- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Mann, Ghosh, Berry win 2014 Faculty Excellence Awards

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Fri, 11 Apr 2014 14:29:15 +0000

Drs. Kristin Dutcher Mann, Anindya Ghosh, and Brian Berry are the 2014 recipients of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Faculty Excellence Awards in the categories of public service, research and creative endeavors, and teaching, respectively. The faculty received the awards at a ceremony held Thursday, April 10, in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall at ��Vlog��ýLR. The ceremony was followed by a reception in the lobby and gallery of the Fine Arts Building. Each university-level award consists of a framed certificate and a cash gift of $10,000 for teaching and $5,000 for research or creative endeavors and for public service. For the past 26 years, the awards program has provided a way to recognize the great work of ��Vlog��ýLR faculty and is made possible through the valued contributions of The Bailey Foundation, PepsiAmericas, and the ��Vlog��ýLR Chancellor’s Circle. A panel of national judges reveiwed the achievements of the college-level winners and selected the winners. Mann, a professor of history in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, was named the Public Service award winner. Her grant procurement efforts total nearly $3 million. Dr. Mann was recognized with the History Channel’s Outstanding Service in the Field of History award. She promoted and encouraged participation in projects, such as the Life Interrupted Project, which recounts the experiences of Japanese Americans housed in internment camps in Arkansas during World War II. The project continues to be part of the Little Rock School District’s social studies curriculum and, as such, is a testament to the quality of Dr. Mann’s work. Ghosh, a professor in the College of Science, was named the winner in the Research and Creative Endeavors category. He has developed a national and international reputation for his research efforts in inorganic chemistry with particular emphasis on green chemistry. Six patents have been issued to him, and he has submitted an additional six patent applications, which are still under review. He has been active in submitting research proposals to federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense, as well as private industries. In total, he has secured more than $1 million in funding from different agencies for his research. Berry, a professor of chemistry in the College of Science whose expertise is in the self-assembly of polymeric materials, was named the Bailey Teaching Award winner. Dr. Berry primarily teaches organic chemistry, viewed by many students as one of the most difficult areas of chemistry. Despite this, Berry has received glowing evaluations each year from his students. As further evidence of his accomplishments as an educator, he was awarded the American Chemical Society’s Central Arkansas Section Professor of the Year Award in 2010. College-level winners were also recognized at the annual ceremony and received a $1,000 cash award and a framed certificate. Faculty winners at the college level in the following categories include:

Teaching

Lindsey Gustafson, William H. Bowen School of Law
Dr. Floyd Martin, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
Dr. Jim Vander Putten, College of Education
Thomas Wallace III, George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology
Dr. Lillian Wichinsky, College of Professional Studies

Service

Dr. Amin Akhnoukh, George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology
Dr. Glenn Anderson, College of Education
Lynn Foster, William H. Bowen School of Law
Cindy Gilbert, College of Science
Dr. David Montague, College of Professional Studies

Research and Creative Endeavors

Dr. Edward M. Anson, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
Dr. Samuel Atcherson, College of Professional Studies
Dr. Nancy Landrum, College of Business
Dr. Bronwyn MacFarlane, College of Education
Josh Silverstein, William H. Bowen School of Law
Dr. John Talburt, George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology

“Finale” to honor TV anchor Craig O’Neill and artist Jane F. Hankins

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 16:00:50 +0000

Craig O’Neill and Jane F. Hankins will be feted at the ninth annual Finale, hosted by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. The couple are avid, long-time supporters of ��Vlog��ýLR’s arts programs. Finale will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 26, in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the ��Vlog��ýLR Fine Arts Building. The event will feature a full bar reception with heavy hors d’oeuvres. The dress code for the evening is cocktail attire. Reservations to Finale are $200 each, $125 of which is tax-deductible. Tickets are available by calling 501.569.3296 or online at ualr.at/finale. Finale, which celebrates the arts in central Arkansas, is the premier fundraising event for ��Vlog��ýLR’s arts programs, featuring the talents of university art, music, theatre and dance students. O’Neill usually serves as master of ceremonies for the annual celebration, but in an interesting twist, Melissa Thoma, who was honored last year alongside her husband, Martin, will fulfill that role. ��Vlog��ýLR students will perform scenes from “The Fantasticks,” presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International, New York. Guests will have the opportunity to bid on an elegant suite of jewelry donated by Sissy’s Log Cabin during a live auction. Arts organizations from around the region lend their support to Finale each year. This year’s participating arts partners are Accademia dell’Arte, Arkansas Arts Center, Arkansas Festival Ballet, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, and Wildwood Park. Subscribe to E-News to see what’s happening at ‘��Vlog��ýLR Now.’

