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

College of Social Sciences and Communications Announces Award Winners

Fri, 17 May 2019 14:04:23 +0000

��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s College of Social Sciences and Communication (CSSC) honored its students, faculty, and staff at its annual awards ceremony. More than 230 guests attended the May 7 event at the Governor’s Mansion that celebrated the many achievements of CSSC’s students, faculty, and staff. The college awarded $112,600 to 117 students through 71 scholarships. “As one alum told us the next day, the ceremony was an uplifting celebration of academic excellence, rich in spirt and sense of community,” said Dr. Julien Mirivel, interim dean of CSSC. “I want to extend another round of congratulations to all of our award recipients and our gratitude to all who attended.” The award winners include: College Excellence Awards Faculty Excellence Awards – Dr. Cheryl Johnston, Dr. Avinash Thombre, and Dr. Tusty ten Bensel Above and Beyond Award – Dr. Belinda Blevins-Knabe Chair of the Year Award – Dr. April Chatham-Carpenter Student Engagement Award – Dr. Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm Champions for Service Learning Award – Dr. Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm and Dr. Molly Smith Staff Excellence Award – Christina Smith CSSC Student Scholarship Recipients Founding Dean Community-Engaged Research Scholarship – Amy King Laverne Sheard-Britton Scholarship – BreAuna Bailey Rose Pfeifer Isacson Endowed Scholarship – Jasmin Avery September Fund Scholarship – Mollee Steely Douthit Scholarship – Whitney Reuschlig Julien and Margaret Mirivel Positive Research Scholarship – Nathan Jeffers and Trye Price The Last Mile Scholarship – Elizabeth Dustonbekov, Samantha Kendrick, Rosalinda Roper, Christina Sanders, Raven Thompson, and Elvin White Department of Applied Communication Distinguished Graduate Student – Michael Nesbit Distinguished Undergraduate Student – Derrick Newby Making a Difference Award (Undergraduate) – Maggie Mencer Making a Difference Award (Graduate) – Frankye Jimenez and Bonnie Ward Making a Difference Award (Alumni) – Christy Standerfer Community Partner Award – Bridgeway Hospital Angela Brenton Endowed Scholarship – Tiffany Meeks Department of Criminal Justice Outstanding Undergraduate Student – Michael Meziere Outstanding Graduate Student (MA) – Tyre Price Outstanding Graduate Student (MS) – James Dorney Outstanding Doctoral Student – Brooke Cooley Rob Williams Memorial Scholarship – Brooke Cooley, Willie Horace, and Mollee Steely Rick Finley Memorial Scholarship – Autumn Davis, Callie Gibson, Ronnie Loftis, Adielle Sadiq, and Luke Samaniego Melissa Ma Memorial Scholarship – Kashayla Banks, Kristi Stovall, and Kristopher Weatherly John A. Boyeskie Memorial Scholarship – Shay Gane Correctional Leadership Challenge Endowed Scholarship – Sydney McEwen Charles Chastain Founding Chair Scholarship Fund – Chelsea Barnett, Amy King, Cody McMunn, and Daniel Morris Judge Lee Munson Scholarship – Autumn Davis David. O. Dillinger Endowed Scholarship – Tanya Higgs, Trye Price, and Melissa Vachon Harold R. Zook Endowed Scholarship – Heidi Perry Randy and Diane Johnson Endowed Scholarship – Sarah Williams Louis Caudell Rotary Club of Downtown Little Rock Scholarship – Brittney Heard Department of Psychology Marie Wilson Howells Outstanding Graduating Senior in Psychology Award – Laura Ruiz Astorga and Saiyeeda F. Hussain Department of Rhetoric and Writing David and Lucille Chandler Scholarship – Matthew Esteb Clarence and Judy Albers Quality Writing Scholarship – Tasha Robinson Luis Gabriel Award for Dedicated Service – Rira Zamani Milton Stephens Award for Service – Chloe Moses Write On Awards for University Writing Center Service – Andy Acker, Alyia Goudeau, Jan Jolly, Robert McCarville, Heather McFarlane, Erin Ross, Danny Wagner, and Gwen Williams Oliver-Breeze-Kennedy Award – Brittany Bartlett, Anita Gipson, and Lee Steht Bonna Barken Jensen Writing About Families Award – Nicole Zimmerman Mickey Kamer Cyberspace Award – Kelly Robertson School of Mass Communication

Samantha Poe, recipient of the Jane and John Thompson Endowed Scholarship, is shown with donor John Thompson.

