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

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Graduate Completes Thesis on Content in German-Language Newspaper During WWI

John Hill — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 16:00:44 +0000

A graduating ��Vlog��ý Little Rock student is thankful to the history department for helping prepare him for a career as an archivist through the extensive research he was required to do for his thesis. Little Rock native Harrison Mitchell earned his bachelor’s degree in news editorial journalism from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 2011. Now over a decade later, he graduated with a master’s degree in public history on Dec. 17. Mitchell’s thesis explores written content in , a German-language newspaper based in Little Rock during World War I. The Echo is the only surviving newspaper source about Arkansas’s German community, as well as the only insight into what the German press was printing during the war. Mitchell got his inspiration for the topic from the year he spent as a foreign exchange student in Vienna, Austria, in high school. “That experience really cemented the language for me,” Mitchell said. “Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to do this research at all, since most of it was in German.” Mitchell focused his research on the years between 1914 and 1918, comparing the tone and content before and after the United States entered the war to see how the newspaper handled the growing anti-German sentiment in the country during the shift. Research also came from, “Das Arkansas Echo: A Year in the Life of Germans in the Nineteenth-Century South” by Kathleen Condray, associate professor of German at the University of Arkansas. The book examines the topics covered during its inaugural year, including the newspaper’s crusade against prohibition, advocacy for German schools and language, and stance on immigration. “Overall, I’d say the program prepares you for the field really well, especially when it comes to research,” Mitchell said. “I even had a graduate assistantship for the Center for Arkansas History and Culture downtown to supplement my archival learning and give me hands-on experience.” He organized his information on a database, the idea of which he credits to Dr. Charles Romney, professor of history and graduate coordinator of the public history program. “I collected about 300 articles, so it was a lot to keep track of,” Mitchell said. “The database gave me key searchability, helped me identify common themes, and what was going on. Staying organized is one of the most important parts of a research process.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Graduate Finishes College Education 50 Years After Starting

John Hill — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 16:20:09 +0000

A ��Vlog��ý Little Rock history student is celebrating the completion of his lifelong dream of finishing his college education, a dream that is 50 years in the making. By all measures, Ellis “Gene” Thompson of Little Rock has led a very successful life. He has a loving family and had a very successful career in media sales spanning more than four decades. “After leaving KATV as the local sales manager here, I finished that career and was faced with what I want to do,” Thompson said. “Something that had always been nagging me was to get my degree. Life had taken that opportunity away from me earlier when I was in Washington, D.C.” A native of Joliet, Illinois, Thompson joined the U.S. Navy and worked in an experimental surgery unit and then enrolled at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1973. “There I really started to mature and find my sea legs, as you will,” he said. “The doctors were very supportive of me going to college. That is why I went to Georgetown, but I was married and had a child and work. I couldn’t sustain a decent lifestyle and go to Georgetown, which was very demanding.” In 1975, Thompson left Georgetown with an associate degree and a strong desire to one day finish his college education. His career took him from Washington, D.C., to Chicago, to Dayton, Ohio, to Orlando and New York City. His final stop brought him to Little Rock in 2010 to work at KATV. “I had a great run in TV, but I’m done,” Thompson said. “I had a deep love of history, and I got that while I was at Georgetown. One of my instructors was the department head, and I fell in love with history after taking her class. I decided to come to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock as a history major.” Thompson joined ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 2017 and graduated with his bachelor’s degree in history in 2019. He will graduate this semester with a master’s degree in public history, which brings his journey to complete his college education to an end 50 years after he started. “It’s something that I feel I should have done a long time ago,” he said. “It’s basically been unfinished business as far as my life is concerned. So, getting this degree is a culmination of a lifelong search for my own comfort with myself. It’s a culmination of something that I felt I should have done a long time ago and should have been determined earlier in my life. However, it feels just as good now. This is who I should have been all my life, a person with a master’s degree.” One of his favorite experiences in graduate school was participating in a class taught by Dr. John Kirk, George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History, which examined the criminal cases of Robert Bell and Grady Swain, two African American teenagers who were convicted of the first-degree murder of Julius McCollum and sentenced to death. Bell and Swain confessed to the crime, but later said their confessions were forced. The class wrote a paper about the case that received the Lucille Westbrook Award from the Arkansas Historical Association for the best article manuscript on an aspect of local history. “That class really grabbed me, and I learned so much about going through archives and dusty, old records,” he said. Thompson wrote his thesis, “The Fight for Freedmen’s Minds in Arkansas,” about the development of educational programs for African Americans in the state in the 1860s and 1870s. “Arkansas was one of the last states to develop a public primary and secondary school system for African American students,” Thompson wrote. “While education was for the most part privatized, an important philosophy for educating African Americans was developed early by the Free African Society and the AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Church that influenced Arkansas public and private Freedman education.” In the 1860s and 70s, there were millions of newly freed formerly enslaved people who needed an education with competing methods of how that should work. Samuel Armstrong, founder of the Hampton Institute, created an educational model called the Hampton-Tuskegee Model, which emphasized character building through manual labor and learning occupational skills. The AME church strongly contested the Hampton-Tuskegee Model. “The AME church put forth the philosophy that they wanted Freedman taught in the classical manner, emphasizing subjects like English, literature, and algebra,” Thompson said. “They wanted to train a middle-class population with doctors, teachers, and lawyers. The Hampton model emphasized teaching people manual labor skills – how to be a blacksmith, how to sew. They taught young girls how to work in houses as maids. It was being put out there that this was necessary because industrialists needed a large workforce.” Thompson dedicated his thesis to his mother, who was the daughter of an AME preacher and an inspiration for him to complete college. “I also did this for my mom who always believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself,” Thompson said. “She used to sit in the kitchen with me to do my homework when I was a child. She instilled in me that desire to get it done, and that was one of the real drivers in writing my thesis.” With graduation approaching, Thompson is thankful to history professors James Ross, Barclay Key, Jess Porter, Edward Anson, Carl Moneyhon, and Marta Cieslak for inspiring him to succeed. “My experience here has been absolutely magnificent,” he said. “I can’t say enough good things about the history department and the professors. These people are first rate, and I know because I came from one of those fancy east schools. I had a very successful career, but this is something different that I needed to do and I’m so glad I did it. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that I would end up living in Arkansas and getting a master’s degree at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. I believe it’s a top-rate education.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Graduate Encourages More Women to Enter the Construction Industry

