Illustration by Laura Taylor and Eric Pipkin

The construction of University Hall, completed in 1875, set a seal of permanence on the University. The building was constructed of local materials by the firm of Mayes and Oliver, under the close supervision of Judge Lafayette Gregg of Fayetteville. In its long life, it has housed many academic departments and administrative functions, as well as a gymnasium, a chapel, the University Museum, the University Library, and the campus bookstore. Its imposing appearance and hillside location make it an icon of learning for the entire state. After being closed for nearly a decade, the building was extensively renovated and rededicated in 1991 as Old Main.

CARNALL HALL

Illustration by Ross Maute

Illustration by Laura Taylor

Located on Old Main Lawn, Carnall Hall was initially built to serve as the campus’ first residential dormitory for women. Construction for the dormitory was funded by the State Legislature at a cost of $35,000 and began in 1905. Carnall Hall currently stands as the second-oldest building on campus. The dormitory was named in memory of Miss Ella Howison Carnall, an 1881 graduate of the University of Arkansas who served as an associate professor of English and modern languages. Designed by the architecture firm of Charles L. Thompson and O.L. Gates of Little Rock in a colonial revival style, it opened in 1906.

The Chi Omega Greek Theater was built in 1930 as a gift from Chi Omega, the national women’s fraternity (sorority) that was founded at the University of Arkansas in 1895 when four coeds and a faculty adviser chartered the mother chapter, Psi. Since then, Chi Omega has become the largest women’s fraternity in the nation, with 240,000 current members and alumnae in 172 chapters. The Psi chapter house is located at 940 Maple Street. The Greek Theater is a replica of one built at the foot of the Acropolis in ancient Athens to honor Dionysus. It has been used for commencements, concerts, and many other events.