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

Estes named dean of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 14:27:34 +0000

Dr. Sarah Beth Estes has been named the permanent dean of the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, effective July 1. “After a competitive internal search, Dr. Estes was selected to lead the college that forms the liberal arts core of our university,” Dr. Christina Drale, interim executive vice chancellor and provost, said. “Dr. Estes has served in the role of interim dean for the last year and brings to the position a continuing commitment to advance the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock vision of providing excellent teaching, research, and community partnerships.” Estes has served in a number of leadership roles at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, including associate dean for research, engagement, and interdisciplinary programs in the College of Social Sciences and Communication; associate dean of the former College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; and associate chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. In 2017, Estes became the associate provost of Community, Careers, and Extended Education, formerly known as the Community Connection Center. In this role, she launched the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Extended Education office that now offers non-credit courses in six areas and brought the “Handshake” job and internship recruiting platform to campus. “I am delighted to have someone with Dr. Estes’ experience joining the leadership team,” Drale said. “Her commitment to student success, to community engagement, and to the value of a liberal arts education will serve her well in providing inspired leadership as the dean of the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences. The knowledge she has accumulated from her diverse service and administrative roles gives her a reliable toolbox of successful strategies for leading a diverse college.” Estes graduated from Hendrix College with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Iowa. She was a faculty member at the University of Cincinnati and affiliate of the Kunz Center for Work and Family before arriving at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 2006. Estes began her ��Vlog��ý Little Rock career as the coordinator of the gender studies program and as a faculty member in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, where she taught courses on gender, social statistics and research methods, and interdisciplinary courses in the Donaghey Scholars Program. Much of Estes’ heavily cited research has focused on how work-family policies are related to aspects of family life, including parenting behavior, children’s well-being, and the gendered division of household labor. In recent years, she has collaborated with the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas to produce several research studies, including the 2018 report “Economic Indicators for Women in Arkansas: State, Region, County.” Estes serves as first vice president on the board of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas, which is dedicated to improving economic outcomes for women and girls in Arkansas. She was also the founding chair of the Green Dot Violence Prevention Program established at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 2013, was voted the Faculty Member of the Year by the Student Government Association in 2014.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock class investigates Elaine Massacre

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 14:56:03 +0000

In 1919, one of the deadliest racial conflicts in the country occurred in Elaine, Arkansas. Historians still do not know how many people died during the Elaine Massacre, a conflict with an estimated death toll ranging from 20 to more than 800. Barclay Key, associate professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and students in his “Age of Reform” class searched through U.S. census records during the fall 2017 semester in an attempt to identify potential victims of the Elaine Massacre and determine how many people were actually killed. Class participants include Rachel Barnes, Jessica Chaney, Caroline Cortinez, Norah Hamdan, Alex Martin, Maegan McClure, Anna Piker, Aaron Roberts, Paula Russell, Emily Simmons, Sydney Stranger, Madison Zaliski, and Kelly Zgleszewski. “Extant sources do not agree on the scope of the massacre, and local officials at the time were indifferent to the black lives lost,” Key said. “Local landowners, whose desire to eliminate union organizing sparked the massacre, immediately needed labor to harvest, so they minimized the violence and purposefully concealed what transpired.” On Sept. 29, 1919, representatives of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America met with 100 African-American farmers at a church to discuss unionizing. When a group of white men interrupted the meeting, two white men were shot. The sheriff organized a posse. A mob of an estimated 500 to 1,000 white people stormed through Phillips County, killing black men, women, and children on sight. The governor called in 500 federal troops, who arrested nearly 260 black people. The federal troops were also believed to have taken part in the massacre, revealing another reason why the number of people killed in the massacre remains unknown. “It seems likely that soldiers who were initially summoned to quell potential violence actually participated in the massacre,” Key said. “Their commander would not have wanted to report that his soldiers committed such atrocities.” Nearly 100 years after the terrifying events of the Elaine Massacre, Key turned to U.S. census records since research into other historical records has been exhausted and still have not solved the mystery of the Elaine Massacre. “We endeavored to compare and contrast the 1910 and 1920 censuses for one township in Phillips County,” Key said. “We basically wanted to know if the families identified in the 1910 census were still there in 1920. We wanted to make an initial effort to account for people in both censuses, one of the few remaining ways we might develop conclusive evidence regarding the scope of the massacre.” Each student researched approximately 100 people from both censuses to attempt to discover the person’s status before and after the Elaine Massacre occurred.