��Vlog��ýLR art professors are leaders at regional art conference

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 19:46:06 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Art will be well represented at the upcoming annual meeting of the Southeastern College Art Conference in Greensboro, N.C., Oct. 30 to Nov. 2.

SECAC is a national organization of college and university teachers of studio art, art history, and art education that has membership and participation from across the United States.

Dr. Floyd Martin, professor of art history at ��Vlog��ýLR, is president of the organization and will preside at the board of directors meeting, awards luncheon, and membership meeting.

Martin will also co-chair a session titled “Society, Politics, and Landscape, Revisited” with art history alumna Eileen Turan Yanoviak. Yannoviak, who was a Donaghey Scholar and previously worked with the program at ��Vlog��ýLR, is currently pursuing a doctorate at the University of Louisville.

Others involved in SECAC include:

• Dr. Laura Amhrein, newly elected to the board and representing Arkansas, is co-chairing a session titled “Taking Flight.”

• Professor Kevin Cates is making a presentation titled “Pixels: To Add or Not to Add…” and has a work in the juried member’s exhibition.

• Current graudate student Meredith Bagby Fettes is chairing “Avenge Me! Expressions of Vengeance and Retribution.”

• Alumnus and current instructor Alex Leme is presenting “Documentary Photography and Surrealism in Interwar Paris: A Dialectical Resolution.”

��Vlog��ýLR to host San Antonio Mayor Castro

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 13:36:58 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will host San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the ��Vlog��ýLR Fine Arts Building.

Castro’s lecture will be “The Political Implications of Shifting Demographics in the 21st Century.” The event is supported and presented through the Winthrop Rockefeller Distinguished Lectures series. It is free and open to the public; however, reservations are required by calling ��Vlog��ýLR at 501.569.3296. A San Antonio native, Castro is the youngest mayor of a top 50 American city. At 26, he was elected San Antonio city councilman–the youngest in the city’s history–winning the seat his mother had lost 30 years before. Castro was elected mayor in 2009 at age 34. He won reelection last year with more than 80 percent of San Antonio’s vote and delivered the keynote address at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. In his convention speech, he shared the history of his family and the story of how his mother met his father while both were working as political activists in the early 1970s. Castro and his identical twin brother, Joaquin, were born in 1974. They both received their undergraduate degrees from Stanford University then went to Harvard Law School. Soon after graduating from Harvard, Julián entered politics. As mayor, Castro initiated the “Decade of Downtown” to revitalize the city’s urban core. His efforts to encourage inner-city investment have resulted in plans for the construction of more than 2,400 housing units by 2014. Under his leadership, the city also opened Café College, a one-stop center offering guidance on college admissions, financial aid, and standardized test preparation to students in the San Antonio area. Café College served more than 5,000 area students in its first year. Castro also created SA2020, a nonprofit to create a “brainpower community” in San Antonio. In March 2010, Castro was named to the World Economic Forum’s list of Young Global Leaders. Later that year, Time magazine placed him on its “40 under 40” list of rising stars in American politics. In 2011, the Milken Institute ranked San Antonio the nation’s top-performing local economy. Castro serves on the board of directors of the National League of Cities, is a member of the Inter-American Dialogue and is an Aspen-Rodel Fellow. He has taught courses at The University of Texas at San Antonio, Trinity University, and St. Mary’s University.

Submissions being accepted for Quills & Pixels

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 00:14:18 +0000

Quills & Pixels, the peer-reviewed, student publication of the ��Vlog��ýLR Writers’ Network, is accepting submissions for the 2014 edition.

According to Harold Brown, the development editor for the 2014 publication, the ��Vlog��ýLR Department of Rhetoric and Writing is seeking nonfiction works written by students, faculty, and staff from ��Vlog��ýLR, ��Vlog��ýLR William H. Bowen School of Law, Clinton School of Public Service, and ��Vlog��ýMS.

“We are accepting nonfiction stories, academic, and research papers as well as anything else that falls under the nonfiction umbrella,” Brown said.

The final deadline for submissions is Sept. 23. A completed entry form must be submitted with each entry. Go to the 2014 Quills Entry Form to download a copy of the form.

Writers may submit more than one essay per issue. Work should be submitted through email at hlbrown@ualr.edu or through the Writers’ Network drop boxes located in the University Writing Center, SUB 116.

Submissions may also be mailed to: Quills & Pixels, Department of Rhetoric and Writing, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University, Little Rock, AR 72204.

For more information, contact Brown at hlbrown@ualr.edu or 501.265.9482.

