FORGE, 2013

The Magazine of the Ellis College of Arts and Sciences

Gary Simmons The artist’s mind

Mark Edwards A voice for sports

Charles Dunn A friend remembered

Henderson State University Vol. 15, Summer 2013

Letter from the Dean Two political factors may have an impact on the quality of higher education in Arkansas: One is Governor Beebe’s challenge to double the number of college graduates by the year 2025; the other is performancebased funding. Both focus on numbers and not quality, and both could lead to grade inflation and weakened programs. Administrators are likely to label departments as “strong” simply based on the number of students they graduate. We all know that any department can increase its number of graduates by lowering standards and giving passing grades to students who do not deserve them.

Fortunately, we have departments within the Ellis College of Arts and Sciences with such high academic standards that I do not think they will ever succumb to pressure to lower standards. The biology department has maintained high standards and significantly increased its number of majors. This past academic year, biology graduates were accepted to Ph.D. programs, colleges of pharmacy, and four were accepted into medical schools. Six graduates in mathematics and computer science were accepted into graduate programs.

In addition, eight math students participated in the 10th Annual Arkansas Undergraduate Mathematics Competition. As a school, Henderson placed third behind only Hendrix and John Brown University. At the Southwestern Psychological Association meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, Henderson psychology students took home 25 percent of the student awards. This was a meeting attended by faculty and students from nine states. National surveys of new registered nurses four months after graduation found that 66 percent of all Registered Nurse graduates were employed. As of May 2013, 100 percent of Henderson nursing graduates received job offers.

These are just some of the examples of the high quality of academic programs within Ellis College. In the true Reddie Spirit, these and other departments within Ellis College will not abandon their standards because of performance-based funding or an attempt to double the number of college graduates in Arkansas.

Content

If you like what you see

Volume 15, Summer 2013

Consider making a donation to an Ellis College organization or department, or endow a scholarship in memory of a friend. www.hsu.edu/ecas

Finely Drawn Celebrating a life in art

Page 2

Class Act

Riding High

A professor’s passion for theatre

Good Sports

Mathematics professor adds up miles

Page 10

Page 8

One familiar face, two rookies

Page 4

Musical Drive

Colorado alumna sets the bar

Page 12

A Friend Remembered

Making Connections

Recalling Dr. Charles Dunn

Page 18

Psychology professor bridges cultures

Page 16

Class Travel

Students learn in NYC, Versailles

Page 20

The Magazine of Ellis College FORGE is published yearly by the Henderson State University Matt Locke Ellis College of Arts and Sciences.

Through profiles and current news, the magazine serves as a personal link connecting the college to its alumni and other related communities. The FORGE staff, composed of students and faculty, strives for excellence in magazine journalism through fair reporting and high quality photography and design. To suggest topics for future FORGE articles or to comment on the magazine, please email sommerm@hsu.edu.

President Glen Jones Interim Provost, VPAA Maralyn Sommer Interim Dean of Ellis College John Hardee Forge Editorial Board Maralyn Sommer David Stoddard Michael Ray Taylor Marck Beggs Cover Illustration Gary Simmons

Designers David Stoddard Amy Porter Kelly Thomas Editor and Writers Michael Ray Taylor Penny Carrell Cinthia Graham Hunter Lively Carl Miller Rustee Pruitt Ryan Quin Neal Stewart Sarah Williams

will be Idtifferent now

By Neal Stewart On a dark night in 1974, the young artist Gary Simmons experienced an unexpected and life altering dream. �

Simmons was walking on the southern plains just as the sun set on the horizon.

The twilight hour’s amber rays softly illuminated the rolling grass and hillsides.

Suddenly, out of the sky, a glowing comet plummeted to Earth, perching itself on top of a nearby knoll.

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Curious about what he had just witnessed, Simmons chose to investigate the large stone.

It wasn’t until he began to make his way to the crash site that he noticed a great golden eagle hovering over his left shoulder. However, when he turned to acknowledge the noble bird he was surprised to see it had been replaced by a mysterious Native American man.

Simmons instantly recognized the man to be Wolf Robe, a chief and medicine man of the Southern Cheyenne tribe during the late 1800s.

The chief shared his wisdom with Simmons, and showed him the ways of his people.

To this day Simmons can still recall the dream and all its details. “It was vivid and complete,” he says. The dream was also the inspiration behind his first great pen and ink piece, “Wolf Robe’s Dream.” The work depicts an elderly Wolf Robe, his face camouflaged, joined by a golden eagle elegantly posing over his right shoulder.

Following widespread praise for “Wolf Robe’s Dream,” Simmons found his calling, and began to focus on a professional career in art and design.

With years of work he became a nationally known artist, even having his print of Abraham Lincoln featured in the White House. After 21 years as a professor of art at Henderson, Simmons retired at the end of the Spring 2013 semester with a quiet

ceremony where he was celebrated by his students, colleagues and the many fans of his art.

Simmons said that he never planned on having a career as a professional artist, although he always had a passion for drawing. He never imagined he could make a comfortable living selling artwork.

Growing up in Cahokia, Ill., Simmons’ earliest sketches were greatly influenced by the history and lifestyle of the Native Americans who once made their homes in the area. He also had a strong curiosity for nature, leading to the incorporation of wildlife in many of his later pieces.

After graduating high school in 1959, Simmons put his art aside in order to pursue engineering. He later decided to get involved in industrial design.

In 1963, he received his bachelor’s degree from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, with a major in English and a minor in zoology and industrial design. In 1965 he earned a master’s degree in English and American literature.

It was not until 1972 that he received his doctorate in instructional systems technology, with a minor in English and fine arts photography from Indiana University, Bloomington.

A year later he chose to move to Hot Springs, Ark., after taking a job in information dissemination, work that Simmons considered miserable. Soon he decided to go to work as a

freelance artist. While freelancing, Simmons worked for advertisers, designed book covers and found jobs in illustration. He also became well recognized for his portraits. These pieces included montages of his clients, incorporating traits of their personalities, making each one unique. Finally, in 1991, Simmons was hired to teach art and design at Henderson. Over the last 21 years he has made his mark on the art department and its students.

“Gary’s a really nice guy,” Dr. David Evans, professor of music and director of the general studies program, said. “The students love him. It’s going to be a different art department without him.”

It is clear that Simmons takes great pride in his role as a professor. He is quick to greet students with a smile and a firm handshake.

As a teacher he emits a distinct air of confidence and knowledge while talking about his craft, with an understanding that can only come from years of experience.

This understanding and patience has gained him the respect of his students and colleagues.

“That man is a genius,” Lauren Penick, a senior design major and 2013 graduate,

said. “He’s one of my biggest mentors, both towards my artistic career and towards learning social tact and professionalism. I look up to his intellectuality and have come to love him as a close friend over the years.”