The Golden Mike Award endowed by Steve Stephens and Belinda Shults – Renae Goddard Dan and Johnnie Winn Memorial Scholarship – Jessica Franklin, Dorothea Greulich, and Ana Vujosevic Herbert and Gertrude Latkin Scholarship Fund – Faith Okeh and Alexandria Trantham Jerol Garrison Endowed Journalism Scholarship – Laquanda Cook Arkansas Broadcasters Association Endowed Scholarship – Kelly Connelly and Madison Kilby William K. Rutherford Freedom of Information Act Memorial Scholarship – Katherine McKee TreDay.com Scholarships Project Endowment – Carl Bunch THV 11 Media Scholarship – Adriana Fuentes and Keely Reeves Television Broadcasters of Arkansas Scholarship – Christopher Banks and Zachary Edwards Jason Irby Scholarship – Shelby Sites R.D. Doubleday Endowed Scholarship – Brent Armstrong Harry Ashmore Award – Madeline Ragan Roy Mitchell Scholarship – Samantha Poe Governor Orval E. Faubus Scholarship – Latosha Newman Edith Woods Sweezy Memorial Scholarship – Willie LeBlanc K.A. Engel Scholarship – Miram Battles, Remington Miller, Kolton Rutherford Arkansas Fly Fishers Scholarship – Shakayla Zoss Jane and John Thompson Endowed Scholarship – Samantha Poe Patrick and Leslie Rhode Endowed Scholarship – Darrell Farmer and Wilson Hatcher School of Public Affairs Bill Gwatney Memorial Endowed Scholarship – Chevelia Benford, Nathan Davis, Landon DeKay, Ravan Gaston, and Madison Rogers Jefferey C. Ledbetter Endowed Scholarship – Daisy Vasquez Tim Massanelli Endowed Scholarship for Political Science – Austin Johnson James R. Garrison Endowed Book Fund – Faith Madkins Martha Sawrie Stephenson Scholarship – Faith Madkins Outstanding Graduate in Political Science – Charlana Benefiel Outstanding Graduate in International Studies – Rosalinda Roper Department of Sociology and Anthropology Katherine J. Hardy Memorial Award – Nicole Ursin Mark Hartmann Anthropology Student Fieldwork Fellowship – Noah Currey Outstanding Graduating Student Award in Sociology – Saiyeeda Hussain Beth and Earl Richard Endowed Scholarship – Jessica Gonzalez and Latara Williams In the upper right photo, Interim Dean Julien Mirivel, middle, congratulates recipients of the Last Mile Scholarship: Christina Sanders, Elizabeth Dustonbekov, Raven Thompson, and Rosalinda Roper.

Grad School announces winner of 3MT competition

Jenny Lambert — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 20:14:53 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Graduate School crowned the winner of its first Three Minute Thesis – 3MT competition – on Thursday, Feb. 8. Melanie Desmuke, a Ph.D. candidate in the College of Education and Health Professions, advised by Dr. Linda Dorn, stole the competition with her synopsis of “Culturally Responsive Teaching,” which addressed the cultural and linguistic gap between black and Latino students and their teachers. “Culturally responsive teaching requires teachers to identify, value, and honor the cultural and linguistic differences, rather than deficits, of each of their students,” Desmuke explained. “Teachers must keep in mind that even within a cultural or social group, there are within-group differences that should be identified and considered when developing instructional lessons.” Following the competition, Desmuke was awarded $500. In addition, she will represent ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in the regional 3MT competition in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Saturday, Feb. 24. The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Graduate School will cover the trip’s expenses. He Zhang, a doctoral student in the College of Engineering and Information Technology, snagged second place with his presentation, “Robocane: Indoor GPS, Guiding White Cane.” Zhang, advised by Dr. Xian Liu, received $300. Other competition participants included:

Karrer Agjhazali, College of Arts, Letters and Sciences: “A Nano-bases Scaffold, Bioactive System for Nerve Injury Recovery.” Advisor, Dr. Alexandru Biris.
Suzan Anwar, College of Engineering and Information Technology: “Real Time Eye Blink Detection for Monitoring Drivers.” Advisor, Dr. Mariofanna Milanova.
Kevin Golden, College of Engineering and Information Technology: “Identifying Fraudulent Retail-Consumer Transactions using Cluster Analysis.” Advisor, Dr. Daniel Berleant.
Abdulrahman Homadi, College of Engineering and Information Technology: “Experimental and Modeling a Novel Thermo-Magneto-Electrical Linear Generator.” Advisor, Dr. Lawrence Whitman.
James Hurst, College of Social Sciences and Communication: “Framing Fear: The Campus Environment.” Advisor, Dr. Tusty ten Bensel.
Juan Sebastian Munoz Arango, College of Engineering and Information Technology: “Multi-user VR.” Advisor, Dr. Dirk Reiners.
Yu Nie, College of Engineering and Information Technology: “Does Chief Data Officer Matter?” Advisor, Dr. John Talburt.
Ujwani Nukala, College of Engineering and Information Technology: “Are you Prepared for Emergency Nuclear Alerts?” Advisor, Dr. Cesar Compadre.
Brenda Prochaska, College of Social Sciences and Communication: “The Contextual Factors that Matter in Juvenile Transfer.” Advisor, Dr. Tusty ten Bensel.
Rajat Singh, College of Engineering and Information Technology: “Muscle Synergies.” Advisor, Dr. Kamran Iqbal.
Junxiu Zhou, College of Engineering and Information Technology: “Smart Cane.” Advisor, Dr. Xian Liu.

Each participant was awarded a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card and a certificate of appreciation. The competition was organized by Kristi Wright, business manager of the Graduate School, and judged by Dr. Sherry Rankins-Robertson from the College of Social Sciences and Communications, Dr. Kent Layton from the College of Education and Health Professions, Dr. Nawab Ali from the College of Arts, Letters and Sciences, and Dr. Elizabeth Pierce from the College of Engineering and Information Technology. “The Graduate School is also very appreciative of the collaboration with the Communication Skills Center, which hosted a series of workshops last fall for doctoral students interested in the 3MT competition,” said Dr. Abhijit Bhattacharyya, interim vice provost for Research and dean of the Graduate School.�� For more information, contact Bhattacharyya at axbhattachar@ualr.edu.

Graduating Student Spotlight: Lindsey Stroud

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 14:30:04 +0000

Lindsey Stroud, assistant to Dean Julien Mirivel in the College of Social Sciences and Communications, will graduate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock this December with a Master of Arts in Professional and Technical Writing.�� Tell us a little about yourself. I’m 27 and live in Jacksonville with my husband, Lance. I love to do yoga and hang out with my family and two dogs, Rhea and Athena. I also graduated with a bachelor’s degree in professional and technical writing in 2015. I’m lucky and blessed to have come away with two degrees from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. Now I work as an assistant to Dean Julien Mirivel. Why did you choose ��Vlog��ý Little Rock? My dad always said to me that you are going to go to college. I thought college would be a good way to explore career paths. I could have worked, but I felt like I would have stayed at the same place in life and I wouldn’t have progressed. Going to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock helped me because I could go back and forth as a commuter, have the support of my family, and still have the college experience. Nobody in my family went to college. I’m the first generation. I think it’s very much an accomplishment in my life. Why did you decide to major in professional and technical writing? I decided I wanted to go into professional and technical writing when I walked out of my Composition II class with Dr. Toran Isom. She lit a fire under me to progress with writing, and I was focused on going all the way with professional and technical writing. She told me what classes to take and all the great things about the program. The PTW program is very versatile. Writing is a part of a lot of careers, and it’s nice to be able to have a skill that is valued today. Who were your mentors? One of my main mentors during my undergraduate experience was Jenny Dodson in the Student Experience Center. I worked there for three years and moved my way up to an orientation fellowship. It is a very team-based environment, and everyone is really supportive. They have one common goal: to make ��Vlog��ý Little Rock a great university and allow all students the opportunity to have the college experience. When I found my major, Dr. Karen Kuralt was very supportive, and I could always come to her for questions. Dr. Joe Williams currently serves as my committee chair for my master’s degree. Joe has been there every step of the way. What were some of your extracurricular activities at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock? I was a part of the charter class of. We were the first to start at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. We did philanthropic events for Prevent Child Abuse America. It was a very rewarding experience. Kappa Delta was a huge support system and allowed me to not only network but also allow me to better myself. What are your plans for the future? I started a full-time position in the dean’s office in the College of Social Sciences and Communications in August. I have my first 90-day review coming up soon, so I think I am going to keep focusing on my career here at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. In the summer, I plan to start working on a graduate certificate in strategic communication from the School of Mass Communication. What is your advice for future ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students? Don’t be afraid to ask your professor questions. If you don’t ask the question, then you and probably half your class will never know the answer. I feel like that is good advice, at least it was for me.

��Vlog��ýLR students represent nations at Morocco International Model Arab League

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 14:25:00 +0000

Fifteen students from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock are on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to act as diplomats at the.�� The Model Arab League is a student leadership development program created by the. It is a simulation of an international organization, the League of Arab States, which represents 22 countries. The conference will be held Nov. 9-13 at the Université International de Rabat, where ��Vlog��ýLR students will act as representatives of Somalia, Iraq, and Qatar. They will tackle diplomatic panels on defense, Palestinian affairs, refugees, social issues, and environmental affairs. Dr. Rebecca Glazier, director of the ��Vlog��ýLR Model Arab League and associate professor of political science, is leading the trip. Larry Rhodes, learning technology coordinator for the ��Vlog��ýLR College of Social Sciences and Communications, is chaperoning and documenting the trip. Thanks to the generosity of the ��Vlog��ýLR Middle Eastern Studies program and the Université International de Rabat, each student is only paying $700 for the trip, including flights, meals, accommodations, transportation, conference fees, and activities. “Those two organizations coming together is what really made this trip affordable and accessible to our students,” Glazier said. “For students to have access to short-term study abroad opportunities is amazing.” In addition to the conference, the ��Vlog��ýLR students will also enjoy tours of Morocco, including camel rides and camping in the Merzouga Desert. The students attending the Model Arab League include Alexandra Barnes, Nora Bouzihay, Natasha Burch, Robert Cole, Naty Doris, Andrea Elias, Zachary Glembin, Brian Gregory, Joseph Jones, Brittany Kirtley, Amelia Loken, Miguel Lopez, Emily Powell, Rhett Smith, and Demas Soliman. The students will be writing a daily blog of their adventures in Morocco that can be viewed on the School of Public Affairs website. In the upper right photo, Dr. Rebecca Glazier and ��Vlog��ýLR students gather at the airport to depart on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Morocco International Model Arab League at the Université International de Rabat. Pictured, from left to right, are: Back row: Robert Cole, Joseph Jones, Miguel Lopez, Rhett Smith, Amelia Loken, Dr. Rebecca Glazier, Brian Jones, and Demas Soliman.��Front row: Natashia Burch, Andrea Elias, Emily Powell, Alexandria Barnes, and Brittany Kirtley.

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

College of Social Sciences and Communications Announces Award Winners

Grad School announces winner of 3MT competition

Graduating Student Spotlight: Lindsey Stroud

����Vlog��ýLR students represent nations at Morocco International Model Arab League

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

��Vlog��ýLR students represent nations at Morocco International Model Arab League