Cast complete for ��Vlog��ýLR’s first theatre production of 2013-14

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 14:21:20 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s first theatre production of the 2013-14 academic year has been cast. Performances of “The Waiting Room” by Lisa Loomer will run from Sept. 26 to Oct. 6. Thursday and Friday shows are at 8 p.m., Saturday shows are at 7 p.m., and Sunday shows are at 2:30 p.m. Performances will be at Haislip Arena Theatre in the ��Vlog��ýLR Center for the Performing Arts. Ticket prices are $10 for the general public and $5 for ��Vlog��ýLR students, faculty, staff, and for senior citizens. For more information or tickets, call 501.569.3456.

“The Waiting Room”

The story involves three women from three different centuries who meet in a modern-day doctor’s waiting room. The women’s stories are wrapped in the sexual and social politics of a male-dominated medical industry. The issues range from cultural aesthetics to breast cancer treatment. The female characters include an 18th-century Chinese woman whose bound feet are literally falling apart; a 19th-century woman who has been so tightly corseted she is suffering from what was called “hysteria;” and a contemporary American woman suffering the side effects of silicone breast implants. The show’s director is Stacy Pendergraft, associate professor of actor training at ��Vlog��ýLR. The cast members are:

Marquis Bullock as Douglas/Blessing, a graduate of Allen High School in Texas
Derrick Herman as Larry, a graduate of Drew Central High School
Matt Maguire as Oliver/Male Lawyer, a graduate of Harding Academy
Deandre’ Lewis as Ken, a graduate of Sylvan Hills High School
Danny Jimenez as Bridget/Cerise/Cabbie/Puerto Rican Attendant/Nurse Bruce, a graduate of Bentonville High School
Michael Gann as the Orderly/Bartender, a graduate of Benton County School of the Arts High School
Kazzie Cazort as Wanda, a graduate of Bryant High School
Emily Bruner as Victoria/Female Lawyer, a graduate of Benton County School of the Arts High School
Stephanie Ong as Forgiveness, a graduate of Watson Chapel High School
Marissa Harris as Brenda/Jamaican Waitress, a graduate of North Little Rock High West Campus
Ashley Mahan as Orderly/Jade Ornament/Asian Masseuse/Asian Intern, a graduate of Morrilton High School
Beth Warren as Orderly/Deck Crew/Waitress, a graduate of Parkview High School
Dariane Mull as Assistant Stage Manager/African-American Masseuse/Orderly, a graduate of Little Rock Central High School

��Vlog��ýLR art galleries present fall exhibits

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 18:17:43 +0000

The three art galleries at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will display a variety of contemporary works this fall in the ��Vlog��ýLR Fine Arts Building. Metals manipulated into wearable objects are the focus of the exhibition “Transformation 8: Contemporary Works in Small Metals,” located in Gallery I. Rings, bracelets, necklaces, and more will be on display in the gallery through Oct. 2. Five sculptural objects that are not wearable will also be on display. The Society of Contemporary Craft (SCC) of Pittsburg organized the biennial touring exhibition. Offering cutting-edge exhibitions focused on multicultural diversity and non-mainstream art, the organization has presented contemporary art in craft media by regional, national, and international artists since 1971. In Gallery II, “Figurative Forms: Work from the ��Vlog��ýLR Permanent Collection,” will be on view through Sept. 25. The focused exhibition unites artworks from the ��Vlog��ýLR Permanent Collection dealing with the human figure. Various media are included, such as cast metal sculpture, printmaking, painting, photography, drawing, and ceramics. Featured artists include Pierre-Felix Fix-Masseau, Demetre Chiparus, Henry Moore, Patrick McFarlin, Sally Williams, Stephen Cefalo, Thomas Amettiss, Leslie Garrett, Caleb Smith, Trevor Bennett, Brittany Wilder, Chris Cotton, Emily Wood, and Logan Hunter. Patrons also have until Sept. 5 to visit Gallery III to see the senior exhibition of David O’Brien.

Upcoming exhibitions include:

Gallery I from Oct. 15 to Dec. 10 – “FuN HoUSe” features the complexity of interpersonal relationships to provoke thought. Playful in nature, this exhibition draws on the amusement park funhouse experience with an adult twist.
Gallery II – “Nocturne,” a drawing exhibit by Marjorie Williams-Smith, will be on display from Oct. 10 to Nov. 24. Using metal, the overall emotion these drawings convey are pensive, mysterious, and introspective. Gallery II will also be the location of the master’s thesis exhibition from late November through December 2013.
Gallery III – the undergraduate senior exhibitions will be on display from mid-October through December 2013.

The galleries are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Following Labor Day, the galleries will be open 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and 2 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Contact Brad Cushman, gallery director and curator in the ��Vlog��ýLR Department of Art, at 501.569.8977 for more information.

Kirk releases book about Dr. King, grassroots civil rights movement

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 17:12:43 +0000

As the nation celebrates the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, many take time to recall Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s leadership during the civil rights movement including the protest that inspired hundreds of thousands of people to descend on the nation’s capital in 1963.