Professor Barclay Key

Alex Martin, a junior history and American Sign Language major from Boyce, Louisiana, was horrified to discover that only 14 of the 96 people he researched were still living in Elaine during the 1920 census, while a further nine people may have been living in different parts of the country without their previous families. “Some of those missing people could be justified with saying, ‘He was already in his 80s and could have easily died from natural causes,’ or, ‘She may have married and been listed under her married name in 1920.’ But I’m only telling myself those things because you want to find a little hope in something like that,” Martin said. “It’s definitely difficult to wrap your head around something on that scale happening when no one talks about it. The Elaine Massacre was a tragedy, and there was no reason for it other than racism.” Martin is still haunted by the unknown fates of some of the people he researched, such as Eugenia Jones, who was 10 years old in 1910. “Most of her family, eight out of 10 other people, were not in the 1920 census,” Martin said. “A Eugenia Jones, aged 20, was living in Lake Charles Ward 2, Louisiana, in 1920. She was listed as the head of house’s niece. It could’ve been the same woman, sent to live with her nearest family, but I can’t prove it was.” Although there are numerous reasons why a person might not appear in the 1920 census – misspelled name, marriage, moving to another town, death – many historical records have already been exhausted without providing an answer to the mystery of how many people died as a result of the Elaine Massacre. “Students discovered that they could not find the vast majority of the people from that one district in that one township,” Key said. “Regardless of the circumstances, the fact that they could account for so few people from the vicinity of Elaine was a haunting discovery.” Another student, Caroline Cortinez, a junior history major from Little Rock, found that out of the nearly 100 people she researched, only eight African Americans listed in the 1920 census were still living in the Elaine area in 1920. “I can honestly say I had a vague memory of hearing about the Elaine Massacre, but I had no idea it was as bad as it was,” Cortinez said. “It’s depressing, but I think it’s imperative that students learn about this, especially since we live in Arkansas. I talked to my mom, and she didn’t even know about it, and a lot of people have that reaction.”

Renovations begin on ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Physics and Astronomy Building

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 16:00:10 +0000

The Physics and Astronomy Building at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock is getting a facelift. Renovations on the 50-year-old building began at the beginning of February and will be completed by Aug. 15, just in time for the fall 2018 semester. During the renovations, Department of Physics and Astronomy facilities have been moved, and courses will be taught in the Engineering Technology and Science Building and the Fine Arts Building. “The renovation of the Physics Building is an exciting project for the university that will give the students, faculty, and staff a wonderful setting to learn and grow,” said Tom Clifton, dean of the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences. “We are all looking forward to the completion of the project, which will bring the building in line with its original design by Architect Dieterich Neyland in brutalist architecture.” Renovations will include a complete remodeling of the building’s interior as well as a new roof. Some exterior additions that were made to the building over the years will be removed so that the building can be brought back to its original design. The building’s exterior will be cleaned and painted to more closely match the exterior of Ottenheimer Library. The building was erected in 1967 and last renovated in 1975. Ginocchio, Cromwell, Carter and Neyland served as the architect engineer, while the contractor was G.W. May Construction Company. The project is funded through a $7.5 million bond approved by the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees during its May 2017 meeting. The bond covers capital improvement projects at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, including the renovations to the physics building as well as new roofs for the Donaghey Student Center and University Plaza.

Alumnus gives back by joining Dean’s Science Council

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 14:23:55 +0000

Growing up in the 1970s, Chad Fitz has fond childhood memories of visiting the planetarium at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. It’s one of the things that got him interested in science as a child. “As a child, I would love to go to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock to visit the planetarium,” Fitz said. “It was quite the school trip. The planetarium was always a way for kids to connect the dots to science.” Fitz, now a senior client relationship and delivery manager for FIS, is giving back to his alma mater and helping encourage math and science education through his work on the Dean’s Science Council. Council members advocate on behalf of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences and garner community support for science programs. Their efforts include raising funds for faculty and undergraduate research, the Fribourgh Award receptions, and the Science Olympiad. Fitz has been volunteering with ��Vlog��ý Little Rock since 2010, when he worked at Acxiom, which had a committee that partnered with the university. “I am in an industry where it is really important for us to have close working relationships with the local universities, particularly in the area of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics),” Fitz said. “I have always had an interest to work closely with ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, to work for opportunities for interns, to provide feedback in terms of what we are looking for in graduates. The Dean’s Science Council really fits in well with that.” Fitz attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1990 and later earned a Master of Arts in Technical and Expository Writing in 1992. At ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, his mentors were Pat Moore, associate professor of English, and Sally Crisp, faculty emeritus of rhetoric and writing. Fitz feels that his ��Vlog��ý Little Rock education, which provided a strong basis in both liberal arts and science and technology, helped him go far in his career. Thanks to the encouragement from his professors, he had good internships and graduated with a great portfolio. “I would tell students to really think about where they want to end up in terms of a job and try to shape their curriculum to point them in that direction,” he said. “I would also recommend good internships. There is potential to turn an internship into a job, and for me that is an obvious progression. You’ve got something to put on a resume and you have built some contacts.” He got his first full-time job at Biotechnical Services, Inc. in North Little Rock through an internship program at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock and worked there while earning his master’s degree. “I clearly remember that I liked writing and I liked technology. I wondered how I could put it all together,” Fitz said. “It was this connection to the notion of technical writing. All of a sudden there was a track of people who made a living by understanding complex things and writing about them. Pat Moore helped me tie these things together. Pat had applied experience in the field and created a curriculum based on industry knowledge and real-world examples that allowed me to develop and hone my skills to step into a commercial role and contribute right out of college.” Fitz worked as a technical writer at Alltel Information Services, which later became FIS, and soon found himself immersed in the world of software development. “I liked writing, but I was open to stepping into other roles,” Fitz said. “Then I started documenting systems but ultimately got involved in other areas of software development, such as project management, business analysis, and quality assurance. That’s where I got started. My background is in liberal arts, but most of my career has been in the sciences and technology. Coming into that field back then, the aspect of being able to communicate effectively, it was a good time to transition.” In 2000, Fitz joined Acxiom, a global marketing technology and services company, as a business unit leader in software development, where he led development of a real-time marketing solution and successfully implemented it at key customer sites for the financial services industry. He left Acxiom in 2012 as a vice president of product management and now works at FIS, where he is responsible for delivering digital banking services and operations for retail banking clients. Fitz lives in Little Rock with his wife, Julie, and their children, Sullivan and Josie.

Sister Cities Sculpture finds permanent home in South Korea

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 22:00:24 +0000

With hundreds of people gathered around, Michael Warrick, while wearing pure white gloves that matched the chilly Dec. 15, 2017, weather, pulled on a golden rope to reveal a beautiful 7-foot sculpture previously hidden by a white satin sheet. While confetti was released to celebrate the dedication of the sculpture, “Youth,” Warrick, a professor of sculpture at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, looked upon the permanent resting home of his artistic creation in the new and beautiful Shinjangdong International Sister Cities Park in Hanam City, South Korea, smiled, and thought, “This is a beautiful site.” “The dedication was very memorable,” Warrick said. “In honoring the theme of youth, the activities included young drummers, dancers, karate kids, and teens demonstrating breaking boards. The American Taekwondo Association was one of the sponsors for the sculpture, so the Hanam City Martial Arts youth group also performed.” Warrick created the sculpture to commemorate the 25-year partnership and friendship between the sister cities of Little Rock and Hanam City, which began in 1992. Warrick, Joon Park, president of the Korean American Federation of Arkansas, and three members of the Little Rock Sister Cities Commission – Melanie Berman, Robert Coon, and Ashvin Vibhakar – traveled to South Korea in December to dedicate the sculpture given in the spirit of international friendship. A video of the ceremony can. “Hanam is one of Little Rock’s longest and most vibrant sister city relationships, and the commission was honored to participate in such a meaningful ceremony to celebrate our 25th anniversary,” Coon said. “Michael’s sculpture perfectly encapsulates Little Rock’s strong and growing relationship with Hanam, and our desire for that friendship to continue on for many years to come.” The sculpture is a 7-foot figurative female sculpture cast in bronze and composed of vines, leaves, and a small bird. The figure has a traditional green finish, while the small bird is coated with 23.75 karat gold leaf.

Michael Warrick visits a local temple on Jeju Island, South Korea.

“The South Koreans were very proud and honored by the focus and quality of the work,” Coon said. “It doesn’t matter where you are from. You are always looking toward the future, and your children, the youth, are an important part of that. Your culture, community, and businesses are grown from involvement with you. They felt the subject and approach to the sculpture were very appropriate.” Warrick found inspiration for the sculpture while watching the 2014 Summer Olympics in Rio, and finds it fitting that the sculpture was dedicated shortly before the 2018 Winter Olympics are held in PyeongChang, just a few hours from Hanam City. “I was very impressed by the grace of the women’s gymnastics team member,” Warrick said. “The figure of the young woman in ‘Youth’ was inspired by the gymnasts.” He also infused the sculpture with elements of nature – green vines, golden leaves, and a small bird that is meant to represent a person’s soul. Warrick gifted Hanam City Mayor Oh Boo Bong with a small sculpture of a bird and goal leaf, the same elements used on the “Youth” sculpture, on a cherry wood base. The South Korean delegation gifted the Arkansas visitors with a trip to Jeju Island, a volcanic island and World Heritage Site. During the Dec. 16 tour of the island, the group stopped at a Buddhist Temple. Warrick wrote a prayer in remembrance of his first art teacher, Joe Corsello, who fought in the Korean War. Warrick described this as one of the most memorable experiences of the trip. “Joe taught for 53 years, 30 in high school and 23 with grade school kids twice a week,” Warrick said. “Our tour guide offered to pay for me to write a prayer on a roofing tile with a white-paint style marker.” In the future, Hanam City will also donate a Sister Cities sculpture to Little Rock. In the upper right photo, a delegation from Little Rock attends the dedication ceremony for Michael Warrick’s sculpture, “Youth,” which was gifted to Hanam City, South Korea. The group includes (L to R) Robert Coon, Warrick, Joon Park, Ashvin Vibhakar, and Melanie Berman.

Free tickets available for ‘Music City Hit-Makers’ concert

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 18:27:38 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is partnering with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra to bring incredible musical enrichment opportunities to the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock community. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock is the presenting sponsor of Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s “Music City Hit-Makers” concert, which will be held Feb. 10-11 at the Robinson Performance Hall in downtown Little Rock. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students, faculty, and staff can attend the “Music City Hit-Makers” concert for free. The concert brings together three of Nashville’s elite singer/songwriters – Chris DeStefano, Marcus Hummon, and Rivers Rutherford – to perform alongside the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and to share the stories behind some of the biggest hits they’ve written for performers like Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, and Lady Antebellum. Reserve your tickets by calling the box office, 501-666-1761 ext. 100 or by reserving and using the code “TROJAN” to reserve your ticket. Guest tickets for this concert will be $10. The Saturday, Feb. 10, performance starts at 7:30 p.m., and the Sunday, Feb. 11, performance is at 3 p.m. In addition to the “Music City Hit-Makers” concert, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students and employees can purchase Masterworks and Pops Concert tickets and guest tickets for the rest of the season for the discounted rate of $10 by using the code “TROJAN.” Children under 18 can attend all of the Sunday concerts free of charge. This concert is part of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s partnership with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. With this partnership, ASO and ��Vlog��ý Little Rock hope to give members of the community a chance to connect, enrich, inspire, and advance Arkansas through the power of music. About Arkansas Symphony Orchestra The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 51st season in 2017-2018, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, to which the ASO returned in November of 2016 after a two-year renovation of the historic structure. ASO performs more than 60 concerts each year for more than 165,000 people through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series, River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series, and Intimate Neighborhood Concerts. It also performs numerous concerts around the state, in addition to serving central Arkansas through numerous community outreach programs and bringing live symphonic music education to over 26,000 school children and over 200 schools. For more information about the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, visit.

Prakash Jalihal joins Dean’s Science Council at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 14:31:31 +0000

In 1988, Prakash Jalihal was surprised to run into a fellow Arkansan, Jerry Damerow, while working overseas in Jakarta, Indonesia. Twenty years later and the two Little Rock citizens remain good friends who are actively involved in promoting science and math education in Arkansas. Jalihal, who retired in 2014 as managing director and senior vice president of FIS for Latin America and the Caribbean, recently joined the newly reformed Dean’s Science Council at the urging of his long-time friend, Damerow, a retired partner at Ernst & Young. Council members advocate on behalf of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences and garner community support for science programs. Their efforts include raising funds for faculty and undergraduate research, the Fribourgh Award receptions, and the Science Olympiad. Both men formerly served as the chair for the Board of EAST (Environmental and Spatial Technology) Initiative, a project-based, service-learning oriented program that provides students with high-end technology available in the most progressive fields in the world. “Personally, all of us have a passion for math and science,” Jalihal said. “When Jerry mentioned this, this seems like something that connected with me, just like EAST, because I have a passion for education and helping students with math and science.” As a member of the Dean’s Science Council, Jalihal wants to explore ways to keep retention rates high for math and science students, encourage academic success by creating more mentoring and tutoring programs for freshmen, and create a program to encourage more women and minority students to get involved in science and math programs at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. Jalihal earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bombay in 1970 and a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Arkansas in 1972. At FIS, he was responsible for the direct management of sales and operations for the company’s business in Latin America and the Caribbean and traveled to 42 countries. Jalihali lives in Little Rock and has a son, Jason, by his late wife, Ann, and a grandson, Donovan. In addition to the Dean’s Science Council, he is a member of Arkansas Accelerator and the Dean’s Advisory Council for the University of Arkansas School of Engineering. He also serves as the senior advisor for the Global Technology Deployment Initiative, a nonprofit organization that seeks to accelerate the deployment of proven technology solutions to address resource shortages in developing nations in the areas of energy, water, clean air, food, and medicine.

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

Estes named dean of ����Vlog��ý Little Rock College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences

����Vlog��ý Little Rock class investigates Elaine Massacre

Renovations begin on ����Vlog��ý Little Rock Physics and Astronomy Building