Though Simmons’ time at Henderson has come to an end, he still plans to continue to follow his passion for art. “I want to find causes where I can apply my art,” Simmons said. He looks forward to working in his studio, and starting what he calls “a new passage” in his life. “I’ve been so lucky,” Simmons said. “Being here, I have had specific purpose. It will be different now.”

Simmons has devoted years to teaching his students, not only how to be an artist, but how to be an effective and professional person. He gives them the tools they need to have a productive career and life. His absence will not go unnoticed by his students in the art department.

“We will be losing one of our most valuable artistic minds,” Claire Cade, sophomore studio art major, said. “It has been a privilege to take his classes.”

Clockwise starting above: Gary with Bill Clinton Leda Bookplate (pen and ink) Pandora Bookplate (pen and ink) “Vines” (watercolor and ink) Opposite: “Wolf Robe’s Dream” (pen and ink) Background Image “Zeus’s Gate” (pen and ink)

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Trading

Dreams: Getting cut from basketball led Mark Edwards to become an Arkansas sports personality

By Hunter Lively

A high school student stood in his bedroom astonished. He had just received the most important phone call of his life. Grady Bean, then the head basketball coach at Henderson State University, was on the other end of the line offering him a scholarship to play for the Reddies.

Above and opposite: Mark Edwards on the job at KTHV. Photos courtesy of THV 11.

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Mark Nelson, now a sports anchor for KTHV in Little Rock, known statewide by the professional name of Mark Edwards, signed his letter of intent to play at Henderson on April 27, 1989, in the library of his alma mater, Robinson High School.

Growing up in Little Rock, he had been exposed to the city life and atmosphere. His father, Ben, was a farmer and a brick layer,

and his mother, Bessy, worked in a factory.

His older brother, Kenny Fells, played football for Henderson State from 1982-1985, and went on to be drafted in the 1986 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins.

The minute Edwards stepped on campus, people knew about it.

“Mark was an extremely personable guy,” Dr. David Thigpen, assistant athletic director, said. Thigpen was one of the recruiters who first sought Edwards. “He just had a flashy, easy-going type of attitude, and everyone was drawn to him.”

Thigpen, who was the defensive coordinator for the men’s basketball team when he recruited Edwards in 1989, spent 28 years at Henderson. He could see potential in Edwards from the first day.

As soon as he hit the court for fall practice, Edwards was on a mission to gain

“Back in college, I didn’t know how long it would take me to get where I am today, but I knew what it took to get here.” respect from his fellow players and coaches.

He was undersized, so he had to make up for it with hustle and toughness.

After a month of practice, he was gaining confidence and learning the system. Then it hit him, literally.

One of his fellow teammates caught him with an inadvertent elbow to the face during a scrimmage. His eyebrow was gashed, his face was cut open. He had to drive himself to the emergency room, where his doctor explained that they would have to put staples in his head.

This was a significant turning point in Edwards’ career as a player.

Although he didn’t want to admit it at first, the injury changed Edwards’ mind about college basketball.

Redshirting his freshman season, he began to notice the political aspects of the game.

The team lost more games than they won, with a record of 13-19, and rumors started to circulate about the possibility of Coach Bean being let go.

The truth of the rumors dealt a devastating blow to Edwards’ desire to play basketball.

The coach who he’d hoped to guide his entire four years was abruptly fired.

“It was hard for me to accept this turn of events,” Edwards said. “The man was like a father to me.”

Danny Ebbs would be named head coach during the following summer.

Edwards played a season under Ebbs, with ups and downs. The team was divided between Bean’s players from previous seasons and Ebbs’ recruits. That year (1991-1992), the Reddies had a dismal 10-18 record.

During the summer he transitioned from his sophomore to junior season, Edwards spent countless hours in the gym working on his shot and hitting the weights. He felt like his game was improving. He was ready to compete for quality playing time.

Ebbs didn’t see it that way, however. He called Edwards into his office to inform him that he wouldn’t have him on scholarship that year.

He told Edwards that he wasn’t mentally tough enough to play for him and that he needed Edwards to drop one of his classes because it conflicted with practice time.

Edwards couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was aware the coach was new, but he thought Ebbs could see potential in him. He felt he was giving the team everything he had.

Many of Edwards’ cohorts reassured him that they believed the new coach wanted to start fresh, with players he recruited.

Edwards also knew that his grades came first, and the afternoon was the only time his required class was offered, which he had to complete in order to graduate. After many sleepless nights and talks with those closest to him, he decided the best decision was to leave the team and focus on his studies. He was motivated and determined to excel at something.

The communications field was calling his name.

One day, one of his friends recruited him as a special guest on a radio show at the campus station.

“Man…you do this every week, bro?”

Edwards asked his friend.

“Yeah, man,” his friend responded.

“Every week.”

“Seeing what he got to do in the booth, I wanted to be a part of something like that, too,” Edwards said. “From then on, I had a radio show every semester until graduation.”

Edwards’ vibrant attitude and outgoing personality landed him in the Henderson radio station in 1991, his junior year, where he held a weekly show on KSWH “The Pulse” as part of a broadcast practicum class. He became a regular feature in the station’s flashy new studio, which had just opened in the Garrison Center.

Edwards had also joined Henderson’s Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and still raves about the brotherhood and camaraderie he experienced in those four years, calling it one of the most memorable moments of his college experience.

In 1992, during the summer before his senior year, he interned at KARK in Little Rock and met current KATV sports anchor Steve Sullivan and chief meteorologist Ned Perme.

Perme told Edwards to go into the radio field, that he felt that’s where his talents were best suited.

So he did just that.

After graduating in the spring of 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism, Edwards was offered a job at Power 92.3, a hip-hop radio station in Little Rock. People knew him on the radio as “Mark-E-Mark.”

He toggled two jobs for the next five years, working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. as a roaming network manager at an Alltel company in Little Rock, and going from there to the radio station, where he worked 6 to 10 p.m.

After a few years in radio, Edwards aspired to try something new. He travelled to Los Angeles to try out his acting skills. While in L.A., he was in several play productions and also appeared on an episode of the television series, “The X-Files.”

He spent a year there, and after many talks with producers and managers, he felt his best option was to move back to Arkansas and pursue a full-time career with television. He wanted to learn not only the basics of being in

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(Mark Edwards continued) front of the camera, but also what happened behind it.

He landed at KTHV in Little Rock in 2003 with the help of his friend and co-worker Craig O’Neill, and currently serves as a sports anchor and reporter there.

Marcus Bush, a current member of the Theta Kappa Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha at Henderson State, has followed Edwards’ career closely.

“It’s an awesome feeling to know we have an alumni brother that is doing great things,” Bush said. “This gives all of us motivation to pursue successful careers after college and follow in Mark’s footsteps.”

Edwards currently lives in Little Rock with his wife, Lavinia, and their two children, Justin, 11, and Jadyn, 6. He also has two sons who live in Memphis: Jordan, 18, and JaKobe, 13.

He still visits Henderson on a regular basis, not only to cover sporting events for KHTV, but also to attend campus activities such as the annual “Communications Career Week.”

“Mark is great about coming back and getting involved on campus,” Dr. Randy Duncan, one of Edwards’ professors, said. Duncan wasn’t surprised when he found out Edwards had been hired at KTHV in 2003. “He understood how to follow the right advice from the right people, which propelled him to where he is now.”

Even with a full-time sports anchor position, Edwards still finds time to enjoy life and spend time with his family. His children are involved in many sports, and he attends their games as much as possible.

Edwards gives credit to his parents for his inspiration. “They made a living the blue collar way and sacrificed so much so I can do what I do,” he said.

For the last ten years, he has covered sports around Arkansas, interviewing many well-known coaches and players, loving every minute of it.

“Nothing was ever an accident,” Edwards said.

“Back in college, I didn’t know how long it would take me to get where I am today, but I knew what it took to get here.”

From the Ellis College to the NFL Two student athletes become professional players

Nick Johnson

By Sarah Williams When Nick Johnson was little, his mother wouldn’t allow him to play football. The games were on Sundays which would mean skipping out on church with the family, and that was not an option in the Johnson household. So he played just about every other sport instead.

Sherman Cocroft, Johnson’s uncle, had played in the NFL for five years, so sports were in the family. Cocroft played for Kansas City Chiefs from 1985-1987, Buffalo Bills in 1988, and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1989. Johnson was finally able to hit the gridiron his freshman year of high school and enjoyed it.

He wanted to be the best athlete he could be and dreamed of playing in the NFL like his uncle.

“Nick is a great young man partly because of how he was raised,” Cocroft said. “He’s been a breath of fresh air in my life.”

At San Lorenzo Valley High, in tiny Felton, California, Johnson was a late bloomer on the field. His sopho-

more year was consumed by learning the game and discovering the weight room and fine-tuning the mechanics of play. He did not really have an impact on the team his junior year.

Everything seemed to be headed uphill until a pivotal and humbling game his senior year, when he tore his MCL. “I felt like it was owed to me to have a good season. I had worked so hard,” Johnson said. “Why would it happen to me?”

Johnson was frustrated and became bitter with football. He didn’t play his freshman year of college. He received a track and field scholarship to California State University of Sacramento in 2007. He excelled at this, breaking a school record in long jump and winning a state title.

His long year away from the pigskin strengthened his love for football; he decided to jump back into it.

After one year in Sacramento, he returned as a wide receiver for Cabrillo College football team, where

Nick Johnson playing for the St. Louis Rams

Photos by St. Louis Rams team photographer Newman Lowrance

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Sean McGrath

By Hunter Lively

Sean McGrath playing for the Seattle Seahawks Photos courtesy of the Seattle Seahawks

he showed his increasing skill for two years. This carried him to Henderson, where he signed a full-ride scholarship to play two more seasons while earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication. Following graduation from Henderson in 2012, Johnson knew he wasn’t ready to hang up the cleats. He went to live with Cocroft, who is the founder of the Cabrillo College training camps.

“At Henderson I realized it was my last chance,” Johnson said. “I did everything I could to prepare for the NFL level.”

Johnson took Cocroft’s advice through five months of training and attended a pro-day combine where he was able to showcase his athleticism. At the combine, he earned a spot on the practice team of the St. Louis Rams; this year, he thinks he will have a good chance to make the roster on special teams or as a defensive back.

Johnson returned to Santa Cruz county in March 2013 to help Cocroft host his football camp. The main goal of the camp was to give back to the community and give football players in the area an opportunity to make it to the next level.

“Nick is always thinking about others and never judges people, which is a great quality,” Cocroft

said. “He has the mindset to do whatever he chooses which is a huge part of his success. He has so much passion.”

Community service has always played a key role in Johnson’s routines. In January, Johnson was named community player of the week, honored for giving of himself off the field in the St. Louis community. Some of this involvement has included joining teammates, coaches and Rams staff members in building a Rams-themed playground in Fairmont City, Ill. along with a trip to Joplin to help rebuild houses destroyed in last year’s tornado.

Johnson is always looking for ways to lend a helping hand. Talking in the car one day with Cocroft, he asked about various ways he could do more. A week later, Johnson became a volunteer assistant track coach at Lutheran High School of St. Charles county.

“He’s always thinking outside the box for ways to help others,” Cocroft said.

The newlywed is currently living in St. Louis with his wife Natalia and is continuing to train. “I’ve always kept this dream alive in my mind,” Johnson said. “It didn’t just fall into my lap.”

Kurt Warner. Priest Holmes. Antonio Gates.

Wes Welker. All have had outstanding careers in the NFL. All went undrafted coming out of their respective colleges.

These players, along with countless others, serve as an inspiration to former Henderson tight end Sean McGrath, who now plays for the Seattle Seahawks, after receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in art in 2012.

McGrath caught 55 passes for 656 yards and four touchdowns in 2010 for the Reddies, an impressive feat from the tight end position.

He was selected First-Team All-Gulf South Conference and earned First-Team Daktronics All-Region honors.

In 2011, his final collegiate season, he missed seven games due to a foot fracture, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from pursuing his dream to play in the NFL. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Seahawks in April 2012, and at the time the team had three established tight ends ahead of him.

“The main thing about the transition to the NFL is that it’s just so much faster than college,” McGrath said. “Every guy at every position knows his job and excels at it.”

His ability to find soft spots in coverage and his reliable hands made him a favorable target for quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Matt Flynn at practices.

The Seahawks removed and re-added him to the practice squad a handful of times in 2012 before eventually adding him to the 53-man roster late last season to replace Evan Moore, then the team’s third tight end. He currently is slotted at the #2 spot behind starting tight end Zach Miller and is now battling against the Seahawks’ 2013 5th round draft pick Luke Wilson for the position.

McGrath has not been intimidated playing with big names such as Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch. “It’s awesome,” he said. “I’m living the dream. These guys are just like you and me they’re great people and very humble.”

McGrath has a humble side as well.

In March, a group of Henderson art students planned a trip to New York.

McGrath, a studio art major in his years at Henderson, wanted to help out in any way possible, so he donated to help fund the trip after being contacted by David Stoddard, art professor.

“I jumped at the opportunity to give back because they helped me so much while I was there,” McGrath said. “I want to help the art department in any way possible, because I’d like to further the experience and education for the students.”

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Labor Not Lost: Fearsome and Kind

By Ryan Quin

I was auditioning in front of Dr. Claudia A. Beach, professor and director of Henderson’s theatre program. Like a wretch I had forgotten my lines right in the middle of my rising action.

“May I come back and do this again?” I bleated like a sheep.

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Opposite page from left to right: Ryan as Max in Lend Me a Tenor Ryan’s freshman headshot Ryan’s Senior headshot Ryan as Bobby in Urinetown with fellow actor Katie Langum as Hope Above: Claudia Beach then and now

I was expecting something like, “Thank you, but that really won’t be necessary my dear.” Yet to my amazement Dr. Beach firmly replied, “Certainly.”

And I thought, Oh, my gosh; she is simultaneously fearsome and kind.

That is the first impression of my professor of four and a half years: simultaneously fearsome and kind. I had heard of Dr. Beach from other students, but had not formally met her. That night, when I froze in the middle of my defining moment, I met Dr. Beach in the way that I would know her for the rest of my time at Henderson—humbly.

Dr. Beach first came to Arkadelphia in 1988.

She left for a stint at UCA in Conway in 1993, but returned to Henderson’s campus in 1999.

Those first four years at Henderson were spent without too much ado, working only part-time.

Beach was then given charge of the competitiondriven forensics program, which involved on-theroad contests in specialized fields such as poetry interpretation, dramatic interpretation, solo acting, speech and debate. With majors in English and political science, she was adroit at coaching the student reps, although she left the debate rogues to coach themselves. She periodically directed plays and also coordinated Henderson’s Student Literacy Corps, which taught college students how to teach illiterate adults how to read.

But what’s with all these majors in English and political science? And how is she directing plays?

How did it come about?

Sherman, Texas, 1969. Claudia Beach graduates from high school, leaving the family house (in which her brother now lives), moving to Nacogdoches, extracting the aforementioned majors in theatre arts, English and political science from Stephen F. Austin University.

1973. Beach produces for her Master’s project Kurt Vonnegut’s Happy Birthday, Wanda June, a play which involves an ice cream truck accident, Judas Iscariot and Albert Einstein playing in the same shuffleboard game, and an 8-year-old boy played by a college actor saying the line, “Pass the *%$#&!@ ketchup,” at which moment the dean and his wife in the audience, confronted with a new generation as imminent as ketchup in a squeeze bottle, split.

“I thought, ‘That’s it. I’m not going to graduate,’” Beach remembered. But all’s well that ends well in the theatre. “The dean came back to us and apologized for walking out of the performance. He said the play was very well done and told us it was our right to produce the play, with whatever artistic judgment we chose; but it was also his wife’s right to leave if she was offended. And that’s what happened. He was sorry if he scared us.”

After finishing her master’s degree at Stephen F. Austin in 1973, Beach took a job teaching high school drama in Galveston (warmly welcomed that first Sunday by a hurricane). During her four years at Galveston Ball High, she took an interest in the city’s corroded history, and she came across records of a certain Henry Greenwall, a theatre manager of the southern United States during the early 1900s.

For 20 years Greenwall was a rogue manager who

withstood the Theatrical Syndicate’s monopolization of theatre companies that wiped out scores of independent theatre managers, putting a deathgrip on actors’, directors’ and theatre workers’ professional freedom, tipping the industry into a materialistic dark age.

Beach chose Greenwall as the subject of her dissertation while at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, mainly because she had essentially discovered his pioneering legacy. The chair of Beach’s dissertation committee, Clifford Ashby, was a nationally renowned theatre historian who had never heard of Greenwall.

“It fascinated me that I could find this pretty significant stage of American theatre that no one else seemed to know,” she admits. “Henry Greenwall was a hero.”

While working on her dissertation, Beach taught freshman English as a part-time instructor, also waiting tables while taking graduate classes. Soon, however, she was hired into the local stagehand union. Lubbock had three city facilities for travelling events. The city ran the spaces, but the union hired the stagehands. After starting out loading trucks, Beach finally ascended to house electrician of all three facilities. “That was how I worked my way into becoming able to manage a theatre.”

Beach was a union stagehand for five years before she was hired as full-time theatre manager of Texas Tech’s student union theatre. Every week it housed lecture series, concert series, dance series, theatre series, and campus movies. She held the position for six years while completing her doctorate.

It was there that she met her future husband and colleague, Douglas Gilpin, now a professor of theatre at Henderson. Gilpin was a graduate student at the time, working on his master’s in design. They both finished at Texas Tech about the same time, and in the fall of 1988 settled in Arkadelphia, when Gilpin was hired by Henderson.

Beach has now served as director of theatre for 14 years. In addition to teaching theatre students, directing plays, serving on the board of the Clark County Arts and Humanities Council and as a past chair of Region VI of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, she has been named “College Teacher of the Year” by the Arkansas Communication and Theatre Arts Association.

At the heart of all this work, she remains focused on students.

“Too many people come to school thinking all they need is the credentials to get what they want, when what they need to get what they want is what they develop within themselves,” she says. “It’s not the diploma that’s going to open the doors and make them succeed, but understanding who they are and what they have to offer. It’s not just completing the curriculum, but what students do once they’ve finished that makes them successful.”

It’s a lesson I began to learn that very first day, with a flubbed audition, and one that I went on to carry through leading roles, graduation, and the working world.

I hope you don’t ever stop, Dr. Beach.

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Altruistic

By Penny Carrell Design by: Kelly Thomas

Athlete

A mathematics professor’s triumph of the wheel

Enduring a seven hour automobile drive for a six hour bike ride may seem a little extreme.

However, Duane Jackson, associate professor of mathematics, would say that’s what makes the difference between sport and recreation.

The Hotter’n Hell Hundred (HHH), a race in which Jackson competed last August, is a 100-mile bike ride in Wichita, Texas, that hosted between 16,000 and 17,000 cyclists. Colleagues John Hardee, interim dean of Ellis College of Arts and Sciences, and Pam Ligon, associate dean of academic services, attended HHH last year, and Ligon’s husband attended this year.

The race featured themed refreshment breaks every ten miles.

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Jackson on the move.

“There was everything from Hawaiian-themed hula dancing to a military base with high fives as the cyclists passed by,” Jackson said.

Students know Jackson as an enthusiastic instructor with an open door. ‘“When I went to his office for help with some problem that I was struggling with, he would always say something like, ‘Calm down, let’s take a look at it’,’” recalled Megan McCauley, a 2013 graduate in art. “He always made things seem small, like they were nothing to worry about.”

During his 13 years at Henderson, Jackson has seldom mentioned his outdoor activities. McCauley was surprised to hear of Jackson’s bicycle racing.

Excluding two years at Southern Methodist in Dallas for his bachelor’s degree and getting his doctorate at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Jackson’s home has always been Little Rock, where he resides with his wife, Jacquelyn Jackson, a research associate at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and his son, Jordon Jackson, 14. Giving back to his community, he tutors ninth graders twice a month at e-STEM Public Charter School, and with his wife they provide food for the Our House Shelter.

Along with his taste for extreme sport, he is active in over 12 organizations. Jackson is a board member of the committee of the Big Dam Bridge in Little Rock.

Since Arkansas is one of the top states with obesity problems, the bridge serves to promote health, fitness, wellness and

culture for the state. This same board also hosts the Big Dam Bridge 100, which is a 100-mile bike ride that crosses the bridge approximately five miles after the start, arching northward through the North Little Rock, Conway, and Mayflower area.

Rebsamen Park Road, outlined with bike lanes, is the only way in. The road’s dead end opens into a parking lot that could hold approximately 50 vehicles.

The view from this Rebsamen entrance parking lot is completely filled with the Big Dam Bridge. The scene appears to be the edge of the earth, and the bridge—the longest in the world built for pedestrian and bicycle use—leads to scenes of grandeur beyond, with over 14 miles of trail connecting 70,000 acres of park land.

The Rebsamen parking lot is where Jackson meets at least twice a week with the Major Taylor cycling club of Little Rock for a bike ride of roughly 40 miles.

Jackson’s “always the first to give help, but he’s always the last to receive help,” Darrell Dotson, real estate agent and member of the bike club, said before a recent ride. ‘“A lot of times if he’s struggling, he won’t say anything. He’ll tell the group, ‘go ahead.’ ” Other club members echoed this sentiment with comments like. “He’s real modest” and “He won’t toot his own horn.” One story told by the members of the bike club was that Jackson had gotten two flat tires the previous week. Team members carry gas canisters, but only enough to air up a single tire. Another member was having neck pain, so that

member told Jackson to take his bike while he waited with Jackson’s flat one.

Jackson rode the other member’s bike back to get his vehicle. After getting his vehicle he went to retrieve his bike, then drove the member and the member’s bike to his own car.

“Typical things like this happen when you ride,” Jackson said.

“Jackson is probably one of the most considerate guys in the club, always mindful and respectful of all the group members,” Keith Hunter, another member, said. “He’s just one of the guys willing to do whatever, willing to go the extra nine yards for the group.

Somebody can’t make it, can’t ride, or having problems, tire changes, Jack is always there.”

Much of Jackson’s dedication can be attributed to his parents. His father was a prominent physician and his mother was an English teacher. “You had to work hard and get an education to be successful,” Dr. Morris Jackson had instilled into his son. “Once you’re in a position, give back.”

Henderson State University and Jackson’s church both award The Morris Scholarship to students who are in need.

Jackson created the scholarship in honor of his father.

Jackson and his two brothers grew up in a family that had a nice home and cars, but “they were just like regular kids in the neighborhood,” recalled Wendell Smith, also a member of the bike club and a friend since childhood. “His

mother would have potato chips and hot dogs for all the neighborhood kids, everyone was treated the same.”

Jackson was also brought up knowing that fitness was important. His father was a tennis player, with the M.A. Jackson and Lloyd Meyers tennis court at the Dunbar Community Center named after him and another prominent African American doctor.

Although Dr. Morris Jackson was a busy man, Jackson’s mother was able to come and support his many athletic events growing up. “He could have played for the NBA,” Smith, who is a chemical engineer for Rondell Corporation, said. “But his focus was not playing professionally; his focus was academic.”

Even now, Jackson serves as a basketball referee for 6A and below (schools with approximately 1,500 students and less) high schools in the state.

Over the past five years Jackson has become “really serious” about cycling.

As a result he completed four 100-mile courses annually in both 2011 and 2012.

He said Clifton Lewis, a kind of “big brother” growing up, was the one who got him into the sport at the age of 32, and that the Tour De France also made him interested in cycling, but that race is not one of his goals. As far as his cycling for health and fitness, his goal is to complete a 100-mile ride in five hours, including breaks. With the next Big Dam Bridge 100, Jackson and the Major Taylor Cycling Club of Little Rock will have plenty to look forward to.

“He’s just one of the guys willing to do whatever, willing to go the extra nine yards for the group.”

Keith Hunter, member of the Major Taylor cycling club

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By Cinthia Graham Design by KellyThomas 12

On a Wednesday morning in August 2008, Mary Kate McNally pulled into the RFA parking lot, her car fully loaded. She inhaled the humid air deeply, taking in Henderson through her small nose. The campus smelled of pine and dew. The wind blew through her wavy blown hair as she shut her car door. Her parents’ car pulled in beside her, also loaded.

They had driven 1,300 miles over the past three days, arriving the night before. McNally looked at the looming eight-story building that would be her home for the next four years. Then she turned and smiled at her parents, and they headed up the stairs of Smith Hall.

As a junior high student in Colorado, McNally had wanted to improve her trumpet skills, so her parents arranged after school lessons. She studied under David Laubach, a local trumpet player who had been in the Air Force Band. He saw that she had talent and the makings of a professional player but felt she needed to develop higher knowledge and understanding of techniques. By tenth grade, she had made the Lewis Palmer High Wind Ensemble and eventually made first chair, as well as a spot on the All-State Band of Colorado.

At the end of McNally’s and Laubach’s third and final year together, he suggested that she go to band camp. A Henderson alumnus, he recommended the university’s senior band camp in early July. In the summer of 2007, between her junior and senior years, instead of going “real” camping with her parents, McNally made her way to Arkadelphia, Arkansas for a week of musical fun and learning.

The camp comprised four separate bands.

McNally’s audition placed her first chair, first band that year. Since she held such a high chair in the top band, she had the opportunity to participate in other ensembles such as jazz band and chamber wind groups. She fell in love with the campus and the community — from that sum-

mer on she planned to attend Henderson for a degree in music education. The next summer, she returned to band camp and once again made first chair, first band. She talked to camp counselors about how school and band worked for them and how they liked or disliked things around the campus. By the end of the week, she had accepted scholarships to the school and registered for her first semester at Henderson.

On the day McNally moved in, she also had to audition for chair placement in marching band. She was nervous but felt more ready than the other freshmen auditioning. She placed fourth out of 33 other trumpet players of all classifications. As a freshman, being surrounded by upper classmen was intimidating. They weren’t always the nicest people to be around, especially after she outplayed some of the seniors in a field solo audition and won it. “Even though the older trumpet players weren’t always fond of my presence,” McNally said, “they taught me so much and pushed me to do better and be a better person.”

On top of placing high up in the section, she had to figure out how to play while moving to a fast tempo in time, to a memorized drill. It was hard running at a full sprint around a football field with a three pound metal tube attached to

her face. McNally had never marched before, other than a simple parade block down a small, straight street.

With academics, McNally also strived for the best. She was thrilled that she had earned a full scholarship that allowed her to learn music and to have fun in school. She thought that if she wasn’t doing her best and maxing out her potential, she wasn’t trying hard enough. She was so concerned about doing well and not embarrassing herself that it made it hard for her to take the time to make friends. It was even harder to make friends that were outside the music department, because the course structure for freshman music students put them all in the same classes. Show Band, luckily, made it easy to make friends other than music majors, since it comprised more than 150 people of all types of majors, ranging from aviation to nursing and general studies to psychology. They were such a close-knit group that everyone knew everyone, and eventually finding friends became easier.

One friendship that McNally made that changed her life at college was first-year senior music major and trombonist, Brandon Ellis. He had talked to her about how he had changed from aviation to music education his junior year and had to cram to fit a normally five-year de-

13

“Without my

experiences, the classes I took and the people I encountered, I don’t think I would be the person or the teacher I am today.

”

Mary Kate with fellow student Trae Warner (Left) Performing with the HSU Concert Band (above) Performing with the The Show Band

of Arkansas (below)

14

Photos courtesy of HSU PR Department

“ If there’s anything that I’ve

learned it is to never, ever take my family for granted.

”

gree into the next few semesters. Jokingly, he had said that she could get out in four years if she really applied herself. She took this to heart and together they came up with a master schedule of how things would piece together.

She realized it was a feasible option to finish in four years like “normal” degrees. That next semester she put her plan into action.

She felt this was one of her biggest accomplishments. Why? Aren’t students normally supposed to graduate in four years?

Not always, it turned out. A social science education major, for example, has to finish 124 credit hours in eight semesters. This means taking about 16 hours per semester to stay on track with a typical degree plan. An instrumental music education major, however, needs to complete at least 144 hours, or about 18 hours per semester. No student had ever graduated with this degree in four years at Henderson under the plan set by the school and state; most finished in five.

“The hardest thing about doing this plan had to be my spring semester of my junior year,” said McNally. “That particular spring, I was enrolled in twenty-four credit hours, which meant that I was enrolled in sixteen classes. Some were worth no credit hours and were some work! Then on top of that I had extracurricular activities like singing in Nufusion or gigs to play because I was principal in Wind Ensemble. It kind of irritated me when I would go to one of my education classes and hear a non-music major complaining about how they were tired because this was their third and final class of the day and they were worn out... or when registration would come around and someone would complain about being enrolled in six classes total. If only they knew our schedules.”

On those rare occasions when McNally found free time, she felt alone. She knew that getting homesick was inevitable. She would call home regularly, but sometimes phone calls weren’t enough to get her through. She would get angry when, for example, a Benton or Bryant student would complain about not being able to go home for a particular weekend, especially if she knew that the student went home several times each semester.

“I just wanted to scream at them sometimes, I can’t go home. I’m stuck here. I miss my family and my state! They live like fifty miles away, forty minutes maybe,” McNally said. “I just wanted to say, ‘Try living over a thousand miles away and only seeing your family on spring, Christmas and summer break.’”

She yearned to be home so much at times it took a physical toll on her. She recalled one year when Wind Ensemble had to come back early from winter break a week earlier to go on tour. It wasn’t the happiest of times for her. She knew she had to press on and finish school and use this pain as a motivation to finish in four years.

“If there’s anything that I’ve learned, it is to never, ever take my family for granted,” McNally said.

Even though times were tough, she never let it affect her school work. She made the Dean’s List five semesters and Honor Roll twice. An instrumental music major, McNally was top of the class and studio. She was held in high regard in the eyes of the department’s faculty, awarded the Mae Whipple Scholarship and the Don Krammer Scholarship two years in a row. She also was awarded the Board of Trustees Scholarship that paid tuition up to four years (giving her yet another reason to finish in four years). In marching band, she snagged field solos all four years, was section leader twice and principal chair. Just before graduation, McNally was inducted into Kappa Delta Pi and Alpha Chi. She graduated Summa Cum Laude in May 2012.

“I had to work super hard to get those three little words on my diploma, which is currently collecting dust behind my desk on the wall of my office,” McNally said.

“I wouldn’t settle for anything less.”

It wasn’t long after graduation that McNally was certified to teach in Colorado and began looking for a job. She applied to various schools near her childhood home; within weeks she was hired as the music educator at Deer Trail School District, where she teaches kindergarten through 12th grade. Her classes include band, choir, general music classes and even guitar.

“The school is small, holding only 168 students in one building, but it is an experience that I have enjoyed thoroughly,” McNally said. “Without my experiences, the classes I took and the people I encountered, I don’t think I would be the person or the teacher I am today. Henderson really opened me up to new life experiences and new ways of looking at situations and how to go about handling them, which definitely affects my teaching skills daily.”

15

A

P R O F I L E

BY RUSTEE PRUITT

PHOTOS BY ARSHIA KHAN DESIGN BY AMY PORTER 16

Dr. Aneeq Ahmad sits behind the large oak desk in his office, and with tired, strained eyes scans and critiques a seemingly infinite number of papers, in the ultimate hope of passing knowledge to his pupils. With his button-down cardigan, slacks, glasses and beard he appears a stock professor out of central casting, a younger, Middle Eastern Mr. Feeny.

This is the scene encountered by the many students who visit Ahmad’s office. They are greeted with a kind smile, like the smile of an old friend, the combination of such a jolly smile and the salt and peppered colored beard that it hides behind reminiscent of Santa. He is humble and unintimidating, which is not the attitude that one might expect from the president of the Southwestern Psychological Association, from the man who helped found a major doctorate program back in Pakistan. Then again, the story of how Ahmad arrived at Henderson and the events he experienced in his first semester were not quite what he expected, either.

He began looking for a teaching job at an unconventional time of year, applying in the spring, when most positions are filled in the fall. He was interviewed at Henderson by chance, just before he was scheduled to interview for a position in Kansas. However, despite the hesitation of his wife and children to move to such a small city, he decided that Arkadelphia would become their new home.

While his family may have experienced a bit of a culture shock with the move, Ahmad was soon reminded of his native Pakistan, thanks to the kindness of a local candy store owner. He recalls going to Andrews, a local candy store, picking out numerous packages of sweets to be wrapped. When he went to the counter to pay for the sweets, he had realized that he had left his wallet at home.

“I was pulling a long face, and I was completely embarrassed,” he recalls. “I said, ‘I’m so sorry,’ and you know the girl working behind the counter said, ‘Dr. Ahmad, don’t worry about it. You can bring the money back whenever you want.’ I thought nobody would do this in America. I mean, if you don’t have the money, you can’t buy the goods. Here, they said no problem. You know it reminded me

"As a matter of fact, Muslims are not supposed to use violence. They are supposed to have control and to have temper, and not show it..."

of back in Pakistan were you would go into the bazaar, and you would buy stuff without money, take it home and on your next trip or whenever, it was convenient for you, you would go back and say, ‘Oh, here is 113 rupees I owe you or something like that.’ So it felt so good, really good, to find a place like home.”

This would not be the only event that made Ahmad reminisce about his native country and heritage. The second week into Ahmad’s first semester of teaching, one of the most devastating events in American history took place: two planes were highjacked by terrorists and crashed into the World Trade Center, killing thousands. September 11 was catastrophic for many American Muslims; but while stereotyping and intolerance may have been the attitude in many parts of the country, in the small southern town of Arkadelphia, it surprisingly was not.

“I remember right after it had happened, Laura, the wife of one of the professors, came into my office and said, ‘Aneeq, our home is open to you and your family,’” he recalls. “‘If

there is any trouble, you know we are not going to let anyone lay a finger on you.’ And, of course, nothing like that happened.”

The local reaction was quite the opposite: Ahmad was asked by two churches to come and give lectures on Islam. A little taken aback by the gesture at first, he and his wife and children agreed to go and explain to the churches what it really meant to be a Muslim. “We went there and we talked about Islam, and we talked about how terrorism is not the path of Islam. As a matter of fact, Muslims are not supposed to use violence. They are supposed to have control and to have temper, and not show it as a matter of fact. They are to be patient rather than do something like that.”

While speaking at these churches, Ahmad focused on laying the groundwork between Islam and Christianity. He wanted to teach people that just because a few members of a certain group are extremist does not mean that it represents that sector of society as a whole. “By going and speaking we were trying to not only educate them, but to also educate ourselves as well in the context of hurting others, which in Islam is not okay at all,” Ahmad said.

Shortly after 9/11, another big event took place in Aneeq Ahmad’s life: the death of Marian Breland Bailey, an esteemed psychologist and the former chair of Henderson’s psychology department. “I remember Todd Wiebers coming into my office and telling me that she had died,” he said. “It made me think of the time back in the 1990’s when I was studying at university and found out that B.F. Skinner had died.”

While Ahmad’s first few weeks at Henderson were trying, to say the least, he did achieve what he had come here to do: He not only taught his students, but he helped educate a community about another culture and religion that many did not know anything about. Over the past decade, he has continued to develop research programs at Henderson, while returning regularly during breaks to visit his extended family in Pakistan.

When there, he is often a guest lecturer at a number of universities, including GC University, his alma mater, where he is still a board member for the doctoral program in psychology which he cherishes. He uses his education and background to bridge Eastern and Western worlds, bringing an understanding of his subject matter to Arkadelphia and Pakistan alike.

My research interests include studying the developing and aging visual system of the brain. I try to understand visual mechanisms as they change over time and study changes in the system when there is some sort of perturbation like injury or deficit. I am especially interested in documenting morphological changes that occur because of these factors.

The mammalian retina, for example, provides an excellent model system to study the brain.

At our department, our other emphasis was to investigate factors that correlated with decline of visual function during normal aging in non-human primates. We used psychophysical, physiological and morphological measures to study these waning functions. One study we conducted brought quite a bit of excitement to the lab because it contradicted the old notion that aging led to neuronal death and thus fewer cells.

At the Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics (LMBB) at the NIAAA, I engaged in studying the effects of essential fatty acids (EFA), especially docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n3), on the anatomical and morphological changes in the brain and the retina. DHA is a major EFA in the brain, and plays an important role in the structural makeup and physiological functioning of nerve cells. DHA in neuronal membranes accumulate during early development by placental nutrition, mother’s milk, and dietary sources. Several studies suggest that inclusion of DHA in diet during early brain development results in an improvement of visual and memory functions; including visual acuity, visual attention, and visual recognition memory, spatial and olfactory memory in a variety of species.

– Aneeq Ahmad

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Dr. Charles D. Dunn, Henderson’s 14th president, and, after his retirement from 22 years leading the university, president emeritus and professor of political science, passed away from pancreatic cancer May 5. “I learned that students are first from Dr. Dunn,” Dr. Glen Jones, Henderson’s current president, said. As an undergraduate, Jones was president of the Black Student Association when Dr. Dunn appointed him the head of a committee that would ultimately bring in a new food provider for the cafeteria. To the university’s future president, it made him see how a concerned administrator could make a difference.

“Even though I had never had a class with Dr. Dunn, he knew me by my sophomore year,” Ashleah Courtney, Henderson alumna and medical student said. “For me, he is one of the reasons Henderson is called ‘The School with a Heart.’ He cared about every student he met.”

Dr. Dunn served as the president of the National Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC), and as Chairman of the Commission for Arkansas’ Future, a statewide task force appointed by Governor Bill Clinton to develop a strategic plan for Arkansas. After his death, a generation of Henderson graduates recalled and celebrated his dedication to students, on campus, via social media and in a packed Arkansas Hall for a memorial service held May 9. During his memorial service, his daughter Amy expressed the feelings of many of his students when she said, “He taught us to be strong and independent, to never be afraid to pursue our dreams.”

Carl Miller, a former editor of the Oracle, recalled his first meeting with the university president in the following column originally published on the newspaper’s website.

The first time I met Dr. Charles Dunn I was a freshly minted editor for the Oracle – the newspaper serving the university he was president of for 22 years.

To decompress from the stress of that particular posting I would often sneak away to a secluded location and sit, enjoying the lack of anyone being around me. I was sitting near a banquet room that was being prepared for some occasion, and I suppose Dr. Dunn was giving it a once over or had just practiced a speech because he came strolling out the door and saw me sitting there by myself. I must have looked quite a sight to someone like Dr. Dunn.

Visually speaking, I’ve never looked like the sort of person anyone would think of as “official.” It’s not just that I’m a hideous walking deformity, but I’ve also never been the one to dress for success. I can tell you what I was probably wearing that day not because I have such a sterling memory but because tattered, over-sized t-shirts and Wal-Mart khakis was pretty much all I ever owned. Now that I’m 41 I like to think I’ve improved somewhat, but back then I scoffed rebelliously over the notion that I should be judged for how I look. Deep down I knew I looked like an idiot.

When Dr. Dunn saw me sitting there, he didn’t gravely stare me up and down and quickly dismiss me as a non-entity, although he probably could have. He, of course, looked every bit the dapper, professional president of an entire university as he gracefully strolled over to me. And while he didn’t say it, his body language seemed to express on an almost psychic level the words, “Oh, there you are. I’ve been looking all over for you,” and then he just sat down and started talking to me. He sat right next to me. We talked for nearly half an hour about everything from writing to baby food.

(I think he may have been the baby-model for a particular brand, but I may be getting him confused with Humphrey Bogart.)

18

it over everybody. Look at Mr. Bigshot It boggled my mind that the president waltzing over here … and sitting down? of the university would just casually have What is he doing? Now he’s talking words a sit-and-chat with a student. Granted, he at me! What is going on? recognized me as the editor of the school With that simple gesture of sitting down paper, but in such a position I was bound and engaging me in conversation, Dr. Charles to be more of an annoyance than anything Dunn taught me that his world was much else. I wasn’t his class of people was what bigger than my own. In that moment, like I thought. I wasn’t a tall, good-looking star some celestial explosion in my mind, I saw a of anything, and I was never going to be world where ugly guys in tattered, overthe Head Student High Secretary of Some sized t-shirts and handsome men in fancy Thing Or Other because I was exactly what I suits could engage one another on a level looked like: an under-achieving goofball. involving ideas and random observations But I quickly learned that, along with about baby food. his respect for people in general, he had a I did not know Dr. Dunn as well as I deep respect for student media. During my would have liked, but in every conversation time with the Oracle, no matter how many or interview I had with him, no matter how people questioned my ethics, morality, and/ long or brief, he treated me like an equal. or sanity, I never heard a negative word He showed me the sort of respect and from Dr. Dunn. He never asked us to not openness that only the truly self-assured cover something or to specifically cover have the confidence to express. Considering something or to cover something a specific our respective “places” in the way. I’m sure a few of my world, that was a singular sort columns made him shake his He showed me the sort of kindness. head, but he, at least, never of respect and openness It has long been my left any nasty messages that only the truly philosophy that the finality suggesting that horrible self-assured have the of death makes people overly things should happen to me. confidence to express. effusive in their praise of the Knowing what it was like deceased. I guess it’s a sort of at other universities, it was kindness that makes us want to not lost on me how lucky think only of the good things as we recall we were, at the Oracle, to have a president memories of those recently passed on. I like Dr. Dunn. No matter how bad it got and have always believed human beings are all how much I wanted to just hide under my full of both good and bad, and ultimately bed until whatever was in the paper that how we see someone is a result of the best week blew over, I always knew Dr. Dunn guess we make as we’re eyeballing the had my back. scales of human judgment.

But there was more to my appreciation His obituary says a lot of nice things and for the man than just that he didn’t manage includes an impressive list of achievements, student media with an iron fist, and it but I think it can all be summed up by always goes back to the first time I met saying Dr. Charles Dunn did his best to him. He treated me with respect. He didn’t make the world suck a little less. judge me by how I looked (well, he didn’t hold it against me), but I had judged him.

Carl Miller was Oracle editor 1997-1998.

Why else was I so surprised he bothered to stop and talk to me? He was just another guy in a suit walking around and lording

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Our far-flung students: Art course documents the Big Apple, Honors College tours Europe

Early the morning of March 7, 2013, eight Henderson art students boarded a flight to New York City. It was a first-time flying experience for several, and the first time to visit the cultural Mecca of the U.S. for most.

Although not a requirement of the course, each member of the group was majoring in Digital Art and Design having enrolled in the upper-level elective advanced studio course that was designed to explore the culture, art and design to be found in New York City.

While in New York, the group participated in many cultural events including the Armory Show, Friday Night at the MOMA, a music show at Webster Hall Studio, and lunch with designer, illustrator and comic artist Josh Kramer.

The course and the travel experience were designed to give students a broader view of the world, with the hope of inspiring artwork for a documentary project. Each of the eight students had prepared during the first half of the semester by researching possibilities and developing ideas for the documentary project. While in New York, they gathered the raw material they used to create a gallery exhibition presented during June and July of 2013 in the Huie Library.

Also in the Big Apple in April were a group of 15 students involved with Henderson student media (Oracle newspaper, Star yearbook, HTV television and KSWH radio)

20

along with their faculty advisers, to participate in the National College Media Convention, sponsored by the College Media Association.

Among the convention highlights: Henderson television placed third nationally in the category of “Best Entertainment Broadcast.”

The following month, 13 Honors College students, including several in Ellis College, were led on a trek through London, Paris, Florence, Venice, and Rome by Dr. Steve Carter, associate professor of European history, and Dr. Drew Smith, director of International Student programs. The group arrived in London May 13 and spent four and half days there before taking the Eurostar train to Paris. Two days later, they caught an overnight sleeper train to Florence, which they toured before heading on to Venice and Rome. On each stop before their return home May 27, they saw significant historical and cultural sites.

Some of these trips were supported by the Henderson Academic Travel Committee, the Henderson Foundation, and by specific Ellis College alumni. If you would like to support similar experiences for students, please consider making a designated travel gift to the Matt Locke Ellis College of Arts and Sciences.

Call Carrie Roberson, director of institutional advancement, at 870230-5518, or email her at robersc@ hsu.edu, for more information.

Top left to right: The DAD in NYC show at Huie Library, from Lauren Penick’s documentary series “An Infinite Night with My Bro,” from Stephanie Nunley’s “New York Wedding” series, two illustrations from Brett Little’s “Snow Covered Apple” series; “NY4,” and “Snow Globe.”

Right from top to bottom: Henderson art students in front of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, art student Jami Smith at the Museum of Art and Design in New York.

Above: Honors College students arrive at the Château de Versailles. Left to right: Andrew Finne, aviation; Alex Andronikos, business management; T.J. Nichols, business management; CaLynn Blacklock, psychology; and Kate Patrick, education.

The Ellis College of Arts and Sciences 1100 Henderson Street Arkadelphia, AR 71999-0001

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Doug Gilpin Max’s Office—Backdrop and model for Max’s Office, “The Producers,” (Top left) William Henshaw Costume for Lady Sneerwell, “School for Scandal.”

(Left)

The Art Behind the Scenes The costume work of William Henshaw, associate professor of theatre arts, and the stage design of Doug Gilpin, professor of theatre arts, were among the works featured in a June exhibit entitled “Theatrical Design: the Art and Craft of Designing for the Stage,” held at the Arkadelphia Arts Center on Main Street. The month-long exhibit was hosted by the Clark County Arts and Humanities Council. The exhibit showcased the work of a designer and costumer from Ouachita Baptist University, as well as that of the two Henderson professors. It featured preliminary sketches and paintings, as well as finished costumes and miniature sets.

“This exhibit is here to educate, and to present the work that’s done before the actual production happens,” explained Farrell Ford, the council’s president, “to show the art involved in creating miniature scenes and other designs.”

Doug Gilpin The Theatre—Backdrop and model for the Theatre, “The Producers” (Center) William Henshaw Costume for The Herbalist, “Hotel Cassiopeia.”

(Above)