A new book, “Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement,” written by Dr. John A. Kirk, Donaghey professor and chair of the ��Vlog��ýLR History Department, not only examines King’s leadership, but also looks at how the collective actions of individuals and organizations on the local level contributed to the national movement.

“The book combines insights from two fields of study seeking to combine the “top-down” national federal policy-oriented approach to the movement with the “bottom-up” local grassroots activism approach to demonstrate how these different levels of activism intersected and interacted with each other,” said Kirk.

Kirk draws from primary documents to provide a narrative of King’s life and analysis of his relationship to and with the broader civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. “Professor Kirk’s new book on Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement add depth to our knowledge about the relationship of the man to the movement that he inspired,” said Dr. Deborah J. Baldwin, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and associate provost for ��Vlog��ýLR Center for Arkansas History and Culture. Kirk has written extensively about civil rights, both on a national and state level. Though this is his third book based on King, he asserts that there is still much to learn. “The book contains 15,000 words of selected primary documents related to the text that allow students and readers new to the civil rights movement to access key movement writings and relate them to King’s life and the unfolding civil rights movement,” he said. When Kirk became chair of the history department in 2010, he had already written five U.S. civil rights history books, three specific to Arkansas. His texts shed light on key individuals and organizations that were integral to the movement, but often overlooked in other historical texts. “Kirk has engaged students through his research to not only discuss issues that are difficult, but also to approach them in an analytical manner. We are fortunate to have the intellectual leadership he brings to campus,” said Baldwin. will be released for wide distribution Aug. 30. A re-enactment of the March on Washington will take place at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28, at the Arkansas State Capitol. The event is being organized by the Arkansas Martin Luther King Junior Commission and will include a toll of the “Let Freedom Ring” bell at 2 p.m.

Traveling exhibits to be featured at art gallery

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:00:37 +0000

The ��Vlog��ýLR Fine Arts galleries will host two traveling exhibitions this summer, including one featuring the work of renowned photographer Phyllis Galembo.

Sacred Symbols in Sequins Exhibit

Gallery I will house Galembo’s work in “Sacred Symbols in Sequins,” beginning May 22.

Her portraits of contemporary vodou practitioners, along with a display of vodou libation bottles, provide a context for dazzling sequin and bead-encrusted ceremonial banners.

The term vodou often conjures up Hollywood-inspired imagery involving hexes and curses, according to Brad Cushman, gallery director.

However, visitors to Sacred Symbols in Sequins will appreciate the beauty and sanctity of Haitian Vodou after viewing the early to mid-20th century Haitian Vodou flags, Cushman said.

“Sacred Symbols” runs through July.

FLOW Exhibit to explore meanings of water

FLOW, an exhibition that explores the many meanings associated with water, will be housed in Galleries II and III, June 11 through July 26.

Water is explored through a selection of 32 works drawn from the collection of the Sheldon Museum of Art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

“Along with a range of interpretations, the works reflect varying approaches to imaging water, from traditional landscape to abstraction,” Cushman said.

Gallery summer hours begin mid-May and end Labor Day. Summer hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The shows are courtesy of Exhibits USA and Mid-America Arts Alliance. For more information, contact Cushman at 501-569-8977 or becushman@ualr.edu.

Phase II of mural project receives $176,000

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:56:59 +0000

The Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council has awarded $176,000 to the ��Vlog��ýLR Gallery Program to fund Phase II of a mural conservation project. It marks the second year the council has awarded funding for the project.

��Vlog��ýLR seeks to conserve the Joe Jones’ 1935 mural, The Struggle in the South, painted at Commonwealth College in Mena, Arkansas. The mural features images of coal mining, sharecropping, and lynching.

The mural was removed from campus after Commonwealth College closed in 1940. It eventually ended up as building material that lined a closet in a home near Fort Smith, until ��Vlog��ýLR acquired it in 1984.

The Saint Louis Art Museum contacted the ��Vlog��ýLR Art Gallery in 2009 as it prepared for an exhibition on Jones. The museum restored a portion of the mural for the exhibition Joe Jones Painter of the American Scene, which ran from October 2010 through January 2011.

Building on the momentum from the exhibit in Saint Louis, the ��Vlog��ýLR Gallery Program requested funding from ANCRC to conserve the remaining mural pieces.

The conservation project is estimated to take three to four years. Once the project is complete the mural will be installed on the ��Vlog��ýLR campus along with an exhibition designed to tell the story of the mural and its unique history.

The Phase II ANCRC grant will provide funds to repair tears and nail holes, join various pieces together to create larger panels, prepare surfaces for in-painting, and provide for storage and transportation.

Jones was born in 1909 and died in 1963. He began as a house painter and turned to easel painting as a means of self-expression, and later, as a way to address social injustice.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock