ARKANSAS: Summer 2022

ARKANSAS

Summer 2022 For members of the Arkansas Alumni Association Inc. For members of the Arkansas Alumni Association Inc.

Summer 2022 Vol. 71, No. 4

65 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

Photo by Chieko Hara

arkansas

SUMMER / Vol 71, No. 4

For members of the Arkansas Alumni Association Inc.

8 A Star Bound

Alumna Amber Straughn, who helps NASA’s Goddard Space Center tell America about its story of exploration, served as the Alumni Association’s Johnson Fellow.

16

Documenting the Beauty of People

24

Design With Better Intentions

Doctoral student Shane White began making videos in the seventh grade.

He’s still telling stories through visual media, hoping they will change the world for the better.

The university’s Community Design Center combines function with form to put benefits at front of design. National honors and recognition show the center is on the right track.

2 4 34 56 58 64

Campus View Campus Alumni Yesteryear Senior Walk Last Look

On the cover: The southeast entrance to campus at the corner of Arkansas Avenue and Dickson Street, sometime after 1922.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 1

ARKANSAS Publisher Arkansas Alumni Association

Campus View

Executive Director Brandy Cox Jackson ✪ M.A.’07 Editor Charlie Alison ★ B.A.’82, M.A.’04

John English ✪ B.S.E.E ’89, M.S.O.R. ’83

Associate Editor Catherine Baltz ✪+ B.S.’92, M.Ed.’07 Creative Director Eric Pipkin

Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation

2 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

Photographers Cheiko Hara Whit Pruitt ★ B.A.’17

Photo by University Relations

The University of Arkansas has held a special place in my heart for as long as I can remember — as a kid growing up, child of a U of A staff member, student in electrical engineering, graduate student in industrial engineering, professor, department head, dean, and now as a vice chancellor. I’ve seen first-hand the positive difference my alma mater makes for tens of thousands of students and citizens throughout the state of Arkansas, our region, the nation and across the world. And when I take a moment to reflect on how far the U of A has come, I can’t help but be humbled and excited to see what’s next.

As a public land-grant institution, our three-fold mission is to educate the next generation of Arkansas’ leaders, to reach out and serve every corner of the state, and to conduct the leading-edge research that creates discoveries — the discoveries that drive our economy and improve lives.

I’m happy to report that we are making great progress on all fronts.

Despite the challenges created by the pandemic, our research is thriving. I could not be prouder of our faculty, staff and students and the work they’ve done.

Their resiliency and ingenuity have led to greater understanding and breakthroughs across campus.

The past year has seen remarkable federal support for our research mission, including an $18 million grant from the National Science Foundation to build a facility to create silicon carbide semiconductors, $4.4 million from the U.S. Office of Naval Research to prototype the next generation of night-vision technology, $20 million from the NSF

Photo Editor Russell Cothren ✪

to establish the MonArk NSF Quantum Foundry to develop quantum materials and devices, and $10.8 million from the National Institutes of Health to create the Arkansas Integrative Metabolic Research Center in partnership with UAMS. The Arkansas Humanities Center provides great resources in advanced humanities research for campus.

Adding to the excitement, we recently broke ground on the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research Building, the physical hub of a center of the same name, which was established by a landmark $194.7 million grant from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.

As eye-popping as these numbers are, they only tell part of the story. Facilities, institutes and centers like the ones above will attract talented people from all over the world to Arkansas, and the research, materials and devices they produce will have an overwhelmingly positive effect on our economy. More than that, though, these breakthroughs will benefit Arkansans and society at large.

Thanks for all you do to support the University of Arkansas. We’re proud to serve you.

Go Hogs!

Writers & Contributors DeLani Bartlette B.A.’06 M.A.’08 Jennifer Cook Beth Dedman ★ B.A.’20 Mary Kate Harrison ★ B.A.’15, M.A.’17 Andra Parish Liwag Shannon Magsam Suzanne McCray B.A.’78, M.A.’80 Matt McGowan Lisy McKinnon ✪ B.A. ’97 Michelle Parks B.A.’94 Gina Shelton Yusra Sultana 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 Summer -22-048 All photos by University Relations unless otherwise noted.

Cover photo: Razorback Yearbook Please recycle this magazine or share it with a friend.

HOW MUCH DO WE LOVE ARKANSAS? We’d grow real snouts if we could.

Proud to be your community bank.

Call on our team today!

Member FDIC

Planning Your Best Retirement

Apartments

Cottages

Village Homes

Butterfield Trail Village offers more options that come standard, more activities and amenities at your fingertips, and more choices than any other active senior living community in the area – all in a beautifully maintained neighborhood setting.

Planning for a move to the perfect retirement community doesn’t happen overnight, but as a Carriage Club member, you’ll get to enjoy a range of premier amenities – before you move in!

Call to schedule your private consultation and tour today.

CARRIAGE CLUB

1923 E. Joyce Blvd. | Fayetteville, Ark. | 479.695.8011 | butterfieldtrailvillage.org SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 3

Campus

Defending Those Without Representation Criminal Practice Clinic Offers Students Real-World Setting

BY YUSRA SULTANA M.S.O.M.’21

aw students Alicia Canfield and Katie Sparrow with Matt L Bender, visiting assistant professor of law for the U of A School of Law. Photo submitted

Katie Sparrow B.A. ’18, a third-year law student participating in the School of Law’s Criminal Practice Clinic, delivered her first closing argument to a jury in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Arkansas at the end of a three-day trial in September 2021.

Sparrow and other students of the Criminal Practice Clinic were appointed by the court to represent a client months after the client initially filed suit pro se. Clinic students and faculty spent months litigating his case, including reopening discovery, deposing witnesses, conducting research and engaging in motion practice.

Their client ultimately prevailed on his claim that a local police department violated his civil rights by using excessive force when its officers arrested him.

Alicia Canfield J.D. ’21, a 2021 School of Law graduate and former clinic student, continued her work on the case after graduation and served on the trial team along with Sparrow and Matt Bender B.S.B.A ’09, a visiting associate professor and supervising attorney.

“Going to the client’s neighborhood, sitting on his family’s couch or visiting with one of his neighbors on their porch were unforgettable experiences,” Canfield said. “I also enjoyed getting the chance to cross-examine witnesses during the trial for the first time.”

A neighbor Canfield visited during the clinic’s 4 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

investigation became important in the case — she was the first witness called and Canfield’s first direct examination during a jury trial.

“Having the opportunity to summarize the client’s story in front of the jury and watch the jury come back in his favor is an experience I will never forget,” Sparrow said after the trial. “I am beyond grateful for all that I got to experience in the clinic.”

Continuing similar work this academic year, Taylor Carpenter B.A. ’19, a third-year law student, handled the litigation of a person’s claims of Eighth Amendment violations and successfully obtained a favorable settlement for the client in early April 2022.

In addition to civil rights litigation, students stayed busy helping clients in criminal matters throughout Arkansas. Clinic students Caleb Epperson B.A. ’19, Dana McGee B.A. ’19 and Marcus Clouse helped a local unhoused man charged with felony arson finally get released from jail.

Hannah Malone and Dalton Cook, both third-year law students, spent much of the spring semester preparing a case for trial, including reviewing stacks of medical records, meeting with expert witnesses and handling other pre-trial litigation activities. Malone and Cook were presented the school’s Clinical Team of the Year Award for their work on the case.

“Working on a case where the consequences for a person are so serious is nerve-wracking, but the chance to work on a case like this was incredible,” Cook said.

Reflecting on complex strategic decisions the team had to make in the case, Malone said, “We had to take all of these competing ideas and try to figure out how a jury would see them.”

In April 2022, Malone and Cook briefed and successfully argued their motion to suppress a confession in state court.

“The opportunity to argue and win such a critical motion on a Y-felony case is incredible experience for students,” Bender said. “Attorneys wait years to get a chance to argue suppression issues in high stakes cases, so it is extraordinary for Hannah and Dalton to get a favorable result. … This highlights the quality of their advocacy.”

Building a Better World

Crafton and Harvell Recognized by Construction Industry

BY JENNIFER COOK

Two U of A College of Engineering alumni — Bob Crafton B.S.C.E.’57 and Grady Harvell ★ B.S.C.E.’72 — were inducted into the Arkansas Construction Hall of Fame at an April ceremony in Little Rock.

Crafton and Harvell had previously been named to the College of Engineering Hall of Fame in 2017 and 2020, respectively.

The Arkansas Construction Hall of Fame was established in 1999 to honor and recognize outstanding individuals in the construction industry who have demonstrated their professionalism through active support of the industry and civic and community involvement.

“Bob and Grady are two of our most active supporters, and I am proud to offer my congratulations for this muchdeserved honor,” said Dean Kim Needy★.

“We often say that engineers change the world for the better, and these two men epitomize this idea.”

Crafton is the retired co-founder of Crafton Tull, which opened in Rogers in 1963. The civil engineering, surveying, architecture, landscape architecture and planning company has nine offices in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Harvell is president and chief operating officer for W&W | AFCO Steel, the largest structural steel fabrication and erection company in North America, with more than 2,000 employees.

In addition, the American Institute of Steel Construction recognized Harvell in March with a Lifetime Achievement Award “for his drive to fund research to make steel bridges more economical, his commitment to steel bridge education and his contributions to the National Steel Bridge Alliance.”

eft to right, Bob Crafton L and Grady Harvell Photos submitted

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 5

Campus

All Aboard for Berlin

Alumna Spreads Joy of International Learning

BY SHANNON MAGSAM

lumna Megan Brazle A B.A. ’09, M.A.T. ’10, third from left, and high school students pose in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin during an international trip.

Photo submitted

6 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

Megan Brazle’s love affair with world languages began when she traveled to Europe as a high school sophomore.

She majored in international relations, German and European studies at the U of A. The plan was a career in foreign service work. Then the Bodenhamer Fellow discovered something she loved as much as languages: teaching. The fact that she could merge the two was appealing.

Brazle graduated from the U of A Master of Arts in Teaching program in May 2010. She found her place as a German teacher at Springdale High School almost immediately and has remained there since.

Brazle stays sharp in her field. She has served as secretary of the Arkansas Association of Teachers of German since 2011. She’s also one of only three International Baccalaureate coordinators in the state. The IB college preparatory program is time-intensive, and students require extensive support. Still, Brazle thoroughly enjoys this new role.

“It combines my love of multiculturalism and international flavor with rigorous teaching and learning,” she said. “The International Baccalaureate program is world-renowned for providing quality education, and I am proud to be a part of making that happen here at Springdale.”

Brazle’s students, fellow teachers and school administrators wanted to see her rewarded for her dedication. They teamed up to nominate her for the 2021 Checkpoint Charlie Foundation Teacher Award. She won. Brazle received the award last fall at the American Association of Teachers of German’s national conference.

Each year, the award recognizes one outstanding teacher who strengthens intercultural respect and understanding in their classrooms.

Erin Kemp B.A. ’05, M.A.T ’06, the Springdale High World Languages Department chair, wrote in her nomination, “Mrs. Brazle has built a legacy that fosters intercultural connections and stellar academic achievement. The SHS World Languages Department is honored to work alongside her.”

Frazier to Broaden Experience of America’s Birth

Alumnus Heads Communications for 250th

BY CHARLIE ALISON ★ B.A.’82, M.A.’04

Alumnus Michael Frazier B.A.’01 will lead the nationwide communications and marketing for commemoration of the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026.

America250, the nationwide commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary, is being led by the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission. He will oversee publicity and community engagement efforts leading up to the largest and most inclusive commemoration in America’s history.

“Sharing stories about our nation and the people who enrich America and its institutions with diverse ideas, cultures and beliefs is a remarkable privilege,” Frazier said. “We will broaden the experience of the commemoration and inspire the country to dream about what we can achieve over the next 250 years.”

Frazier will report to Joseph C. Daniels, the president and CEO of the America250 Foundation.

“I’ve had the great pleasure of working closely with Michael over the years,” Daniels said, “and I can say that there is no one I would rather have in charge of engaging the tens of millions of Americans we aspire to reach from every state and territory.”

As head of communications and marketing, Frazier will drive America250’s brand vision, public relations and media planning, and oversee all advertising, creative and design, content production and digital media strategies with a focus on building awareness and participation in the organization’s national programs and partnerships. He will also serve as an adviser to Daniels.

Frazier joined America250 with more than two decades of communications and marketing experience, starting back in Fayetteville when he was a writer for The Arkansas Traveler on the U of A campus.

He grew up in Hot Springs, where he served as class president in high school, and then he came to study journalism at the university. He told a writer once that he thought of himself as an “old-school reporter,” and the foundation he received at the university had allowed him to build his career, first as a journalist in Arkansas and then in New York City.

“At school, I was fortunate to be exposed to veteran print reporters while in the classroom,” Frazier said previously.

“Journalism has changed by leaps and bounds since I graduated. My professors taught me to play the basic notes, and as I grew, now I can play jazz. Every time I hit a bump, I go back to the basics.”

Shifting into public relations, he served for more than a decade as executive vice president and deputy director of external affairs for the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

“America250 is a once-in-a-lifetime initiative that has the opportunity to engage and inspire all Americans over the next five years,” said Frank Giordano, executive director of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission.

“Michael brings a wealth of strategic communications and advisory experience reaching and connecting with new audiences as we seek to create a truly inclusive commemoration that will leave a legacy of hope for future generations to come.”

Michael Frazier Photo courtesy Michael Frazier

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 7

Feature

To the U of A and Beyond Paving a Path to NASA With the Help of a Professor

BY MARY KATE HARRISON ★ B.A.’15, M.A.’17

Amber Straughn B.S.’02 spent her childhood looking up at the night sky from her small town of Bee Branch.

As she watched the stars, she thought about the universe beyond what she could see from her Arkansas skies.

Little did she know, the curiosity and wonder that fueled these evening gazes would lead her to the University of Arkansas to develop the skills, make the connections and gain the knowledge needed to launch her career at NASA’s Goddard Space Center.

In April of 2020, Straughn was selected as the Arkansas Alumni Association’s Johnson Fellow. When the university closed campus due to COVID-19, her official visit was postponed. Following a rough couple of years, Straughn arrived on campus this past April to share how her journey to and through the U of A led her to NASA. 8 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

The Arkansas Alumni Association’s Johnson Fellows program is named for a former president of the association’s Board of Directors, Jeff Johnson ✪+ B.A.’70, and his wife, Marcia. The Johnsons endowed the program in 2009 with the specific purpose of bringing esteemed alumni back to the U of A campus to engage and inspire students.

“It often seemed like when any notable alumni came back to campus, the focus was on having them meet with university administration and staff members,” Johnson said. “It was important to Marcia and me that we get students interacting with these alumni as well so that they could see where their degrees from the University of Arkansas could take them.”

While on campus, Straughn shared how her experiences

and support system at the U of A helped launch her into a successful career at NASA. She encouraged students in introductory first-year courses, graduatelevel research classes and registered student organizations to follow their passions and chase the things that make them ask “why?”

Straughn came to Fayetteville from a town with a population a quarter the size of the students enrolled in the university’s Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

Her evenings staring up at the stars led to a passion that evolved into what she refers to as a major “astronaut phase,” which Straughn admits is often the case with aspiring young scientists. Her fascination with space continued through high school where, in her 12th-grade English course, she chose to write her capstone research paper on intergalactic exploration.

Straughn thought her paper warranted a good grade in English class, but what she didn’t know is that after a former high school classmate read it, he thought it warranted a share with his physics professor.

U of A physics professor Lin Oliver III, impressed with the research paper he’d read by the student from Bee Branch, called the Straughn’s home phone and asked to speak with her and her family.

After a short conversation, it was clear to Oliver that Straughn had what it took to be a successful student at the U of A, and that it was time to start planning how to get her on campus for the upcoming school year.

Faced with the opportunity to attend the U of A as a first-generation college student, Straughn knew that it meant that financing her education was going to be of utmost concern. Hoping to be of assistance, professor Oliver recalled how Chancellor John A. White ★+ B.S.I.E ’62 had recently introduced the Chancellor’s Scholarship as a means of attracting highly talented students to the U of A and encouraged Straughn to apply. Not long after that, Straughn learned that she would become one of the very first students at

the U of A to have her college education fully funded when she was selected as a recipient of the Chancellor’s Scholarship.

In the fall of 1999, Straughn began classes, ready to take on the new challenge ahead of her. Enrolled as an honors student, Straughn had registered for classes such as honors physics and honors calculus — despite never having taken pre-calculus.

She quickly realized that she wasn’t quite as prepared as she thought for collegiate course-level work and found herself “drowning.” Concerned how the classes might affect her scholarship, Straughn again sought Oliver’s advice on how she might better balance her course load. With his help and guidance, Straughn found her niche and began excelling in her classes — her path to graduation was set. In the spring of 2002, Straughn walked across

the stage to receive her Bachelor of Science in physics from the U of A. After earning her master’s degree and a doctorate in physics from Arizona State University, she was accepted into a postdoctoral program at NASA’s Goddard Space Center in Maryland, where she now works full time.

While on campus for her visit, Straughn shared that her involvement with the Physics Department at the U of A led her to her first interaction with NASA. In 2001, she worked on a student team that proposed an experiment on NASA’s microgravity KC-135 plane. She and her fellow teammates got to fly in the “vomit

lumna Amber Straughn, A the Arkansas Alumni Association’s Johnson Fellow, speaks in April to students and faculty at Old Main’s Giffels Auditorium, sharing her experiences at NASA and the recent launch of the James Webb space telescope.

Photo by Whit Pruitt.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 9

Feature

op: Marcia Johnson, Mary T Kate Harrison, Matt Straughn, Amber Straughn, Jeff Johnson and Brandy Cox Jackson ✪ M.A. ’07 at a reception held in the Johnson’s Fayetteville home.

Photo by University Relations.

iddle left: Amber and Matt M Straughn pose with their names on Senior Walk.

Photo by University Relations.

iddle right (l to r): Isabella M Tomboli ✩, Jeff Johnson, Marcia Johnson, Chloe Benton, Amber Straughn, Don Walker ★+ B.S.B.A. ’71, and Ashley Lieber.

Photo by Catherine Baltz.

ottom left: Amber Straughn B and Lin Oliver together at the Johnson Fellow Reception. ottom right: Straughn and B Steve Darr ✪+ B.A. ’77.

Photos by University Relations.

comet” and experience weightlessness after their experiment’s proposal was chosen from among hundreds of applications.

Getting involved as a student is something that Oliver encouraged Straughn to do from her first day on campus. Straughn now credits getting involved with the opportunity to create connections that helped her on her path 10 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

to success. These connections even led her to her husband, Matt Straughn B.S.Ch.E.’99, M.B.A.’01, whom she met while she was an undergraduate.

Straughn and Oliver have maintained contact over the years since her graduation. In 2016, Straughn received the association’s Young Alumni Award.

Her selection for this prestigious

award was based, in part, on the nomination submitted by Oliver. During her visit to campus, Straughn had the opportunity to spend time with Oliver, who is now the head of the Physics Department. He even performed

the introduction at her campuswide lecture, “A Night With NASA Astrophysicist Dr. Amber Straughn,” held in Giffels Auditorium as a part of her Johnson Fellow presentation series.

Photo by University Relations

Kim Zoldak, Ph.D.’21 • Currently a visiting assistant professor of physics at Oklahoma State University • B.S. in physics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania • B.S. in meteorology from California University of Pennsylvania • Selected for Summer Research Internship at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center • Selected twice as a NASA Space Science Student Ambassador • Selected as one of the first NASA Astronomy Outreach Network Advisors Ellen Czaplinski, Ph.D.’21 • Currently at NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California • B.S. in planetary science from Purdue • NASA Earth and Space Sciences Fellowship (one of 33 nationwide) • Amelia Earhart Fellowship (one of 35 internationally) • Member of Mars Desert Research Station

• NASA proposal reviewer and review panel executive secretary while a graduate student • Eight journals and 26 conference papers

Photo submitted

Kendra Farnsworth, Ph.D.’20 • Currently at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland • B.S. in environmental geoscience from Texas A&M • B.S. in astrophysics from Baylor University • Served as executive secretary and external reviewer for NASA proposal review panel while a graduate student • Research internship at MIT • Graduate School Student Ambassador • U of A Doctoral Academy Fellowship • Four journals and 15 conference presentations

Photo submitted

Photo by University Relations

Recent Ph.D. Graduates in Space and Planetary Sciences

Caitlin Ahrens, Ph.D.’20 • Currently at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland • B.S. in physics and geology from West Virginia University • Nationally recognized for promoting women in STEM • Named as the Outstanding Young West Virginian in 2018 • Selected by Jaycees as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans for 2018 • Member of two NASA working groups, NASA proposal reviewer and review panel executive secretary while a graduate student • Selected as a NASA Solar System Ambassador • 10 journals and 17 conference papers Sara Port, Ph.D.’19 • Currently at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio • B.S. in physics from Stony Brook University • Interned with Japanese Space Agency • Interned with German Space Agency • Served on NASA and NSF proposal review panels while a graduate student • Served on five NASA committees while a graduate student • U of A Sturgis Fellowship • U of A Doctoral Academy Fellowship • Amelia Earhart Fellowship (one of 35 awarded internationally) • Four journals and 22 conference papers

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 11

Campus

Genetics in the Crosshairs

Doctoral Fellow to Serve on Policy Committee

BY ANDRA PARRISH LIWAG

Julio Molina Pineda Photo submitted

12 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

Julio Molina Pineda, a doctoral candidate in cell and molecular biology, has been appointed to the Genetics Society of America’s Early Career Leadership Program. The society is a leading international organization of nearly 6,000 genetics researchers and educators.

Molina Pineda will serve as co-chair of the program’s Policy and Advocacy Subcommittee and was also awarded the Presidential Membership Initiative due to his commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

This competitive program provides an opportunity for graduate students and postdocs to propose, develop and implement initiatives that address unmet needs for the early career scientist community and the genetics field.

Molina Pineda earned his bachelor’s degrees at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas, and then received a Doctoral Academy Fellowship to attend the U of A. His graduate research focuses on using yeast to understand why certain individuals are particularly susceptible to toxic effects of the Parkinson’s diseaserelated protein alpha-synuclein. His doctoral adviser is Jeffrey A. Lewis, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

Molina Pineda believes the genetics field is advancing at such a fast pace that governments are having a hard

time enacting ethical laws around genetic manipulation. During his two-year tenure in the Early Career Leadership Program, he said, he wishes to start a proposal for an official, peer-approved ethical framework for genetic manipulation. He also said he hopes that his experience and work will highlight the importance of immigrants in scientific endeavors and expects to be an advocate for the needs of all under-represented groups in the genetics community.

Lewis, Molina Pineda’s adviser, said he is incredibly proud of all Molina Pineda has achieved.

“The Genetics Society of America is my favorite professional organization, putting together not just great journals and conferences, but also for being world leaders on scientific advocacy, training and mentoring,” Lewis said. “So of course I’m thrilled and proud that Julio was selected not only to join this year’s cohort, but to also co-chair the Policy and Advocacy Subcommittee.”

“In addition to being a talented and hardworking bench scientist, Julio has been growing into leadership roles on campus such as being elected as an officer for the Biology Graduate Student Association,” Lewis added. “This was very well deserved, and I look forward to seeing how Julio and the ECLP will make a positive difference.”

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS HOMECOMING

100 Years of Tradition

Homecoming Online Auction Oct. 28 - Nov. 11 bit.ly/alumniauction22

Hog Wild Tailgate Saturday, Nov. 5 | TBA

Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House

Senior Walk Dedication Friday, Nov. 4 | 10 a.m.

Inn at Carnall Hall

Alumni Awards Celebration Friday, Nov. 4 | 6 p.m.

Fayetteville Town Center

Details on classic Homecoming events like Pack the Pantry, Homecoming Parade and Pep Rally to be announced.

Oct. 30 - Nov. 5, 2022 | homecoming.uark.edu

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 13

Campus

Along for the Ride

U of A Researchers to Study Bike-Share Service in Fort Smith

BY JENNIFER COOK

City officials, planners and U of A researchers gathered in May in north Fort Smith for the official launch of Ride 4 Smilies, a low-cost bike-sharing service being deployed in areas where the majority of residents report not having a vehicle or access to reliable public transportation.

“We are excited to give our residents the opportunity to experience the many benefits of cycling,” said Fort Smith Mayor George McGill ✪ B.S.E. ’69, M.B.A ’77.

“From picking up a few items from the convenience store to simply taking a ride and enjoying the outdoors, bike sharing is a healthy way to travel.”

The partners have established eight stations with shared bikes that can be accessed using an app called Movatic.

After downloading the app and creating an account, residents can scan a QR code on the bike, ride it where they need to go, then return and lock it up at the station.

14 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

Initially, one-hour rides will be free to encourage participation. Over time, researchers will test pricing and incentive strategies to develop a sustainable revenue model that balances profitability and affordability.

Supply chain issues have delayed the delivery of electronic bikes, so the program will begin using traditional bicycles until electric bikes arrive.

Reese Brewer, director of the Frontier Metropolitan Planning Organization, said the group is eager to learn how the Smilies bike-sharing pilot program can offer diverse communities in north Fort Smith reliable, equitable and healthy transportation choices.

“The program must be reflective of the neighborhoods that it will serve,” she said.

“Rather than placing brand new, sparkling Smilies bikes at pre-determined locations, we intentionally sought out public input

to guide where the Smilies bike-share would best meet the community’s needs. Our primary goal is to partner with the community and find the best bike-share model and structure that changes lives.”

The project is funded through a $1 million National Science Foundation grant awarded to the U of A College of Engineering. The study is titled Shared Micromobility For Affordable-Accessible Housing.

In addition to Brewer, co-principal investigators are Suman Mitra, assistant professor of civil engineering; Sarah Hernandez, associate professor of civil engineering; Rogelio Garcia Contreras, director of the Social Innovation Program at the Sam M. Walton College of Business; and Elizabeth McClain, chief wellness officer at Arkansas Colleges of Health Education.

Mitra said he is pleased to see the Ride 4 Smilies program go live after months of planning, research and data collection. He thanked the project team for their hard work during the past six months.

“I hope this bike-share program will help the people who need it most. We have tried to develop an inclusive and sustainable program tailored toward the needs of the Fort Smith residents,” he said. “As a researcher, I appreciate the opportunity to work with this great community. In the coming months, we will develop models and collect user data to evaluate the program’s impact on the livelihood of the local community. We will also ask for feedback from the community so that we can improve the system according to their needs and preferences.”

Other partners on the project include the bike-share provider Tandem Mobility, the city of Fort Smith and bike shop Champion Cycling.

pposite page from left: Vuban Chowdhury, civil engineering O master’s student; Jeff Dingman, Fort Smith deputy director; Suman Mitra, civil engineering assistant professor; Anindya Debnath, civil engineering Ph.D. student; Doug Reinert, Fort Smith director of parks and recreation; Reese Brewer, Frontier Metropolitan Planning Organization executive director; Stacy Willinger B.S.E ’18, Frontier Metropolitan Planning Organization transportation planner; Elizabeth McClain, Arkansas Colleges of Health Education chief wellness officer; and Isaac Salazar, Arkansas Colleges of Health Education community outreach coordinator. bove right, Left to right: Reese Brewer, executive director of A the Frontier Metropolitan Planning Organization; George McGill, Fort Smith mayor; and Suman Mitra, U of A assistant professor of civil engineering, try out bicycles available as part of the Ride 4 Smilies bike sharing project.

Photos submitted

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 15

Feature

Stories Can Change the World

Doctoral Student and Storyteller Shane White

BY DELANI BARTLETTE B.A.’06, M.A.’08

Shane White B.A.’18, M.A.’21 started making videos when he was in seventh grade — stunt films in the style of MTV’s Jackass — with a crew of friends. His first stunt: “I slid down a frozen sidewalk shirtless.” He says he had a painful road rash for quite a while after that.

In high school, he started making videos of himself skateboarding and wakeboarding in the nearby lakes 16 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

surrounding his hometown of Hot Springs. Those videos launched a semi-professional career, garnering sponsorships from Monster Energy drinks and some clothing companies.

“I’ve always loved the idea of being a storyteller,” he said. “Story is the foundation of all civilizations.”

After graduating from high school, his choice of college

was clear: the University of Arkansas. He chose it because it was the alma mater of his father, Dan White B.A.’76.

He enrolled in the U of A’s School of Journalism and Strategic Media, majoring in broadcast journalism with an emphasis on documentary filmmaking.

During his time as an undergraduate student, he worked his way through college as a sous chef for Ella’s Restaurant, which sparked his deep love of food and culinary arts. “It’s what I’m most proud of,” he said.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in 2018, White was accepted into the master’s program for documentary filmmaking in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media. As a graduate student, he worked as the video production graduate assistant for UA Productions, the director of photography for the Agricultural, Education, Communication and Technology Department’s Experimental Learning Lab and the student-run advertising agency, Main Hill Media.

That’s also when he began putting together his own production company, Live Deliciously. And it didn’t take him long to achieve recognition for his talent. After premiering at the Fayetteville Film Fest in 2018, his short documentary Homeless in Boomtown won a College Student Emmy for editing the following year.

The documentary, which he created with Denzel Jenkins M.A. ’19, is about the day-to-day struggles of people experiencing homelessness in Northwest Arkansas, as told through the story of one transgender couple. It also went on to win the NATAS Mid-America College Student Award for Long-Form Nonfiction.

His next film, a full-length documentary, The Beautiful People, premiered in Springdale, Arkansas, as part of Interform’s Assembly program.

Interform, formerly known as NWA Fashion Week, is a month-long series of multimedia exhibitions in the summer of 2021.

“I’ve always loved the idea of being a storyteller.”

Like Homeless in Boomtown, The Beautiful People is very much rooted in Northwest Arkansas. It explores the ways the fashion industry has, over time, shaped how people — especially women — think they need to look.

White said this film “takes on the ‘thinideal’ in media, especially fashion media, and how harmful it is to women’s body image and self-esteem.”

The Beautiful People explores this troubling subject through Interform, in which diverse clothing designers and models are “separating fashion from what the ideal body is supposed to look like and bringing people of all shapes, sizes, colors and mentalities to the front of the line,” according to the Live Deliciously Productions website. White says the film is about “the ways these organizations are breaking the stigmas of fashion and redefining beauty.”

“The idea that I got [The Beautiful People] from was having dealt with negative body image my entire life,” he says. One year, he modeled for NWA Fashion Week. “I saw they were using models of every shape, size and color,” he says, “and the people were coming out of it inspired and feeling confident about themselves.”

White says he used his “in” as a model to pivot and start filming the shows, then interviewing the designers and creators, who helped push the project along.

The biggest challenge, he says, was making a feature length-film during a pandemic. “I wanted to travel and get

pposite: Shane White, O alumnus and doctoral student in agricultural education, communication and technology.

Photo by Russell Cothren

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 17

Feature

18 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

more global views on fashion and the thin ideal. [The pandemic] caused me to focus on NWA more.”

After its local premiere, The Beautiful People went on to be accepted into film festivals in New Orleans; St. Petersburg, Florida; and Portugal, among others.

It won the award for best editing from the Global Monthly Online Film Competition in June 2021.

His next short documentary, Over Fire: The Evolution of Barbecue, traces the history of one of the South’s favorite dishes. This film, which started as a class project, has a bit of a wider geographic range, looking at pitmasters from the whole region, including Ray’s World Famous BBQ in West Memphis.

“I have been a chef, and food shows are a personal favorite,” White says. “I had seen shows about the people who make BBQ but not on the idea of BBQ in itself.”

Though it only premiered last year, Over Fire has been a hit on the film festival circuit, being accepted into seven festivals, including two international festivals.

White completed his master’s program in 2021, and despite his already blossoming career as a documentary filmmaker, he chose to continue his education at the U of A. He’s currently a doctoral candidate in agricultural education, communication and technology in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

As a graduate assistant, he works as a video production assistant for the Department of Agricultural Education, Communication and Technology, creating videos for both internal and external audiences. Most of his work for the department is for projects like departmental recruiting videos or client promotional videos, which he shoots by himself. But he also supervises a team on projects like the annual Enclothe fashion show, created by the U of A’s apparel merchandising and product development students.

Another major aspect of his graduate assistantship is co-teaching an agriculture video production course on how to use video as a marketing tool on social media platforms.

Yet somehow, he still finds time to make more documentaries. He recently finished shooting a six-episode series called Arkansas Flavors, a sort of travel guide to minority-owned restaurants in the Natural State. He says his inspiration came from his time working as a chef and from his hero, the late chef, author and travel show host Anthony Bourdain.

His latest project, Keepers of the Horse, is a moving documentary about a rare heritage breed of horse, the Choctaw ponies, and the man who devotes his life to preserving them.

“I grew up with horses,” White says.

“My dad ran a thoroughbred farm in Kentucky, so it’s in my blood. And with the Native American [heritage] I have, that made me want to make this film.”

White credits his journalism education for many of the skills he uses to make his films, as well as teaching him good interviewing and research skills.

But the most crucial skill he uses is that of a visual storyteller. “Stories can change the world, and I want to make changes with story.”

pposite: Shane White O works the stage of the Interform fashion show, formerly known as the Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week. pposite Bottom: Shane O White and Olivia Thornton, who finished classes this spring toward her degree in apparel merchandising and product development, talk to the audience at Interform.

Photo by Russell Cothren

“Stories can change the world, and I want to make changes with story.”

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 19

Campus

Interning in the Big Apple

Komar Works at New York Times for Summer

BY GINA SHELTON

arah Komar was editor S of The Arkansas Traveler, the student newspaper, during the past year.

Photo submitted

20 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

Sarah Komar, who finished classes this spring, began an internship this month at The New York Times as part of the prestigious Dow Jones News Fund program.

Komar, editor of student newspaper The Arkansas Traveler for the past year, is one of four students nationwide who headed to the Times as part of a national, multiplatform editing program.

In all, 107 college students received positions in 77 newsrooms around the country through the Dow Jones News Fund, which provides training in business and data reporting, digital media and editing, followed by paid internships. This is Komar’s second year in the program. She spent last summer working remotely for The Arizona Republic. The New York Times’ position is in person.

“Sarah’s second selection in this nationally competitive program illustrates that the School of Journalism and Strategic Media is preparing students to succeed,” said Gina Shelton, who oversees the school’s internship program.

“Sarah is a talented reporter, editor and newsroom leader.”

Komar, of Kansas City, Missouri, said she changed her major to journalism and

found a supportive faculty.

“It’s been nice to work with so many great professors. They’ve all offered something that you take away, something specific that sticks with you, something that makes you a better journalist,” she said.

Komar will be the last Traveler editor to be mentored by professor Gerald Jordan ✪+ B.A. ’70. The longtime student newspaper adviser retired in June.

Komar said Jordan “emphasized humanity and not just success.”

The Traveler was recognized in April by the Society of Professional Journalists as the best large student newspaper in Region 12, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. The newspaper will now compete for a national award.

Komar said she looks forward to representing the U of A in New York.

“Historically, big newspapers like the Times and the Washington Post have recruited almost exclusively from Ivy League and other high-caliber East Coast journalism schools,” Komar said.

“I’m really proud to represent what the University of Arkansas and the South, in general, have to offer.”

September 3 Cincinnati

Hog Wild Tailgates

September 10 South Carolina

Stop by the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House and enjoy Hog Wild Tailgates for Fayetteville home games.

October 1 Alabama | Member Appreciation

Tailgates begin two and one-half hours before kickoff and conclude 30 minutes prior to kickoff. Confirm game times at arkansasrazorbacks.com.

• Big Screens to watch the big games • Razorback Marching Band

• U of A Spirit Squads • Special guests throughout the season

September 17 Missouri State | Family Weekend

November 5 Liberty | Homecoming November 12 LSU | Military Appreciation November 19 Ole Miss | Senior Day

We will be posting updates on www.arkansasalumni.org/hogwildtailgates as details become available.

Alumni House VIP Parking Available for 2022, reserved Alumni House VIP Parking just steps away from Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium •

Easy access in and out

•

Life members receive a 25% discount ($1500 for the season)

•

$2000 for the entire 2022 football season

•

Limited space available so please reserve now

To inquire about Alumni House VIP Season Parking and additional tailgate rentals around the Alumni House, contact Julie Simpson at (479) 575-4493 or email events@arkansasalumni.org.

www.arkansasalumni.org 1-888-ARK-ALUM or 479-575-2801 SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 21

Campus

Jia, Roll Awarded Top STEM Scholarships Goldwater Scholars to Study Duchenne Disease, Quantum Physics

BY SUZANNE MCCRAY ✪ B.A. ’78, M.A. ’80, M.A. ’90

This spring, two U of A honors students were named 2022 Goldwater Scholars, an award for top students in mathematics, science and engineering.

Juniors Mary Jia and Joseph Roll were named among the newest scholars, and each will receive a scholarship of up to $7,500 from the Barry Goldwater Scholarship Foundation.

Jia is a Stuttgart native and an honors biomedical engineering major. Roll is from Joplin, Missouri, and an honors physics and mathematics major.

“The Goldwater Scholarship is the most prestigious undergraduate STEM scholarship in the country,” said interim Chancellor Charles Robinson. “It recognizes students who begin research early in their careers and who 22 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

promise to continue research as a career path. They could not have chosen better than Mary Jia and Joseph Roll.

Both have been engaged in research since their freshman years (and even before), and both are stellar students working with supportive faculty and are on an upward career trajectory that will launch them into a world of work marked by new discoveries that will benefit us all.”

More than 5,000 students competed nationwide for the Goldwater Scholarship this year. It is the nation’s preeminent award for undergraduate students who plan doctoral studies and research careers in the fields of math, science and engineering.

The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship was established

by Congress in 1986 to honor the United States

senator. The purpose of the program is to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who intend to pursue careers in these fields. Universities and colleges may nominate up to four students each year.

MARY JIA Jia’s primary research focuses on developing a prime editing solution for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and she is supported by a state of Arkansas Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

She is listed as first author in an article submitted to the Journal of Magnesium and Alloys for her research into the assessment of a novel boron nitride magnesium nanocomposite for orthopedic implant, and will present on her research integrating SOLIDWORKS 3D design and simulation into a biomechanics course at the 2022 American Society for Engineering Education national conference.

Jia has been active on campus in the Biomedical Engineering Advisory Board, the First Year Engineering Program’s Research Mentor Program, Biomechanics Teaching Assistant, Biomedical Engineering Camp Leader and an Honors College Ambassador. She is a Bodenhamer Fellow and an Arkansas Distinguished Governor’s Scholar. Jia has also received the Charles D. Brock Scholarship and the George & Boyce Billingsley Endowment Scholarship. She will pursue a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering.

“Mary is an amazing undergraduate researcher and operates in the lab like a graduate student,” said her research mentor, Christopher Nelson B.S.B.E. ’09, assistant professor of biomedical engineering. “For example, she will soon be presenting at the annual meeting of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy. Mary is tenacious and innovative, making her an ideal recipient of the Goldwater scholarship. She will

be an excellent representative of this program.”

JOSEPH ROLL Roll’s primary research examines second harmonic generation of SnS monolayers, work that is supported by a state of Arkansas Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

His contribution to an experimental research team to analyze a thin slab of a compound — made of samarium, antimony and tellurium — has been published in Advanced Quantum Technologies.

Outside of the lab, Roll is a Student Ambassador, serving as a tour guide to prospective students and their families.

He has received the Davis P. Richardson Scholarship and the New Arkansan NonResident Tuition Award. Roll will pursue a Ph.D. in theoretical physics.

“Joseph Roll’s dedication to his work and the high standards he sets for himself make him very worthy of this recognition,” said Salvador Barraza Lopez, associate professor of physics. “In addition to being a Goldwater Scholar, he is the lead author of theoretical work analyzing the elastic behavior of novel twodimensional materials that is under review at Physical Review B. Joseph presented that last work as an oral contributed talk at the 2022 APS March Meeting in Chicago. Roll has been enrolled in multiple graduate-level courses in physics and mathematics. From the beginning, serving as a research mentor to Joe and discussing physics with him was a joy.

His level of intellectual engagement and understanding is rare, and it has been a pleasure to work with him.”

These Goldwater Scholars bring the U of A total to 59, with U of A students receiving awards for 24 of the last 26 years.

Previous Goldwater Scholars have gone on to become Rhodes, Marshall, Gates Cambridge, Fulbright and Udall Scholars as well as National Science Graduate Research Fellows.

pposite page, left to right, O Mary Jia and Joseph Roll Photos submitted.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 23

Feature

Community Design Center Earns 14th National Design Award

Institute of Architects Calls Center’s Innovations and Long-Term Impact ‘Impressive’

BY MICHELLE PARKS B.A.’94

The U of A Community Design Center is being recognized this month with two top awards in the American Institute of Architects’ 2022 Honors and Awards Program. The center is a recipient of the Collaborative Achievement Award, while the center’s Re-Live Downtown Pine Bluff project has won an Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design.

The AIA Honor Awards program is the top design 24 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

awards program nationally for architecture, urban design and interior architecture. This year’s award-winning projects and other honorees were to be celebrated at the annual AIA Conference on Architecture and Expo held June 22-25 in Chicago.

The AIA’s Collaborative Achievement Award recognizes and encourages distinguished achievements of design professionals, clients, organizations, architect teams,

knowledge communities and others who have had a beneficial influence on or advanced the architectural profession.

The U of A Community Design Center was recognized for its more than 20-year track record of excellence in striving to make a significant impact on communities facing daunting challenges. The center was founded in 1995 as a research and outreach center of the Fay Jones School.

It is directed by Stephen Luoni, a Distinguished Professor and the Steven L. Anderson Chair in Architecture and Urban Studies in the Fay Jones School.

“The national AIA recognition of the U of A Community Design Center’s accomplishments confirms the overall educational mission and public service ambition of the Fay Jones School: to strengthen Arkansas and the nation through design for the greater good,” said Dean Peter MacKeith. “Our long investments in the leadership and staffing of the UACDC have been of ultimate benefit to the citizens of the state, as much as to our students and the reputation of the school and the university.

I congratulate professor Luoni and all UACDC staff past and present, and will look forward to similar if not surpassing impact in the future.”

Under the leadership of Luoni, just its second director and principal designer since 2003, the center’s work has achieved national recognition and positioned it as one of the most highly respected authorities in urban design and development. Luoni has molded the center into one of a few design-based teaching centers in the country with a professional design staff — a missing infrastructure in the design professions. Students from all disciplines in the school collaborate with the center’s small, full-time professional staff on project development and public interest scholarship.

Despite its important work outside of Arkansas, the center’s primary mission is creative development in the state and for the state through a combination of design, research and education solutions.

The center works within multidisciplinary frameworks to address the “triple bottom line,” simultaneously solving for social, economic and environmental challenges in the built environment for project sponsors.

In her nomination letter for the Collaborative Achievement Award, Marleen Kay Davis had praise for both Luoni and the center he’s directed for nearly 20 years. Davis is former dean of College of Architecture and Design at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and is an ACSA Distinguished Professor.

“I have been consistently impressed by how he has leveraged every opportunity to use his role as a faculty member in a state university to make a major impact, nationally and regionally, with projects both large and small,” she said. “The work is an impressive, and invaluable, national resource for architectural educators and communities. As you learn about their work, you will be impressed with the range of imaginative design innovations, the high standards of design excellence and long-term impact.”

Through its design and planning services, the center has addressed design challenges in more than 50 communities and organizations, including those in Little Rock, Fayetteville, Greers Ferry, Texarkana, Conway, Maumelle, Vilonia, Mayflower, Hot Springs and Bentonville.

The center’s urban design projects have

pposite page, a streetside O design opens up common areas while also increasing both urban density and livability. Above, a design rendering shows how a neighborhood in Pine Bluff might be redesigned to tackle social, economic and environmental challenges.

Images, UACDC.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 25

Feature

bove, a section of a A garden apartment design in the earlier “Wood City” project. Top, a green street in the “Markham Square Housing District” project that incorporates bioswales, which help treat stormwater runoff.

Images, UACDC.

26 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

won more than 180 design and planning awards, and the center’s work has helped clients and sponsors to secure more than $70 million for improvements.

“The long-term investment by the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design into the Community Design Center has given us the infrastructure and the human resources to sustain design leadership nationally on the big challenges of urban design, including resiliency, disaster recovery, affordable housing, agricultural urbanism, watershed urbanism and place-

based economic development,” Luoni said.

“Like the teaching hospital, the teaching design center bridges together academia and practice as it synthesizes the necessary knowledge, skills, values and opportunities for action unavailable in a pure classroom setting. Though we are one of only three or four such centers in the nation, design centers are what universities owe to their publics, and I am proud to be part of this Arkansas idea.”

Re-Live Downtown Pine Bluff was one of four projects honored in the 2022 Regional and Urban Design Awards program, which recognizes the best in sustainable, inclusive urban design, regional planning and local development. The four-member jury considered how the projects accounted for the built environment, local culture and available resources — modeling architecture’s promise and true value to communities.

The Re-Live Downtown Pine Bluff plan aims to revitalize Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the

country’s fastest shrinking city, through a housing-first approach to help reverse the impact of widespread demolition that has occurred throughout the last 40 years.

The project focuses on building neighborhoods, not discrete projects for housing, to help Pine Bluff achieve aspirational capital development goals.

More than 400 units of “missing middle housing,” which includes communal micro-apartments, multigenerational housing and congregate housing that reflect the social needs of the city, will be built around neighborhood green nodes.

The plan offers 28 walk-up housing prototypes of varying scopes that would be ready for potential owners.

The framework also outlines streets and signature projects that support the residentialization of Pine Bluff ’s downtown core by supporting an experience economy.

The living streets platform converts oversized one-way corridors to avenues

of non-traffic social services, such as public art, dining and recreation.

Signature public works will include the redevelopment of the city’s theater district and the creation of the Delta Blues & Bayou ArtWalk, which will celebrate Black artists who routinely performed in Pine Bluff.

This is the first time Pine Bluff has a plan and revitalization effort built by and for Black constituencies. The city has committed $700,000 to acquire 5.25 acres of downtown property for the first phase of development and more than $3 million for blight removal.

“The high regard for the Re-Live Downtown speaks to the necessity for it to be implemented,” said Ryan Watley, CEO of Go Forward Pine Bluff Inc. “Site control on the first neighborhood was cumbersome, but we got it done.

Subsequently, we are actively searching for partners to assist in constructing the initial subdivision.”

he offices and studios of T the University of Arkansas Community Design Center are on the east side of the Fayetteville Square.

Image, UACDC.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 27

Campus

Scholarships for the Hill U of A Devotes More Resources to Helping Arkansas Students

BY JOHN THOMAS B.A. ’11

hree students pose for a T photo in front of Old Main.

University Relations Image

28 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

The U of A continues to demonstrate its dedication to students from Arkansas, providing $1 million in additional scholarship funding. Combined with a previous $5 million increase in scholarship funding devoted solely to in-state students,

the university has grown scholarship funding for Arkansas students by $6 million since 2019.

These increases in scholarship funds, in addition to the tuition partnership with U of A community colleges through the

Arkansas Transitions Academic Program, are providing much-needed support to help students from every corner of the state afford to pursue a world-class education at the U of A. “Students from Crossett to Camden, Mountain Home to Jonesboro, Forrest City to Lake Village are applying in greater numbers than ever before thanks to our efforts to increase scholarships for students from Arkansas, and when they arrive on campus they engage with faculty and staff who are here to support them every step of the way,” said Charles Robinson ✪, interim chancellor. “Everything points to a record number of Arkansans in our freshman class again this year, and we are committed to keeping up this momentum and will continue to look for ways to expand access for students from Arkansas.”

The $1 million in additional funds will be used to provide $750,000 in scholarship support for incoming freshmen from Arkansas, while the remaining $250,000 will support current students from Arkansas. The majority of the scholarships for the new freshmen, and all of the awards for current students, are based on need. Individual scholarship amounts vary from $3,000 to $5,000 annual awards.

“We know that for many students in Arkansas, a scholarship may mean the difference between attending college or not, so we support our in-state students

$1 million

with lower tuition and by continuing to grow the amount of scholarship dollars available to support them,” said Suzanne McCray ✪ B.A. ’78, M.A. ’80, M.A. ’90, vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions.

Of the students from Arkansas who applied for scholarships this year, 97 percent received an award, up from 89 percent just two years ago.

In addition, 87 percent of all endowed fellowship dollars go to in-state students, as does more than 85 percent of all of the university’s centrally-funded scholarships.

“Such support creates opportunity and access, and that’s a fundamental part of our land-grant charge,” McCray said.

The U of A is on track to break the record for new Arkansans being admitted to the university this coming fall as part of the university’s largest class yet. All good news for Arkansas.

“Revenue from non-resident student enrollment helps the university keep in-state tuition as low as possible, providing more affordable access to higher education for Arkansans,” McCray said.

“Revenue from non-resident student enrollment also helps us increase the number of scholarships awarded to Arkansans and supports important projects like The CORD, the Cordia Harrington Center for Excellence, a new 70,000-square-foot student success center in heart of campus.”

in additional scholarship funding.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 29

Campus

Udall Foundation Selects Parks First-Year Law Student to Serve Native American Congressional Internship

BY YUSRA SULTANA M.S.O.M. ’21

Michaela Parks Photo by University Relations

30 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

First-year law student Michaela Parks B.A. ’21 has been selected for the Udall Foundation Native American Congressional Internship Program from May 25 to July 30 in Washington, D.C. The Native American Congressional Internship Program provides American Indian and Alaska Native students with the opportunity to gain practical experience with the federal legislative process in order to understand first-hand the government-togovernment relationship between tribes and the federal government. The internship is funded by the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy.

The internship program gives students access to a network of American Indian professionals and alumni who work on behalf of tribal nations. Interns also receive housing, a living allowance, transportation to and from Washington, D.C., and an educational stipend of $1,200.

“I am extremely honored and grateful to have been selected for this internship and excited for the opportunity to learn about

tribal law and policy this summer from officials, organizations and professionals who are experts in the area,” Parks said.

“My passion lies in maintaining Indian Country’s sovereignty and prosperity, so I cannot wait to take the knowledge I gain through this internship and apply it to the problems facing Indian Country.”

Parks is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and has always been keenly aware of the significance of her tribal heritage. At the law school, she reactivated and is the current president of the Native American Law Students Association.

Parks is the recipient of the Cherokee Nation Graduate Scholarship, U of A School of Law Dean’s Scholarship and the Razorback Award Scholarship. She is also a member of the Student Bar Association and the Women’s Law Student Association.

“Michaela is an extremely devoted student and a talented legal researcher and writer,” said professor Amanda Hurst J.D. ’06. “I am so inspired by her commitment to connecting her heritage with her law practice and thrilled to see her receive this huge honor and opportunity to further that goal.”

The Udall Internship honors the legacies of Morris Udall and Stewart Udall, whose careers had a significant impact on American Indian self-governance and health care, as well as the stewardship of public lands and natural resources.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 31

Campus

Restoring Critical Habitat

Post-Doctoral Biologist Works to Protect Collared Lizards of the Ozarks

BY MATT MCGOWAN

University of Arkansas biologist Casey Brewster Ph.D. ’19, who catches lizards with a fishing pole, is working with several agencies, including the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the U.S. Forest Service, to conserve 32 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

and restore a critical habitat in the Ozarks.

Brewster, a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of biological sciences professors Marlis and Michael Douglas, understands the impact of forest encroachment on glades

— the rocky, semi-arid patches of ground found within large swaths of forested woodlands.

THE EASTERN COLLARED In the December issue of The American Naturalist, a publication of the University of Chicago Press, Brewster, who also teaches biology at NorthWest Arkansas Community College, published findings from a five-year field study of the eastern collared lizard population in the Ozark Mountains of northern Arkansas.

As with most small lizards, the eastern collared lizard is quick and runs extremely fast. It’s like a dragster, its rear-end torque and acceleration sometimes too powerful for the rest of its body, causing it to lift up and run on two legs.

Brewster used thermal ecology modeling and conservation physiology to study to the impact of encroaching forests on the Ozark glades and the habitat of the eastern collared. His study showed that the lizard’s population has declined as forests have grown denser.

The lizards need sunlight for basking. This helps them warm up so they can hunt.

“Forest encroachment has created more shade,” Brewster said. “That part is clear. But trees and shade don’t kill lizards — it’s not that simple. Though more shade means fewer healthy, happy lizards, it remains unclear what factors specifically are causing this decline.”

Because of the increased shade, Brewster found, the Eastern Collared cannot begin its normal daily routine as early in the morning. The sun must be higher to shine on open glade spots, forcing lizards to “sleep in” in the morning and go to bed early in the evening. Doesn’t seem like an altogether bad life, but this shorter day causes problems. It means the Eastern Collared spends more time hidden under rocks where temperatures are cold.

This causes other problems.

“Less sun to bask in gives these lizards digestion problems,” Brewster said. “Higher temperatures are more suitable for digestive processing. If they can’t absorb their food, they have less energy to grow and reproduce. These factors combined appear to cause the lizard populations to be weaker and less successful.”

WHAT’S A GLADE? If you’ve done even a moderate amount of hiking in the Ozarks, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered a glade

or possibly trekked across one without knowing what it is. Neither forest nor prairie, glades are open areas with lots of exposed bedrock and minimal topsoil, the perfect environment for a sunbathing lizard.

Typically found on the slope of a hill or somewhere near the top of a ridge, glades are drier than forests, but that does not mean they lack plants and other organisms.

In fact, glades are “hotspots of biodiversity,” as one of Brewster’s colleagues puts it. They are unique ecosystems with many types of insects, animals and plants, the latter of which tend to be heartier because of the harsh environment. If you’re walking in an area with lots of coreopsis, coneflower and prickly pear, you’re probably in a glade.

So why are they are they shrinking? Trees, especially red cedar, which sometimes seems to grow right out of bedrock, have slowly spread across glades, in part because of land-management decisions made years ago. Natural fire suppression has helped the forests expand.

RESTORATION COLLABORATION But this is changing. Brewster hopes to learn more about what’s going on with the eastern collared by participating in a large collaborative project to restore glade habitat in the Ozarks. This conservation effort also includes contributions from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, The Nature Conservancy, Little Rock Zoo and the U.S. Forest Service.

Through limited, prescribed burns and strategic harvesting of red cedars, Brewster and partners at these agencies have curtailed forest encroachment and restored some ground flora, including rare wildflowers, within glades. The flowers act as pollinators, which attract more insects, which in turn attract lizards.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done before we are able to truly reverse the trend on eastern collared lizard populations in the Ozarks,” Brewster said. “But, with the continued support and efforts by the many people and agencies focused on conservation of this species and Ozark glades, things appear to be heading in the right direction.”

lockwise from top: Casey Brewster holds an eastern collared C lizard, known for its distinctive black band around the neck. Two more photos show it in its native habitat, and the last image shows a typical Ozark glade near the Buffalo National River.

Photos by Casey Brewster and Charlie Allison.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 33

Alumni

Celebrating Successes

University Relations

President’s Letter

It is with a mixed emotions that I am writing my final president’s message for Arkansas magazine. Over the past two years, I have been humbled to lead and excited to serve the Arkansas Alumni Association as president of the national board. Throughout my term, I have witnessed many challenges and celebrations as we navigated through not only a pandemic but numerous social challenges as well. As my term comes to a close, I want to highlight past and future celebrations, noting the numerous individual and collective success stories.

One of the successes of my term was hosting a series of Town Hall conversations sponsored by the association. Each event’s goal was to communicate actions being made on campus to enhance the ability of all our students to not only succeed but feel like they belong and matter. Those conversations intentionally included alumni experiences across multiple generations and cultures to show that some of the current issues are not new and many of the struggles have persisted for decades. Those talks featured all of our 34 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

connections to the university regardless of our background. The association says, your connection starts here. It is important that we connect with others to continue growing the legacy of university impacts to our state, nation and world.

An ongoing excitement of my presidency is the personal interactions with students and alums. I have made lifelong friendships and held numerous conversations during my service to the association. Each alum represents a success story that details the numerous pathways traveled and hurdles conquered. Those successes represent past triumphs but serve to inspire others to either start or continue their U of A journey. Again, those stories connect us to our shared experiences and eventual successes.

Lastly, I thank the leadership of my fellow board members, as well as chapter and society leadership. The ongoing commitment to the U of A is commendable. Your passion for the university is evident in your repeated willingness to serve the U of A. Your efforts take the university’s mission to communities across Arkansas and the nation enhancing our impacts and connections. Your leadership challenges campus leaders to enhance their service to students and builds on the community that the U of A represents. Thank you for your continued service, your sacrifices and to many, your friendship. To those who are not connected to the association, I invite you to do so.

Ron Rainey ✪ B.S.A.’91, M.S.’93, Ph.D.’01 President, Arkansas Alumni Association

Past Presidents

of the Arkansas Alumni Association ARKANSAS Board of Directors ALUMNI 1923-24 Joseph Kirby Mahone ✪ BA’07 1924-25 Robert Hill Carruth BA’11 1925-26 James E. Rutherford ✪ BA’22 1926-27 Winston Lee Winters BSCE’06 1927-28 J.L. Longino BSEE’03 1928-29 Alfred Boyde Cypert BA’12 1929-30 James William Trimble BA’17 1930-31 G. DeMatt Henderson BA’01 LLB’03 1931-32 Dr. Jasper Neighbors MD’18 1932-33 Scott D. Hamilton BA’24 1933-34 Charles A. Walls BA’07 1934-35 Arthur D. Pope BA’06 1935-36 John C. Ashley BA’11 1936-37 Beloit Taylor BA’19 1937-38 John P. Woods ✪ BA’09 1938-39 Glen Rose ★ BSE’28 MS’31 1939-40 Claude J. Byrd ★ BSA’25 1940-41 Charles Frierson Jr. ’29 1941-42 John B. Daniels BSA’33 1942-44 G. DeMatt Henderson BA’01 LLB’03 1944-45 Dr. M. L. Dalton MD’32 1945-46 Jack East ✪ BSE’24 1946-47 Steve Creekmore ★ BSBA’11 1947-48 Maupin Cummings ✪ BA’32 1948-49 Roy Milum BA’04, LLD’58 1949-50 Paul Sullins ✪ JD’37 1950-51 Francis Cherry LLB’38 1951-52 J.C. Gibson BA’24 MS’38 1952-53 George Makris ✪ BSBA’37 1953-54 Edward B. Dillon Jr. ★ LLB’50 1954-55 Beloit Taylor BA’19 1955-56 Louis L. Ramsay Jr. LLB’47 LLD’88 1956-57 Stanley Wood ✪ BA’23 1957-58 A.L. Whitten MS’40 1958-59 W.R. “Dub” Harrison BA’20 1959-60 E.M. “Mack” Anderson ✪+ BA’32 1960-61 Warren Wood ✪ LLB’32 1961-62 Owen Calhoun Pearce BSBA’41 LLB’41 1962-63 James C. Hale BA’33 1963-64 Jack East Jr. BSBA’48 1964-65 J. Fred Patton ✪+ BA’29 MA’36 1965-66 P.K. Holmes Jr. ✪ BA’37 LLB’39 1966-67 William H. Bowen ★ LLB’49 1967-68 Guy H. Lackey ✪+ BSBA’49 1968-69 Robert P. Taylor ✪+ BSBA’47 MS48 1969-70 John Ed Chambers BA’39 LLB’40 1970-71 Chester H. Lauck ’25 1971-72 Nathan Gordon ✪+ JD’39 1972-73 Charles E. Scharlau ✪+ LLB’51 1973-74 Carl L. Johnson ★ BSBA’47 1974-75 R. Cecil Powers ✪ BSBA’30 1975-76 J.C. Reeves ✪ ’25 1976-77 Elizabeth (Sissi) Riggs Brandon ✪+ BSE’55 1977-78 Roy Murphy ✪+ BSIM’49 1978-79 Fred Livingston ✪ BSBA’55 1979-80 Tracy Scott ✪ BSE’53 1980-81 Edward W. Stevenson ✪+ BSBA’60 1981-82 Fred Livingston ✪ BSBA’55 1982-83 Don Schnipper ✪+ BA’63 JD’64 1983-84 Mary Trimble Maier ✪+ BA’49 1984-85 Bart Lindsey ✪+ BSBA’67 1985-86 W. Kelvin Wyrick ✪+ BSE’59 1986-87 Larry G. Stephens ✪+ BSIE’58 1987-88 Rebecca Shreve ✪+ BSE’60 MED’63 1988-89 Robert T. Dawson ✪+ BA’60 LLB’65 1989-90 Gregory B. Graham ✪+ BSBA’70 JD’72 1990-91 Blake Schultz ✪+ BA’51 1991-92 Chuck Dudley ✪+ BSBA’76 MBA’77 1992-93 Harriet Hudson Phillips ✪+ BA’72 1993-94 Richard Hatfield ✪+ BSBA’65 LLB’67 1994-95 Jenny Mitchell Adair ✪+ BA’62 1995-96 Jack McNulty ✪+ BSBA’67 JD’70 1996-97 Sylvia Boyer ✪+ BSE’63 1997-98 Morris Fair ★ BSBA’56 1998-00 H. Lawson Hembree IV ✪+ BSA’83 2000-02 Jeffery R. Johnson ✪+ BA’70 2002-04 Edward Bradford ✪+ BSE’55 MED’56 2004-06 Brian M. Rosenthal ✪+ BSBA’84 2006-08 Kenny Gibbs ✪+ BSBA’85 2008-10 Gerald Jordan ✪+ BA’70 2010-12 Steve Nipper ✪+ BSBA’71 MBA’73 2012-14 John Reap ✪+ BSBA’70 2014-16 Stephanie S. Streett ✪ BS’91 2016-18 Don Eldred ✪ BSBA’81 2018-20 Teena Gayle Gunter ’92, ’97

Passion and Compassion Payne Colton, R.N.

BY LISY MCKINNON ✪ B.A. ’97

the other Mayo Clinic locations in the United States and applied to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. They not only offered him a position, but also a one-year residency that included full-time work plus intensive classes and clinical lab rotations to reinforce his already strong education.

Colton’s preparedness and confidence weren’t just qualities that he felt internally; his competence was acknowledged by his peers and instructors at the Mayo Clinic. “EMSON made me shine so much brighter than others participating in my residency,” Colton explained.

He experienced other nurses, both new and seasoned, coming to him with questions and seeking help with procedures that he had learned at EMSON. Also, because of Mayo’s international reputation, he experienced a level of exposure to global healthcare that he would not have had elsewhere.

He completed his residency in February of 2022, and his team of encouragers back at EMSON were still on deck to provide references and help him craft personal statements as he applied for new positions. It was at this time that he recalled yet another lesson from his experience at the U of A; “Put yourself out there and explore new places.” This led him to make the move to Orlando, Florida, in pursuit of his dream … practicing in a Level 1 trauma unit. He applied to serve at Orlando Health in their 22-bed burn unit and was offered the position, which began June 5.

“Thanks to my education at the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, I have never had to ‘fake it ‘til I make it’ as a nurse.” Colton’s powerful desire to learn something new every day combined with the dedication of Patton and the EMSON faculty has given him an internal drive that he says feels limitless. Colton’s gratitude for his time at the U of A is something that he now shares with his colleagues, patients and anyone else who will listen.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 35

Photo submitted

In the spring of 2020, as the COVID-19 epidemic began impacting the University of Arkansas campus, firstyear nursing student Payne Colton B.S.N.’20 was, like many, eager to be part of the solution. He approached Susan Patton ✪+ B.S.N. ’74, M.S.N. ’11, Ph.D. ’16, director of the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing (EMSON), about what it would take to graduate early and start his nursing career as soon as possible. Recognizing his fervor and maturity, she was ready with a response. Patton offered Colton the opportunity to serve as a pilot study for an accelerated B.S.N. program through EMSON that would allow him to complete his degree in just 18 months.

With a legion of highly-credentialed and generous faculty in his corner, Colton embarked on this extraordinarily challenging and labor-intensive curriculum, which he completed while also working as an emergency room tech at a Springdale hospital. This undertaking, though daunting, prepared him for career success in ways that he couldn’t have imagined. Beyond the medical skills that he learned, Patton, B.J. Garrett, Lindsey Sabatini B.S.N. ’06, M.S.N. ’09, D.N.P. ’18, and others gave him specific instruction on how to navigate his career in these early stages – what questions to ask and when, what roles to request and how, and what challenges to seek out for professional growth.

“They made me feel prepared and confident immediately after graduation, not because of the pats on the back but because they were explicit in their directions; here’s the work you need to do and here is how you do it.” And he followed these directions precisely.

After graduating in December of 2020, Colton remained in close contact with EMSON faculty. He passed the National Council Licensure Exam for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) with ease but was still concerned about finding work. He remembered more good advice that he had received from EMSON faculty – don’t be afraid to look outside your geographic comfort zone for work. So, Colton applied for a job at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and was offered a position. During the interview process, however, three winter weather advisories caused delays, which gave him pause about moving to such a cold region. He researched

Alumni

n April 15, 1988, Charles was named Senior Scholar and Outstanding Student in Accounting at the College of Business O Administration Honors Day. Pictured left to right are his father, Edgar “Bob” Warren; his mother, Peggy Jo (West) Warren; Charles West Warren; Chancellor Daniel Ferritor ✪; and his grandmother Margaret West.

Photo submitted.

Razorback Generations

Charles West Warren ★+ B.S.B.A.’88

BY CATHERINE BALTZ ✪+ B.A.’92, M.ED.’07

Charles West Warren considered the university as part of his hometown while growing up in Elkins, where his family’s history goes back to 1838. He is a secondgeneration U of A graduate, and his alumni parents taught their sons how to Call the Hogs at an early age. “It was a natural choice to stay in the Natural State,” Charles said about choosing to attend the university.

Charles mother, Peggy Jo (West) Warren B.S.E’59, M.S.E.’63, is a retired educator having worked in Missouri, Fayetteville and Elkins. His father, Edgar C. “Bob” Warren M.Ed.’66, is a retired Elkins Elementary School principal.

Charles began his college career with an aptitude for bookkeeping, and at the university, he studied accounting 36 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

and gained knowledge about the career opportunities for a CPA. “The university taught me the importance of this certification and guided me on the path to make it a reality,” he said. Along the way, multiple professors influenced him. “I had three classes with the iconic Dr. Doris Cook,” Charles said. “She prepared me to be a CPA and have the confidence to sit for the CPA exam.”

Cook B.S.B.A.’46, M.S.’49 was a professor in the accounting department from 1946 to 2000. Charles also praised James Modisette, Nolan Williams and William Glezen M.B.A.’77, Ph.D.’80, calling them “pillars of the industry.”

“I come from a family of educators,” Charles said.

“In 2009, I was hired as CFO of Fort Smith Public

Schools. I got back into the ‘family business.’ It is so rewarding to use my skill set as an accountant to support public education.”

Charles has received two awards from the Arkansas Society of CPAs: the Public Service Award in 2010 and Outstanding CPA in Government in 2020. “The university taught me the importance of interacting with colleagues in my chosen field,” he said. “I have tried to stay involved with this professional organization my whole career.”

Sharing his advice to future U of A alumni, Charles said, “I believe that we have natural skills developed during our time in Fayetteville. It is important to use these skills outside of our profession. I am often asked to be a ‘treasurer’ of an organization, and these roles have created some of my greatest experiences. We should not tire using our professional skills outside of work, but instead, embrace the opportunity for the greater good.”

Charles’ children, Margaret E. “Marley” Warren ✪ B.S.B.A.’13, M.Acc.’15, M.B.A.’15 and Jesse D. Warren ✪ B.S.’19, are both graduates of the university as well.

Charles bought lifetime memberships for each of them when they graduated. “I want them connected as alumni as I have done,” he said.

Marley Warren is a member of Beta Alpha Psi, like her father before her, and they have had the opportunity to attend banquets together. Charles Warren mentioned that another professor of his, John Norwood, had served as the Beta Alpha Psi sponsor. Norwood has also taught Marley Warren, and he still had his seating chart from 1987 and showed her where her father had sat in class. Marley Warren is married to graduate Justin Williford B.S.’15, J.D.’18.

Jesse Warren was a member of the Razorback Marching Band, and that is how he met his wife, Jacquelyn “Jackie” (Tavernaro) Warren B.M.’21. They were both percussionists. Jesse Warren proposed in 2020 at the band’s practice fields, known as the University Gardens, where they first met. Jesse and Jackie were married on

May 29, 2021, with Chal L. Ragsdale ★, University Professor and director of percussion studies, officiating the ceremony.

Charles has two brothers who also graduated from the university. William B. “Bill” Warren B.S.E.’92 is a helicopter pilot and an officer in the Army National Guard. Jonathan P. Warren B.A.’97, M.A.T.’98, Ed.S.’21 is an educator and administrator at Huntsville (Arkansas) Public Schools. He is married to Michael Rae Warren M.A.T.’98, and their son Atticus M. Warren is currently studying biological engineering at the university. Charles reports that he has nieces living in Northwest Arkansas who are “in the pipeline” to attend the university.

The Legacy of Margaret West Charles’ maternal grandmother, Margaret West, was a widow and worked in food services at Pomfret Hall in the 1960s and 1970s. She had not finished high school; however, she supported her daughter Peggy’s education at the university. Additionally, five of her grandchildren and nine of her great-grandchildren (and counting) have attended the university. Charles’ cousins, twins Jack and Bobby Joe Sweetser, did not have a car, so they rode to the university each day with her in the 1970s to attend classes. Both graduated in 1975 with bachelors degrees in business administration. Jack married Linda (Carpenter) Sweetser B.S.H.E.S.’74 (deceased), and Bobby Joe is married to Debbie (Sullivan) Sweetser B.S.’79, J.D.’83.

Charles and his two brothers each lived with their grandmother in Elkins at some point during their college careers to save on gas money and enjoy her cooking. “Her involvement in my life during my college years is the reason I added her name to the ‘Alumni Friends Walk’ when it was first created,” Charles said. “She had passed away, but I wanted her name in concrete on the campus with me.” ar left; Jackie showing F off her engagement ring in 2020. Left, from right to left; Charles Warren, Missy (McCrory) Warren, Jesse Warren (groom), Jackie (Tavernaro) Warren, Marley Warren, Justin Williford.

Photos submitted.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 37

Alumni

bove left and center, The picture and postcard at the Inn of Carnall Hall. Above right, Peggy Jo (West) Warren signing the photo of A Ella Carnall in 2019.

Photos submitted.

In addition to the family members already mentioned, six more of West’s great-grandchildren have graduated from the university: • Kim (Sweetser) Huggins B.S.’99 majored in kinesiology at the university. She is married to Sean Huggins B.S.B.A.’96.

• Lauren (Sweetser) Locke B.A.’09, M.I.S.’16 studied French in her undergraduate degree with a minor in Japanese business orientation. She is married to Michael Ryan Locke B.S.B.A.’14.

• Matthew Sweetser B.S.W.’11, M.S.W.’13 earned his degrees in social work.

• William “Trey” Shofner B.S.I.E.’00 is a member of the Arkansas Academy of Industrial Engineering.

• Tara (Shofner) Hudson B.S.A.’01, M.S.’02 studied agricultural business and economics. She is married to Jacob Allen Hudson B.S.A.’03.

• Travis Shofner B.S.A.’02 majored in horticulture.

Family History on Display The following is a story Charles relayed about his family’s history with Carnall Hall in his own words: My freshman year, I took a physiography class located in Carnall Hall. As I discussed the class, the building and the professor with my mother, we determined that she had been in the same class with the same professor, Ollie Maxfield, while she attended the university. She pointed out that during her college career that Carnall Hall was a women’s dormitory. That history made the class and the classroom more interesting.

In 2003, Carnall Hall was transformed into the Inn at Carnall Hall. I lived in Fort Smith, so I had no reason to spend the night in the inn that was my former 38 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

classroom. My daughter, Marley, was a student nearing graduation in 2013. Marley invited me to attend the annual Beta Alpha Psi banquet. I talked my wife, Missy (McCrory) Warren, into spending the night (finally) at the Inn at Carnall Hall.

When we arrived to check in, I noticed a small picture frame with a postcard and a picture of a young woman in a Hog sweatshirt. I looked closer, did a double take and exclaimed to Missy and the registration desk, “That’s my mother!”

As I understand it, the 1961 postcard and picture were found during the renovations. The postcard was addressed to Carol Griffith at the women’s dormitory Carnall Hall. Because of the connection of a postcard addressed to Carnall Hall and the picture of someone in a Hog sweatshirt, the inn had highlighted them in a picture frame for the front desk.

After we checked in, I called my mom and sent her this picture. She explained the backstory – she was living in Warrenton, Missouri, at the time. Her roommate, Marilyn Patrick, was writing Carol. The letter included a picture of my mom in her new Hog sweatshirt.

I have shared that story with all my extended family.

I even brought my mother to the inn in 2019 to see the picture frame firsthand. The gentleman behind the counter had her autograph some pictures behind the registration counter. He made her feel like a real celebrity, and I will always be grateful to him for that.

My mom and dad still live in the same house in Elkins where all three of the “Warren Boys” were raised and lived while we attended the University of Arkansas. Missy and I stayed at the inn again in January and saw the picture frame once again. I had to tell the story of my mom in the picture to yet another attendant behind the registration desk. I just cannot help it.

Why Membership Matters ... Societies What excites you most about the Arkansas Alumni Association?

Alumni societies are organized around common interests and are dedicated to building and strengthening ties to the U of A. From tailgates to reunions, societies offer opportunities for alumni to connect, serve and engage with the University of Arkansas family. Membership funds support alumni society programs and events.

Native American Alumni Society Interest Form: www.arkansasalumni.org/NAASinterestform

TRADITION

Alumni Societies

FAMILY

PRIDE

LOVE

Rebecca Luebker  B.A. ’05, M.A. ’07

I am really excited about the future of the Arkansas Alumni Association. In the Summer 2021 edition of the Arkansas magazine, there was a call for the creation of the Native American Alumni Society. I am excited to be a part of this new society and our ability to mentor and recruit outstanding Native students across Indian Country. The university has a long history of Native students, and I am looking forward to the opportunities of connecting across generations. In my family, we have the fifth-generation Cherokee Nation Razorback on campus, and it will be such an honor to welcome my niece one day into the alumni family.

®

Get Involved with Alumni Groups

Please renew or upgrade and encourage others to join because membership matters.

Join.arkansasalumni.org 888-ARK-ALUM or SUMMER 479-575-2801 2022 / ARKANSAS / 39

Alumni

Gerald Jordan standing at the entrance to the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House.

Photo by University Relations

Professor Gerald Jordan Retires

27 Years of Teaching Students and Serving Alumni

BY BETH DEDMAN ★ B.A.’20

Associate Professor Gerald Jordan ✪+ B.A.’70 has carried a wide array of titles during his many years at the University of Arkansas, but he was first a student. Jordan graduated from the U of A in 1970 with a degree in journalism and earned his master’s degree in journalism at Northwestern University in 1971. Jordan also studied at Harvard as a Nieman Fellow in 1982. He then worked 25 years for metropolitan daily newspapers before joining the faculty of then-Lemke Department of Journalism in 1995, although he continued to work summers as an editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer for the next 15 years.

40 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

During his time working for the Inquirer, Jordan worked with student interns, which helped him understand the need for a nontraditional curriculum for journalism students. This led him to develop the Lemke Newsroom, a block equal to five classes in the fall semester, providing intensive teaching and training for a limited number of students in a realistic multimedia news environment. The journalism department launched the Lemke Newsroom in 2009. The program continued to produce skilled journalists until the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted students’ capacity to participate.

erald Jordan began as G a sports writer for The Arkansas Traveler in the 1960s. He stands next to an old edition stored in the Underwood Library in the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House in 2008.

Elizabeth Green B.A.’20, a Lemke Newsroom alumna and current student in the School of Law, had transferred to the U of A after a hard first year and struggled to find direction. The journalism department soon became her home away from home, in large part thanks to “ProJo,” as Jordan’s students call him.

“Professor Jordan taught me how to be a better journalist, but he also offered wisdom and life lessons that I carry with

me outside of the newsroom — even now, in my second year of law school,” Green said. “Professor Jordan often shared his wisdom via witty remarks or incredible stories. Sitting in Jordan’s office and listening to those stories and remarks remains a highlight of my undergraduate career. I could always count on his office, with walls covered in quirky memorabilia and shelves overflowing with books and articles, to offer a kind of safe space

erald Jordan sits outside G of the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House in 2008 when he was president of the Board of Directors for the Arkansas Alumni Association.

Above two photos by University Relations

J ordan was inducted into the Lemke Journalism Alumni Society Hall of Honor in 2012.

Photo by Arkansas Alumni Association

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 41

Alumni

Jordan

poses with fellow 2012 Hall of Honor inductee Andy Lucas ✪+ B.A.’59 (deceased).

Photo by Arkansas Alumni Association

erald Jordan graduated G from the University of Arkansas in 1970, with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. His name is engraved in Senior Walk near David W. Mullins Library.

Photo by University Relations

ottom left to right: B Elizabeth Green, Gerald Jordan, Samantha Van Dyke attending the Roy Reed Lecture at the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House in 2019.

Photo Submitted;

42 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

whenever I needed it. I felt encouraged, even when I made mistakes.”

Not long after the Lemke Newsroom was discontinued, Jordan decided to announce his retirement after 27 years of teaching.

“The greatest lesson I have learned is one that I am still learning, and that is to listen,” Jordan said. “Generations change, and you have to be prepared to listen.

You need to understand that what meant something to students in the class of ’96 doesn’t resonate with the class of 2006 or the class of 2016. Things change. What I admire of the rising class of 2022 is that they are inventing things. They are starting information services and building

websites and providing content — things I thought my teeth would fall out before I acknowledged.”

Jordan served as faculty adviser to The Arkansas Traveler and The Razorback.

He has worked with four chancellors to recruit, retain and support talented African American and other minority students, staff and faculty. Jordan is the first African American to serve as president of the Arkansas Alumni Association Board of Directors and he is a founding leader of two alumni societies for U of A graduates. Jordan also co-founded the Lemke Journalism Project, which over the past 21 years has brought hundreds of high school students

from underrepresented communities to campus for journalism training.

He added his newsroom discipline to his presentation of journalism courses such as History of the Black Press, a course he created with Patsy G. Watkins, which is cross-listed with the Department of African and African-American Studies.

“The way I have tried to present the course — and I give credit to Patsy for the direction of the course — is to get students to understand that there is a role for the historic Black press, and it continues, and it’s important to have those voices heard in the historic Black press and the mainstream media,” he said.

“If you don’t have a newsroom that is

diverse, equitable and inclusive, you are missing voices.”

In 2010, he received the U of A’s Silas Hunt Legacy Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Northwest Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Planning Committee. He was the first faculty member to receive the university’s national award as Volunteer of the Year. Jordan was awarded the Arkansas Press Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 2016 and received the 2017 Barry Bingham Sr. Fellowship, presented by the American Society of News Editors.

Miriam Pepper, associate editor at Opinion in a Pinch and former vice president for the editorial page at The

erald Jordan stands with G Dr. M. Allen Moseley Jr. ✪ B.A. ’04 (left) and Ben Beaumont ✪ B.A.’04 (right) after his induction into the Lemke Hall of Honor in 2012.

Photo by Arkansas Alumni Association;

erald Jordan stands with G Ben Beaumont (left) and Dr. M. Allen Moseley Jr. at the 2022 Roy Reed Lecture.

Jordan speaks with Johanna Hall B.A.’11 and Steven Hinds ✪+ B.S.P.A.’89, M.Ed.’92 at the Roy Reed Lecture during 2022 Journalism Days.

Above two photos by Charlie Alison

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 43

Alumni

J ordan was the guest of honor at the 2022 Black Alumni Society Golf Tournament at Stonebridge Meadows Golf Club. Above, Jordan shares an embrace with Derrick Chandler ✪ B.A.’21. Right, Members of Kappa Alpha Psi came out to celebrate Jordan upon his retirement. From left to right: Ivan Thomas Jr., Keith Cates, Mike Harris ✪, Oliver Sims III lm B.S.B.A.’85, Gerald Jordan, Denis Washington, Marvin Caston B.A.’00 M.Ed.’03, Chris Terry, Derrick Chandler ✪ B.A.’21, Marcus Mabry.

Photos by Beth Dedman

44 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

Kansas City Star, nominated Jordan for the Bingham Fellowship.

“Gerald is a classy journalist in all respects: respectful, curious, committed, caring and always, always smiling,” Pepper wrote in her nomination. “Students can’t do better, and Arkansas is lucky to have wooed him home again.”

In 2017, Jordan was appointed as the U of A faculty athletics representative to the NCAA and the Southeastern Conference; a role he was surprised to have been offered, despite his 50 years of experience in sports reporting.

One of many events honoring Jordan before his departure included the Roy Reed Lecture. Each April the School of Journalism and Strategic Media organizes

events as part of Journalism Days, including an evening lecture named for Roy Reed, a retired journalism professor and reporter for The New York Times from 1965 to 1978. Former colleagues and friends shared stories from Jordan’s three decades on campus and from his distinguished journalism career.

“Gerald Jordan was a respected writer and editor at the Kansas City Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer before coming home in 1995 to teach at his alma mater,” said Gene Foreman, a retired journalist and former distinguished visiting professor at the U of A. “For years, Gerald has drawn on his deep connections in the industry to recruit speakers for the Reed Lecture series.

And now we recognize his selfless service

as a mentor to a generation.’’

Jordan continues to be grateful for the mentors and peers that enhanced his campus experience.

“It started off with Dr. Patsy Watkins and Roy Reed, the person I had the extreme good fortune of following here.

He and I talked about so much stuff. So many I’ve met across campus have been advisers, mentors and counselors. People have embraced me. I didn’t get here as a doctorate. I didn’t come from the academy; I came from the newsroom. The transition was made smooth by a lot of people who embraced me, including a lot of my faculty colleagues.”

And his students will also be forever grateful for the impact he had on

not just their college experience, but their lives.

“I know I am not the only one who continues to look up to professor Jordan and reflect fondly on the mentorship he provided,” Green said.

“Even on the most grueling days in the Lemke Digital Media Lab, he could manage to make my peers and me smile.

The School of Journalism won’t be the same without professor Jordan, and I am so thankful I was able to learn from him.

I hope he knows the lasting impact he has had on so many of us.”

“It’s been a hell of a ride,” Jordan said.

“I’m glad to have had the opportunity.”

erald Jordan never took G much coaxing to join a fundraiser when a round of golf was involved. There may not be enough golf courses in the world for his retirement.

Photos by Beth Dedman

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 45

Events

Running of the Hogs

Promoting Health and Wellness in the Razorback Community In 2022, the U of A celebrated the fifth annual Running of the Hogs road race. In addition to the 5-kilometer and 10-kilometer race, the event added a 1-mile Hog Jog. This 1-mile option allowed more people to join the festivities on race day. The campus welcomed more than 200 in-person runners to the Razorback Gardens and more than 100 virtual 46 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

runners to the group on Strava, an app that tracks running. The virtual runners ran in 18 states, Mexico and overseas military bases. The Running of the Hogs Race is a joint effort between the Arkansas Alumni Association and University Recreation with a goal of promoting health and wellness on the U of A campus and in the Razorback community.

pposite page, Participants O Call the Hogs before the race begins. his page top to bottom, T Over 50 students and community members volunteered to cheer, assist and direct running traffic during the race. azorback fans young R and old, big and small participate in the race. articipants enjoy P themselves despite the hilly terrain of the U of A campus. obert Dzur ★ B.A.’91, R M.A.’94 and his furry friend complete their virtual Running of the Hogs Race in Albuquerque, New Mexico. everal students from S the Registered Student Organization Arkansas Running Club ran, while other clubmates cheered them on.

Photos submitted.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 47

Events

Law Alumni Reunion

A Weekend of Celebration and Education The U of A School of Law, in conjunction with the Law Alumni Society, hosted the 2022 Law Alumni Reunion Weekend on April 8-9. Law alumni participated in symposia and CLE opportunities. The Law Alumni Society

op to bottom and left to T right, 50-year honorees from left to right back row Greg Graham ✪+ B.S.B.A.’70, J.D. ’72, Jeff Pence ✪ J.D. ’72, Dan Bufford ★ J.D. ’72 and Robert Edwards ★+ B.A. ’69, J.D. ’72. Front Row: Don Curdie J.D. ’72, Glenn Vasser ★+ B.S.B.A. ’69, J.D. ’72, Howard Slinkard J.D. ’72 and Ronald Woodruff ★+ B.S.B.A. ’62, J.D. ’72.

0-year honoree Robert 5 Edwards ★+ B.A. ’69, J.D. ’72 with law student Trent Freeman. few of the 50-year A honorees Don Curdie, Dan Bufford, Greg Graham, Howard Slinkard and Jeff Pence.

48 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

Awards Dinner honored recipients for 2021 and 2022. A special golden graduate luncheon celebrated the class of 1972, and other class year events gathered the classes with graduating years ending in 2s and 7s throughout the weekend.

Top to bottom and left to right, Judy ★+ B.S.E. ’68, M.A. ’70 and Glenn Vasser, 50-year awardee.

KenDrell Collins J.D. ’18 (Commitment to Justice Early Award Recipient), Harry Alexander, Caleb Lucien and Shayla Dawson B.S.B.A. ’18. ean Alena Allen, Jeff D Pence and Don Curdie.

J udge Morris Buzz Arnold B.S.E.E. ’65, L.L.B. ’68, Commitment to Justice Award Recipient. aw Alumni Society L President Kristin Pawlik Holmes B.A. ’96, J.D. ‘99, with Lonnie Powers ★ J.D. ’70 (Commitment to Justice Awardee) and Dean Alena Allen. aw alumni Society L President Kristin Pawlik Holmes, Col. Conley Meredith ✪+ B.S.B.A. ’67, J.D. ’70 (Veteran’s Award Recipient) and Dean Alena Allen. risten Pawlik Holmes, K Adam Hopkins B.S.B.A. ’03, J.D. ’06, Rebecca Hurst ✪ J.D. ’05, Jim Smith ✪ J.D. ’94, Dean Alena Allen. Hopkins accepting Career Champion – Large Firm Award on behalf of the Rose Law Firm. Smith and Hurst accepting Career Champion – Small Firm Award. ayle Pettus Pontz G recipients Amy Tu ✪ J.D. ’96 and Leana Houston B.A. ’90 J.D. ’93 with Dean Allen and School of Law members of the Women’s Law Student Association.

Photos by VERSatile Optics

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 49

Events

Happy Hour

Photos submitted

The Engineering Early Career Advisory Council and the Engineering Early Career Alumni Society hosted a happy hour for College of Engineering alumni March 14.

ATTENTION: NATIVE AMERICAN ALUMNI Do you support the creation of a Native American Alumni Society to help increase recognition and support and strengthen our community? Please indicate your support by completing the Native American Alumni Interest form at www.arkansasalumni.org/NAASinterestform.

50 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

Chapter Watch Parties 1. The Dallas Chapter filled their watch party location, KSP Henderson, for their Sweet 16 and Elite 8 watch parties.

1

2 1

2. Smiles all around for the DC Chapter during the Sweet 16.

3. The New York City Chapter called the Hogs for their basketball watch parties this season.

4. The St. Louis Chapter called the Hogs on St. Patrick’s day as the Hogs took on Vermont in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

1

3

2

3

Photos submitted

4

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 51

Events

Birthday Celebration

Photos submitted

The Associated Student Government Alumni Society gathered for ASG’s 100th Birthday Party on March 4.

The Atlanta Chapter took to the road to root on our Hogs as they played the Georgia Bulldogs.

Photos submitted

Road Trip to Athens

The Master of Science in Operations Management Alumni Society hosted a virtual alumni networking event on March 8. The event included a virtual mixer with the society board members followed by an interactive panel discussion, “Supply Chain Management in the Wake of Enduring COVID,” with M.S.O.M. instructors Carrie Beam and Jeffrey Bean M.B.A.’03, Ed.D’21.

52 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

Photos submitted

M.S.O.M. Alumni Networking Event

UPGRADE to LIFE and Never Pay Dues Again! www.ArkansasAlumni.org/join

THANK YOU New Life Members ✪

By becoming Life Members, the University’s friends and alumni help form a strong foundation on which to build the future of the Arkansas Alumni Association. We welcome the newest Life Members, listed in order of membership number: 10264 Caroline H. Walls ’14, ’18 10265 John R. Scott ’73, ’78 10266 Sue Scott 10267 Randall Newman ’04 10268 Sam Lowry ’66 10269 Betty Lowry 10270 Dr. Cole Jeffries Jr. ’70, ’73 10271 Sue Jeffries 10272 Matthew Murphy Brunner ’21 10273 Laura Crowell ’96, ’97 10274 Steve P. Crowell 10275 Jelyn Rae Thomas ’87 10276 Pamela Kay Hull Nickel ’99, ’00 10277 Jason Matthew Nickel ’96 10278 Randy Cutting ’75 10279 Cameron W. Woods ’14 10280 Ella Donnell-Lambey ’07 10281 Loyce A. Ardemagni ’70 10282 Mary F. Ardemagni

10283 Dr. Aaron Eugene White ’93, ’96 10284 Amy Whit ’95 10285 Barbara Lee Hvasta ’81 10286 Steven Austin ’01 10287 Mark Eldridge ’99 10288 Anne Elizabeth Eldridge ’02 10289 Nathan Lewis Combs ’65 10290 Dr. Linda Combs ’71, ’72, ’83 10291 Matthew W. Taylor ’92, ’06 10292 Amy M. Hopper ’15 10293 Jana Hindman Braaten ’12 10294 Kai Braaten 10295 Cary G. Martindale ’93 10296 J.P. Gairhan ’19 10297 Francine L. Laurila ’97 10298 Greg Roberts ’71 10299 Delphine Laney Price ’98 10300 Mark Prescott ’81 10301 Stacie M. Prescott

10302 William Sowers ’93 10303 Melinda Laine Miller ’02, ’18 10304 John W. Miller 10305 Ellon Rogers Cockrill ’71, ’73 10306 Jessica L. Thompson ’03 10307 Charles Thompson 10308 Randy Smith ’87 10309 Brooke Smith 10310 Carol Lisbeth Eiseman ’60, ’61 10311 Byron Eiseman 10312 J. Preston Bass III 10313 Shannon E. Bass 10314 Dr. Bryan I. Fancher ’82, ’84 10315 Deanna M. Fancher 10316 Mary Robin Casteel ’01 10317 Pat Henry ’81 10318 Debbie Henry 10319 William Thomas Baxter ’75 10320 Trula English Baxter ’76

10321 Carolyn Thurlby Anderson ’72, ’78 10322 James W. Anderson ’70, ’75 10323 Brian James Moore ’94 10324 Melonie Moore 10325 Richard A. Dykman ’69 10326 Martha Nelson Dykman ’70 10327 Mary Jo Davis ’61 10328 Gary M. Harden ’76 10329 Cherrie L. Harden 10330 Matt Brown ’20 10331 William A. Deal ’67, ’71 10332 Dixie McConnell Deal ’66 10333 Jewel Ann Morrow ’97 10334 James K. Morrow 10335 Rick Bennett ’86 10336 Dr. Lori Bennett 10337 Craig A. Johnson ’95, ’96 10338 Scott Spradley 10339 Annie Spradley 10340 Jane Barrett ’89, ’90

Member Appreciation Day On Saturday, April 2, the Arkansas Alumni Association hosted members at a Hog Wild Tailgate at Homeplate Plaza at Baum Stadium.

Photos submitted

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 53

Events

Members, alumni, friends and family – anyo

PANAMA POTPOURRI January 18-28 Go Next

CRUISING THE RIVIERAS April 20-29 Gohagan

TANZANIA SAFARI during the great Migration February 14-16 Gohagan

CALIFORNIA RAIL DISCOVERY May 3-8 Premier World Discovery

EXPLORING AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

SCOTTISH ISLES & NORWEGIAN FJORDS Le Dumont D’urviLLe May 26-June3 Gohagan

March 21-April 5 Odysseys

STUNNING SCENERY OF ALASKA June 6-23 Go Next

DISCOVER DENALI NATIONAL PARK July 9-14 Orbridge

MACCHU PICCHU TO THE GALAPAGOS July 27-August 9 Orbridge

For more information on traveling with Razorbac

54 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

2023 Trip Calendar

one can tr avel with R azorbacks on Tour.

MORE DETAILS SOON ON THE FOLLOWING TOURS

ALPINE SPLENDOR July 27-August 9 Orbridge

CIVIL RIGHTS a Journey to FreedoM Orbridge

ALBUQUERQUE BALLOON FESTIVAL October 11-15 Premier World Discovery

GRAND DANUBE PASSAGE AHI GREAT PACIFIC NORTHWEST August 6-14 Go Next

EGYPT AND THE ANCIENT NILE RIVER October 14-24 Orbridge

LEGENDS OF THE NILE AHI

ITINERARIES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

TORONTO TO VANCOUVER

BY RAIL September 5-11 Orbridge

EXPLORING AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND March 21-April 5 Odysseys

RAZORBACKS ON TOUR

cks on Tour visit www.arkansasalumni.org/travel.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 55

Yesteryear

Yesteryear Erick Walder soars across the broad jump pit during a spring meet in 1992 at what is now known as John McDonnell Field. Walder went on to win the NCAA long jump title that year. From 1992 to 1994, he won the national title in long jump and triple jump a total of 10 times.

Photo by Bo Ebbrecht, 1992 Razorback

1872

• In early February, James McGahee becomes the first Black student to enroll in the university.

1892

• Electricity is supplied to Old Main from a newly created steam-operating powerhouse just south of Dickson Street.

1912

• The entire student body 56 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

goes on strike after the faculty members expel 36 student leaders for publishing an underground newspaper, The X-Ray, critical of university policies.

The U of A Board of Trustees and governor are called in to settle the issue, and the 36 students are reinstated. The board also requests the resignation of university president John Newton Tillman, whose term had seen the selection

of the Alma Mater and the beginning of Senior Walk.

• Engineering students publish the Arkansas Engineer with C.H. Achenback B.E.E’13 as the first elected editor.

• Ichitaro Takata B.E.E.’12 of Kobe, Japan, a senior graduating in electrical engineering, becomes the first international student to have his name engraved in Senior Walk.

1922

• In honor of the university’s Semi-Centennial a series of events takes place over a four-day period. Some of the events include a senior play, baccalaureate service, song service, alumni parade and reunion, trustees’ luncheon and a president’s reception.

• Alumna Effie Alley Quay B.A.’21, by then working for the Sioux City Journal, interviews Helen Keller.

• A bronze tablet with the names of students and alumni who died during World War I is dedicated on the front lawn of Old Main.

The tablet was later moved to the lobby of Vol Walker Hall.

1932

• The UA Board of Trustees requests that the “Hog Wallow,” a humorous section of the Razorback yearbook, be discontinued because of complaints from students.

• A School of Nursing is established on the Fayetteville campus as the need for more nurses in the state rises.

1962

• Membership in the Arkansas Alumni Association is $10 for a single, $250 life, $25 sustaining, $15 participation and $12.50 for a couple.

• The campus radio station, KUOA, considers making a phonograph recording of a Razorback pep song to use as the theme of the station.

• Futrall Hall is built at the corner of Lindell and Douglas and named for Annie Duke Futrall, the widow of U of A President John Futrall and the second woman to serve on the U of A Board of Trustees.

1942

1972

• Davis Hall is opened as the university’s first cooperative women’s hall and named for the longtime professor Mary Anne Davis.

• The U of A Board of Trustees votes to ban political candidates from speaking on campus.

• In winter of 1942, second semester enrollment drops twice the usual amount after over 100 men leave school to join the U.S. Armed Forces.

1952

• Joe E. Covington ✪ B.A.’32, LL.B.’40 assumes the post of provost for the 1951-52 academic year.

• Industrial expansion takes over the U of A campus.

A new physics building replaces the inadequate accommodations for the old department. This meant better research equipment.

• The university receives $464,000 from a trust established by the Ford Foundation to initiate a longrange training experiment in teacher education, which would require four years of general education and a fifth year of graduate work.

• The 21,000-square-foot Physics Building is built on Dickson Street with classrooms, offices and research facilities.

1992

• Nearly half the students enrolled at the university are over 21.

• The U of A withdraws from the Southwest Conference and joins the Southeastern Conference.

2002

• The Razorback football team beats LSU in Little Rock in the game known as the “Miracle on Markham” and wins the SEC West title.

2012 • Former president Bill Clinton gives the first Dale Bumpers Distinguished Lecture.

• Gene McKissic ✪+ B.A.’74, J.D.’76 becomes the first African American elected president of the Associated Student Government.

• Dr. Raymond Miller ✪ is named to the U of A Board of Trustees, the first Black citizen of Arkansas to serve on the board.

1982

• The Blue and the Gray, a Civil War television series starring Gregory Peck as Abraham Lincoln, uses Old Main, the front lawn and Carnall Hall reconstruction to stand in for Ford’s Theater, the Washington mall and Appomattox Courthouse respectively, and numerous U of A students and faculty filled in as extras.

• The university reports it has more than 100 National Merit and Achievement Scholars.

• Razorbacks Peter Doohan and Pat Serret B.S.E.’86 win the NCAA tennis doubles championship.

University of Arkansas A student takes a crack bowling in one of Fayetteville’s bowling alleys during the 1942 year. The percentage of women on campus grew heavily during the early 1940s as men left campus to serve in the armed forces during World War II. 1942 Razorback

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 57

Senior Walk

From Senior Walk Let us know about your milestones and anything else you would like to share with your classmates — births, marriages, new jobs, retirements, moves and more. Please include your degree, class year, and when applicable, your maiden name. To provide the most thorough coverage of alumni news, we publish notes about members and non-members of the

Class Notes 1970s David O. Russell ★ BA’74, Keller, Texas, became vice president of external affairs for Frontier Communications in January.

1980s Prescott W. Smith BA’87, Terrell, Texas, is an attorney in the products liability 58 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

Arkansas Alumni Association and will indicate membership status for reference. You may send us news or simply update your information.

Since the next issues of Arkansas are already in production, it may be a few issues before your item appears.

Submit your news online at www. arkansasalumni.org/classnotes; by mail: From Senior Walk, Arkansas Alumni Association, P.O. Box 1070,

Fayetteville AR 72702; or by email: records@arkansasalumni.org.

These symbols indicate Alumni Association membership: ✩ Student Member ★ Member ★+ Member, A+ ✪ Life Member ✪+ Life Member, A+

group at Dykema.

2000s

Brian Lee Wolff ✪ BA’89, Annapolis, Maryland, executive vice president of public policy and external affairs at The Edison Electric Institute, has been named EEI’s chief strategy officer.

Michael Fraizer BA’01, Brooklyn, New York, is the chief communications officer at America250. He oversees nationwide communications, marketing and engagement efforts leading up to the largest and most inclusive commemoration in America’s history.

1990s Frank O. McIllwain BSCE’97, Frisco, Texas, is the director of aviation for Garver Aviation.

Kelly Dunlap BSBA. ‘02, Little Rock, has been named

to Forbes’ America’s Top Women Wealth Advisors list for 2022. This year’s list spotlights a select group of top advisors across the country who were nominated by their firms and then researched, interviewed and assigned a ranking within their respective states.

2010 Jessica Liesel Brandow BA’11 JD’15, Battlecreek, Michigan, is a trusts and estate planning attorney at Levine & Levine Attorneys at Law.

In Memoriam 1940s

Evelyn Rand FS’40, Little Rock, Jan. 12.

Inez B. Bivins ✪+ BSE’42, Terrell, Texas, Dec. 31, 2016.

Kathleen Stone McDonald BSHE’45, McGehee, Dec. 29, 2021.

Mary Mac Price ✪ BSHE’46, Keller, Texas, Jan. 26.

Connie Wanasek Bowen BSE’47, Little Rock, Feb. 1.

Rosmary Weis Kercheval BSE’47 MS’50, Sugar Land, Texas, Jan. 8.

Cleoh Smith BSA’47, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Dec. 21, 2021.

Frank D. Corley Jr. BSCE’48, Benton, March 10.

Jewel Elizabeth Moore MS’48, Conway, Feb. 25.

Harvey L. Young ★+ BA’48, Russellville, Jan. 7.

Bob L. Bogle ✪+ BS’49, Bentonville, March 24.

Betty Matthews ★+ BA’49, Pine Bluff, Jan. 30.

1950s Curtis Ray Powell BSA’50 MS’52, Fayetteville, March 15.

Oliver J. Butler Jr. ✪+ JD’51, Lakeside, Arizona, Dec. 30, 2021.

Claude H. Clement Jr. BS’51 MS’66, Jonesboro, Jan. 14.

Brooks M. Fiscus BSE’51, Wynne, Jan. 20.

Carolyn Ripley Moseley ★ BSBA’51, Blytheville, Jan. 7.

Nathan Earl Gairhan BSA’52, Jonesboro, March 3.

Charles E. Jones ✪+ BS’52 MS’56, Fayetteville, Feb. 3.

Ms. Lilla Preyer MS’52, Little Rock, Feb. 4.

Greg W. Allen BA’53, Media, Pennsylvania, March 15.

Larry Hazzard BSBA’53, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, Aug. 4, 2021.

Martha McKnight Huey FS’53, Little Rock, Jan. 26.

Carolyn Blanks Park ✪+ BA’53 MA’55, Fayetteville, Dec. 30, 2021.

John W. Ramsey MA’53, Tullahoma, Tennessee, Jan. 11.

Virginia Hudlow Thurman BSHE’53, Farmington, Missouri, Feb. 8.

Lorelei Altom Warren ★ BSE’53, Floral, Feb. 2.

R. Neal McGaugh BSIE’54, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Feb. 27.

George L. Dortch II BSA’55, Batesville, Jan. 23.

Nancy Steele Rubeck BSBA’55, Irving, Texas, Jan. 27.

Gerald E. Harris MED’56, Pearland, Texas, June 18, 2017.

Helen Selig ★ FS’56, Hot Springs, Feb. 18.

Barbara Allen Court MS’57, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Nov. 13, 2021.

Rowe L. Huggins ✪ BSBA’58, Hot Springs Village, Jan. 23.

Virginia White Joiner BA’58, Houston, Texas, March 2.

Mary W. McSwain BA’58 MED’82, Fort Smith, Jan. 14.

Johnnie McCutcheon Piskos MED’58, Allen Park, Michigan, Jan. 6.

In Memoriam

Robert L. Bogle ✪+ B.S.’49 Robert L. “Bob” Bogle of Bentonville died on March 24, 2022. He was 95. Bogle was born on September 12, 1926, in Langely, Oklahoma, to Claude E. and Evelyn Bogle.

After enlisting in the U.S. Army in January 1945 and graduating from Airborne School, Bob was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.

Bogle continued to serve his country in the National Guard from 1954-1982 and was promoted to colonel during that time. He also served as the very first manager of the Walton’s Five and Dime located in Bentonville, Arkansas, and continued his career with Walmart for 28 more years, retiring in 1982.

Bogle and his late wife, Marilyn Bogle, were lifelong friends and supporters of the U of A and Razorback Athletics, with more than 40 years of philanthropic support on campus and throughout Arkansas. There is not an area, academically or athletically, on the U of A campus that the Bogles did not lend a helping hand. From the country’s top softball field, Bogle Park, to the Bob and Marilyn Bogle Academic Center, to Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, to the Bev Lewis Center for Women’s Athletics, to the Frank O’Mara Track and Field High Performance Center, to the J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Baseball Development Center, to the Bogle Terrace at the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House, and many other facilities and programs, the Bogles’ legacy is everlasting. Bob and Marilyn were also recipients of the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor Distinguished Service Award in 1996.

In addition to the U of A, Bogle’s generosity impacted the community in which he lived, including support of the Walton Arts Center, the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, AR Care, the NWA Children’s Shelter, Bentonville Public Schools and the Bentonville Public Library. Bogle also loved the outdoors and gardening, and he devoted time and effort into several beautification projects around the city of Bentonville.

Bogle is survived by son, David Bogle ✪ B.S.P.A.’75 (and his wife, Tina), and daughters Becky Alexander ✪+ B.A.’77 (and her husband, Bob ✪+ B.S.B.A.’77) and Ann McKenzie ✪ B.S.H.E.’82 (and her husband, Jim ✪), four grandchildren, including Ben Bogle ✪ B.S.B.A’03, Kimberly Erin Bogle Easley B.S.A.’03, and three great-grandchildren.

Photo submitted

Amy Cavanaugh PHD’04, Lafayette, Louisiana, is a medical psychologist at Pax Renewal Center.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 59

Senior Walk

In Memoriam

Jama M. and Wallace W. Fowler

The university community is mourning the loss of Jama and Wallace Fowler. Jama died on April 20, 2022, and Wallace died just two weeks later, on May 4. Wallace was born in Manila, Arkansas, and enrolled in the U of A in 1954. After attending the U of A, Wallace enlisted in the Army and shortly thereafter met his future wife, Jama.

Jama was born on May 25, 1936, to Curtis and Celie Smith Massey in Amity.

While serving in the U.S. Army, Wallace was assigned to work as a dental lab technician at the 98th General Hospital in Neubrucke, Germany. After returning from Germany, the Fowlers first settled in Little Rock and began several business ventures together as a team. In Little Rock, Wallace joined Haverty Furniture and Dillard’s. In the mid-1960s the couple moved to Jonesboro to develop Fowler Furniture, eventually opening stores in a number of Northeast Arkansas locations.

In 1969, Wallace sold his furniture stores. Wallace and Jama shifted their focus to food industry, specifically owning Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants. Together with other relatives and business partners, the Fowlers eventually owned 93 franchises in a seven-state region.

That operation was sold in 1985.

Wallace and Jama shifted their business focus to banking and owned interests in several Arkansas banks.

Eventually, former Governor Bill Clinton appointed 60 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

Wallace to the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission, and in 2011, he was inducted into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame.

Philanthropic endeavors were just as important to the Fowler family as their businesses. Together they supported several organizations that were important to them, including the U of A, with the Wallace W. and Jama M. Fowler House, the chancellor’s residence on the U of A campus, and the Fowler House Garden and Conservatory, which provide hospitality for university guests for a variety of campus celebrations and events. The Fowlers served on steering committees in two major capital campaigns, Campaign for the Twenty-First Century and Campaign Arkansas, and were members of the U of A Chancellor’s Society and Towers of Old Main.

“The care and support that Wallace and Jama had for the University of Arkansas is truly heartwarming and has made all the difference,” said Charles Robinson, interim chancellor. “Together, they supported causes and initiatives that left an indelible mark on our campus, and they will be missed and remembered by the entire university community.”

The Fowlers had a great love for the Razorbacks and would travel to many of their away games. They supported Razorback Athletics with many generous gifts, which help fund the Fowler Family Baseball and Track Training Center, Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium and the Road Hog Park. They also contributed to the Razorback Foundation Annual Fund and made other significant gifts.

“In the past few weeks, we have lost two dear friends of the Razorback program in Wallace and Jama Fowler,” said Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Hunter Yurachek. “Even as we continue to mourn their passing, their legacy will live on for generations to come thanks to their extraordinary investment in the lives of our studentathletes. We are eternally grateful for their generosity and transformational support.”

“Wallace was a visionary leader and supporter of Razorback Athletics,” said Scott Varady B.A.’85, Razorback Foundation executive director. “Wallace and Jama elevated and helped build our program throughout their lives, and we will always be grateful.”

They are survived by three sons, Wallace “Wally” Fowler Jr., Chris Fowler and Mark Fowler ✪+; nine grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. Wallace is also survived by a brother.

Summer is here and WE ARE OVERSTOCKED and need to move units!!

There is never a better time to buy than now!

We offer 6 lines of vehicles including; EZGO, Garia, Tomberlin, Advanced EV Cushman and Fat Tire Golf Scooters!!

So stop by and visit us in Fayetteville or visit us online and let us show you why we are the go to place for all of your golf cart, leisure and utility vehicles needs!

www.ARPOWERSPORTS.com

(NWA) 479-858-1012

Armando A. Rosales BSA’58 MS’60, Panama City, Florida, Feb. 28.

Garlen T. Willis BSA’58 MED’76, Gravelly, Feb. 13.

Lois Wilson BSBA’58, Joiner, Jan. 27.

Dale O. Green BSEE’59, Bryant, Jan. 12.

Carl T. Peters BSAGE’59 MSAGE’61, Jacksonville, Jan. 4.

A. Jan Thomas Jr. ✪+ BSBA’59 LLB’62, Clarkedale, Dec. 21, 2021.

Bob Wasson ★ BSBA’59, Siloam Springs, March 19.

1960s Doyle L. Cook BSA’60 MS’63, Atkins, March 21.

Bob Kinder BSBA’60, Dataw Island, South Carolina, March 14.

James E. Polk FS’60, Bostic, North Carolina, Jan. 5.

Rupert Orton Rogers ★ BSME’60, Fordyce, Feb. 10.

(NLR) 501-690-0868

Lowrance Hodge BSIE’61, Dallas, Texas, March 12.

David A. Metts MS’61, Midland, Texas, Feb. 1.

John W. Steele ✪ BSE’61, Oklahoma City, Jan. 31.

Marcella Thompson BS’61 MED’68, Little Rock, Feb. 22.

William P. Boyer Jr. BSA’62, Dodgeville, Wisconsin, Jan. 7.

Essie Price Hervey MED’62, Little Rock, Jan. 23.

James R. Martindale FS’62, Conway, March 5.

Stephen E. McGuire ✪ BSBA’62, Blytheville, May 2, 2021.

Barry Niswanger ★ BSBA’62, Hot Springs Village, Feb. 8.

Billie F. Rider BSEE’62 MSEE’63, Mount Vernon, Iowa, Jan. 5.

Jon A. Speck BSEE’62, Plymouth, Minnesota, Oct. 21, 2021.

Bobbye M. Thompson MED’62, Crawfordsville, Indiana, Jan. 27.

Fred Andrew Wood MBA’62, Cabot, March 9.

Becky Chance BSE’63, Rockton, Illinois, Jan. 15.

Carolyn High BSE’63 MED’69, Lonoke, Jan. 10.

Gary D. Oliver ★ BSIE’63 MSIE’65, Austin, Texas, March 13.

Mary Jean Shambarger MM’63, Bentonville, Feb. 27.

Julia Jane Headstream Haught ★ BSE’64, Little Rock, March 17.

William Elwood Keith Jr. MS’64, Little Rock, Dec. 31, 2021.

Paul A. Bariola BSA’65, Madison, Wisconsin, March 16.

Lester K. Fortney MSME’65, Wichita, Kansas, Feb. 6.

Howard E. King BSEE’65 MSEE’66, Beebe, Jan. 14.

Fred T. McDonald ✪+ FS’65, Pine Bluff, Feb. 16.

Jimmy Riddle BA’65, Searcy, Dec. 30., 2021.

Robin T. Blaylock Rodriguez BA’65, Puebla, Mexico, Feb. 3.

Orville E. Wright BSA’65 MS’69, Sparkman, Jan. 14.

Kay Cox BSE’66, Fayetteville, Georgia, Feb. 18.

James D. Crownover BSCE’66, Elm Springs, Feb. 4.

Gail Croxton BSEE’66 MSIE’73, Fort Smith, March 1.

Bettie Duncan PHD’66, Bradenton, Florida, Feb. 21.

Marsha Herrick BA’66, Bigelow, Jan. 31.

D. C. Huffman Jr. BSPH’66, Henderson, Tennessee, Jan. 17.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 61

Senior Walk

In Memoriam

Nancy Anne Sindon Nancy Anne Sindon, 80, of Springdale died after a 10-month fight against cancer on Feb. 10, 2022, at her home. Nancy was born on Nov. 8, 1941, in Detroit, Michigan, to Anthony and Anne Sindon.

She attended Florida State University where she received her Bachelor of Arts and a master’s degree, graduating with honors in 1963. Her major subject area was a combination of history and student personnel administration. Sindon was awarded places in the FSU Hall of Fame and in the Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities. Shortly after graduation from FSU, she was appointed as the youngest dean of students at Averett College in Danville, Virginia.

Sindon became the dean of women at the University of Arkansas in 1970. During her term as dean of women, she oversaw numerous programs and administrative functions, including serving on the Title IX Review and Implementation Committee and serving as the chair of the Committee on the Status and Needs of Women.

Sindon left the U of A in 1976 and worked in the Administrative Academic Programs Office for the State University System of Florida. Returning to Arkansas in 1980, she worked as the executive director and coordinator for educational standards at the Department of Education in Little Rock. Sindon returned to work at the U of A in 1986 as a research and teaching assistant while pursuing doctoral studies in higher education administration with an emphasis on organizational development. She later served as a grant writer/researcher and fundraiser for the Alliance for Women’s Concerns at the U of A, and then from 1991 to 1994, she was an academic counselor in the Academic Support Center of the men’s athletics department at the university. After leaving the university she spent time as an educational consultant with NAS Consultants.

Sindon’s life work was in education and helping students achieve what others told them they could not.

She is survived by her brother Thomas Sindon B.A.’79.

Wilda Sharon McMurry BSHE’66, Prairie Grove, Feb. 7.

Barbara Bergren Harris ✪ BA’71 MA’72, Sacramento, California, Jan. 24.

Bud Melton ✪ BSBA’66, Jonesboro, Feb. 5.

Bruce H. Markell BSBA’71, Hot Springs Village, Feb. 28.

George G. Pich BSBA’66, Denton, Texas, Jan. 6.

Robert H. Solomon PHD’71, Granbury, Texas, March 19.

Alan G. Williams BSBA’66, Little Rock, March 2.

Sara W. Bond MED’72, Rogers, March 12.

James M. Bryant II LLB’67, Little Rock, Jan. 14.

Ethel Moody Chaffin MA’72, Davis, Oklahoma, Feb. 2.

Dorisene Hill MED’67, North Little Rock, Jan. 23.

Kaneaster Hodges Jr. ✪ LLB’67, Newport, March 23.

Gary O. Lee ★ BSME’67, Little Rock, March 19.

Jackie L. Moran BSE’67, Cabot, Dec. 26, 2021.

Callie Ann King Shull MS’67, Maumelle, Jan. 15.

Billy J. Moore BSA’68 MS’73, Lincoln, Jan. 9.

James R. Johnston MED’72 EDS’77, Nixa, Missouri, Feb. 6.

Harry Bruce Throckmorton ✪ PHD’72, Cookeville, Tennessee, Jan. 5.

Thomas V. Ashworth MA’73, Fort Smith, Feb. 6.

Dud Bassett BSBA’73, Jonesboro, Jan. 1.

Diane Deslauriers Trotter BSE’68, Shawnee Mission, Kansas, Jan. 19.

William G. Brown Jr. PHD’73, Columbia, South Carolina, Feb. 22.

Roddy Willis LLB’68, Nacogdoches, Texas, Nov. 14, 2021.

Candace Hight BSE’73 MED’90, Springdale, Jan. 22.

Fred J. Goebel Jr. ✪+ BSBA’69, Fort Smith, Feb. 16.

1970s

James E. Leslie BARCH’73, Fayetteville, Jan. 21.

Lola Kay Nelson BSE’73, Bedford, Texas, Jan. 5.

Bruce Blackwell BSIE’70, Jonesboro, March 18, 2022.

Don Shearin ✪+ BSBA’73 MS’75, Kirkwood, Missouri, Feb. 21.

Jim Cotton FS’70, Bentonville, Feb. 28.

Vann Smith BA’73 JD’76, Little Rock, Jan. 22.

Gay Lacy III BSA’70, Newport, Jan. 3.

R. Michael Batie BSCE’74 MSCE’75, Little Rock, Feb. 4.

Marie Deacon Landon BA’70 MA’73, Iowa City, Iowa, March 9.

James W. Monk Jr. BSCE’70 MBA’72, Little Rock, March 17.

Adelene C. Neislar BSE’70, San Antonio, Texas, Dec. 27, 2021.

Gary Gene Ricketts BA’70 MED’72, Aiken, South Carolina, Dec. 17, 2021.

Larry D. Stoecker MA’70, Dayton, Tennessee, Feb. 12.

62 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

Lyman B. Haley Jr. BSE’72, Fayetteville, March 23.

Randle W. Churchill BSA’74, El Dorado, Feb. 10.

John D. Eldridge III JD’74, Augusta, Feb. 14.

William James Schulz ✪ BA’74, Little Rock, Jan. 20.

Ludell Current MED’75, Woodson, Jan. 22.

Scott E. Dobbs JD’75, Ward, Jan. 14.

Charles E. Foehner III JD’75, St. Petersburg, Florida, Jan. 20.

OFFICERS President Ron Rainey ✪ ’91, ’93, ’01, Little Rock, AR President-Elect Don Walker ✪+ ’74, Fayetteville, AR Treasurer Kristen Collier Wright ✪ ’98, 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 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 ✪ Interim Director of Marketing and Communications Lisy McKinnon ✪ BA’97 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 ★ BSHES’10, Assistant Director of Membership Experience; Beth Dedman BA’20, Digital Media Specialist; 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; Katie Leonard ★ B.S.B.A.’19, Alumni Scholarship Assistant; 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

Audrey Gateley BA’75 MS’88, Fayetteville, March 8.

Bradley McLaurin BARCH’83, Little Rock, March 19.

Elaine E. Watson MED’75, Fort Smith, Jan. 3.

Bruce A. Peterson BA’83, St. Louis, Missouri, Jan. 7.

Kay Corso MED’76, Fayetteville, March 8.

Sarah J. Ralston MED’83, Cabot, Jan. 14.

Imogene S. Keen BSE’76 MED’89, Fayetteville, Feb. 19.

Coy Lee Patton MED’85, Elm Springs, Feb. 17.

Jaya L. Kilambi ★ BSE’77 MED’81, Fayetteville, Feb. 13.

Darryl Kussmaul MA’77, Colleyville, Texas, Jan. 28.

Dale Neighbors BSBA’77, Tyler, Texas, Feb. 17.

Cheryl Lynn French BSE’78 MED’86, Fayetteville, Jan. 28.

Aubrey Lee Harris IV FS’01, Little Rock, Feb. 14.

Jerry A. Wilson MED’86, Conway, Jan. 23.

Kari Griggs BSIE’88, Fayetteville, Feb. 9.

Eldon D. Long MS’88, Gentry, Jan. 20.

Byron Yarborough BSBA’89, Hot Springs, Jan. 29.

Jon D. Cash BA’79 MA’83, Crossett, Jan. 24.

1990s

Don Holcomb MS’79, Fulton, Mississippi, Feb. 1.

Leslie Morelock Roye BSA’91 MS’93, Fayetteville, Jan. 28.

Robert William Manning BSEE’79 MSEE’80, Colorado Springs, Colorado, March 7.

Timothy Monroe Weaver JD’91, Eureka Springs, March 18.

Lynda C. Verdonik BSE’79, Kerrville, Texas, Feb. 25.

Anthony Aaron Caton MA’92, Mulberry, Jan. 12.

1980s

Lisa Fowler Fort BSBA’92, Little Rock, Feb. 19.

Thomas Collier Lee III BSA’81, Altheimer, Feb. 21.

Charles T. Payne BSBA’82, Fayetteville, Feb. 2.

Julie A. Griffin Trimble ★ BSHE’82, El Dorado, Feb. 9.

Steve W. Ellison BSE’83, Board Camp, Feb. 15.

Milton W. Fields FS’83, Little Rock, March 5.

2000s

Steven C. White BSBA’86, Hot Springs, March 18.

Gary W. Leis BSBA’78, Rogers, March 18.

John David Hudman BSIE’81, Jacksonville, Feb. 7.

Jerick Payeton Hutchinson BSA’99 BSA’02 MAT’03, Fayetteville, Jan. 9.

Benjamin Wheatley Burton BA’00, Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 15.

Lona L. Clark MS’89, Athens, Georgia, Jan. 16.

Charlie Gardner FS’81, Half Moon Bay, California, Dec. 28, 2021.

Ashley Claire Haynes FS’98, Maumelle, Jan. 12.

Hervey F. Houser Jr. MSA’86, Hot Springs, Feb. 22.

Charles A. Hanson MS’78, Des Arc, Dec. 24, 2021.

John McCutcheon BSBA’80, Fayetteville, Feb. 4.

Wayland Gaines Roberts MS’97, Quitman, March 23.

Laverne Nelson EDS’92, Fayetteville, Jan. 18.

Richard Devon Henry MS’93, Mountain View, Jan. 8.

Artina Lynette Abraham FS’95, Little Rock, Dec. 21, 2021.

Charles Clay Ball FS’95, Florence, Dec. 28, 2021.

Jerri A. Garrett BSE’95, Bentonville, Jan. 10.

Theodore Rancifer III FS’95, Pine Bluff, March 4.

Dustin Scott Lea FS’02, Conway, Jan. 9.

Mary Kathryn Coreil BSE’04, Savannah, Georgia, Feb. 5.

Matthew Clarence Henriksen MFA’04, Fayetteville, March 17.

Jennifer A. Williams BSE’06, Centerton, Feb. 17.

Walter W. White BSBA’07, Fayetteville, Feb. 21.

Matthew Paul Hardy BSHES’08, Texarkana, Jan. 19.

Jesse L. McCombs JD’08, Lowell, Jan. 24.

Eugene Stanley Zajac BA’08, North Little Rock, Jan. 21.

Wade A. Hanes MSOM’09, Bella Vista, Jan. 4.

2010s Jean Carlos Ramirez FS’13, Fort Worth, Texas, Jan. 12.

Matt Holman BSBA’10 JD’16, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Jan. 29.

Friends Bill Crisler ★, Yazoo City, Mississippi, Jan. 18.

Joy M. Sharp ★ AA’95 BSE’06 MED’09, Farmington, Jan. 6.

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 63

Photo by Chieko Hara

Last Look

LOSS + FOUND

An Exhibition of Found Objects An exhibit by the architect and artist Kwendeche of Little Rock was displayed this spring in the Fred and Mary Smith Exhibition Gallery of Vol Walker Hall.

Titled “LOSS + FOUND,” the non-traditional pieces in the exhibit — furniture, neckties, tribal masks, sculptural easels and abstract paintings — are created from found objects. Many of them come to animated life through small touches such as the addition of shoes to the legs of a tripod or wondering eyes upon an amalgamated face of confusion.

64 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2022

$200

Online Cash Back Bonus Offier*

Arkansas Alumni Association Customized Cash Rewards credit card Maximize your cash back by choosing how you earn rewards Carry the only card that helps support the Arkansas Alumni Association •

Get a $200 online cash back bonus if you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening.*

•

To change your choice category for future purchases, you must go to Online Banking, or use the Mobile Banking app.** You can change it once each calendar month, or make no change and it stays the same.

•

Contactless card – The security of a chip card, with the convenience of a tap.

in the category of your choice:

Gas | Online Shopping | Dining | Travel | Drug Stores | Home Improvement & Furnishings

at grocery stores and wholesale clubs

unlimited on all other purchases

Earn 3% and 2% cash back on the first $2,500 in these combined purchases each quarter, then earn 1% thereafter.

To apply for a credit card, please visit bofa.com/arkansasalumni This offer is unique to this solicitation. Our credit card offers may vary and this offer may not be available elsewhere. You can take advantage of this offer when you apply now.

For information about the rates, fees, other costs and benefits associated with the use of this card or to apply, please visit bofa.com/arkansasalumni Residents of the US and its territories only. See full disclosure for details.

*

Bonus Cash Rewards Offer. You will qualify for $200 online bonus cash rewards if you use your new credit card account to make any combination of purchase transactions totaling at least $1,000 (exclusive of any fees, returns and adjustments) that post to your account within 90 days of the account open date. Limit 1 bonus cash rewards offer per new account. This one-time promotion is limited to customers opening a new account in response to this offer and will not apply to requests to convert existing accounts. Your account must be open with active charging privileges in order to receive this offer. Other advertised promotional bonus cash rewards offers can vary from this promotion and may not be substituted. Allow 8–12 weeks from qualifying for the bonus cash rewards to post to your rewards balance. The value of this reward may constitute taxable income to you. You may be issued an Internal Revenue Service Form 1099 (or other appropriate form) that reflects the value of such reward. Please consult your tax advisor, as neither we, nor our affiliates, provide tax advice.

**

Mobile Banking. Mobile Banking requires that you download the Mobile Banking app and is only available for select mobile devices. Message and data rates may apply.

By opening and/or using these products from Bank of America, you’ll be providing valuable financial support to Arkansas Alumni Association.

This credit card program is issued and administered by Bank of America, N.A. Visa and Visa Signature are registered trademarks of Visa International Service Association, and are used by the issuer pursuant to license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. Bank of America and the Bank of America logo are registered trademarks of Bank of America Corporation. The Contactless Symbol and Contactless Indicator are trademarks owned by and used with permission of EMVCo, LLC.

©2022 Bank of America Corporation

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 66

Hogging the Road

Hog Tags help fund scholarships through the Arkansas Alumni Association.

HOGTAGS.COM

SUMMER 2022 / ARKANSAS / 67