John Hill — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 17:12:06 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock graduate is exploring how to attract more women to enter Arkansas’s growing construction industry. Gozde Gursoy, a native of Izmir, Turkey, will graduate with a Doctor of Education in Higher Education Administration from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. Already a senior instructor in the Department of Construction Management & Civil & Construction Engineering, Gozde has big plans for her career in higher education. “I have been teaching for eight years, but my goal is to go into administration to become a chair and dean,” she said. “It occurred to me that I need to understand higher education as a whole. I wanted to learn about how to be more effective in the classroom. I am so glad I chose this as a degree. I feel like getting the doctorate has made me a better teacher and facilitator.” Gursoy decided to attend college in Arkansas after living with a great host family during high school who encouraged her to go to college in the U.S. She earned a bachelor’s degree in interior design from the University of Central Arkansas before joining ��Vlog��ý Little Rock to complete a Master of Science in Construction Management degree. After working as an interior designer at Williams & Dean Architects and a lighting designer for Curtis Stout Inc., Gursoy branched out to start her own lighting and interior design company, G2 Lighting Design, in 2020. She’s won multiple awards for her designs and worked on notable Arkansas properties, including the Old State House Museum and Esse Purse Museum in Little Rock and the Dyess Colony Visitor Center and Johnny Cash Boyhood Home. “It’s been really nice to practice professionally as well as be a professor,” Gursoy said. “Especially in our field, you need to keep one foot in the professional world. It’s an ever-changing industry, and it’s a lot of fun to practice while you are a professor.” After noticing how few women work in the construction industry, Gursoy wrote her dissertation, “A Phenomenological Study of Best Strategies to Attract Young Arkansas Females to the Commercial Construction Industry among Arkansas Females Presently Working in the Commercial Construction Industry.” She interviewed women leaders working in the construction industry in Arkansas. Her study identified and examined the barriers women face entering and working in the industry and initiatives that promote equality in the field of commercial construction in Arkansas. “This is one of the fields where it’s untraditional for a woman to want to enter,” Gursoy said. “Women in the United States only make up about 13% of construction management employees. Speaking with other women who participated in my study, I found it’s very common for a woman to be discouraged, disrespected, or people make remarks about her appearance instead of her skills. It takes the spotlight away from her talent. I call these women trailblazers, and they really are just by being present in the construction field.” Gursoy recommends that we should use educational programming and events that promote construction as a viable career to women at an earlier age. She points to the Vilonia Pathways Academy Conversion Charter, a charter school that partners with ��Vlog��ý Little Rock and provides a construction education at the high school level, as a great example. Gursoy worked on the curriculum design for the program. “It’s really interesting because we are seeing a construction-focused degree at the high school level and seeing how many students want to become construction professionals,” Gursoy said. Gursoy also recommended conducting research with younger students to find out what makes construction attractive as a career and providing women in the construction industry with mentors throughout their college and careers. “I looked at a study for 9-12-year-olds, and 60 percent of respondents said they think construction is a man’s job,” Gursoy said. “The unconscious bias is embedded so deep that young children think this is not an occupation for women. Twenty percent of my participants were the first female hires in their companies, and that is just mind boggling to me. We have to put women at the forefront of this industry, so all people feel like they belong in the construction field.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Graduate Prepares for Future as Surgeon

John Hill — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 13:58:29 +0000

A graduating ��Vlog��ý Little Rock student is thankful to the university for helping her prepare for a future career helping people as a medical surgeon. Taylor Arnold, a senior biology major from Hot Springs, said she was inspired to follow in her father’s footsteps to the medical field. “It helps in the fact that my dad was a surgeon,” she said. “I grew up in that environment and got to see the ins and outs of the career. Being able to have the opportunity to take human anatomy, it solidified that goal for me. I love that ��Vlog��ý Little Rock offers that course. It definitely helped me a lot.” After graduating from Sheridan High School, Arnold joined ��Vlog��ý Little Rock after taking a semester off to care for a sick relative. “My aunt got really sick, and I ended up applying to go to school here so I could continue living with her,” she said. “It was probably the best thing that has ever happened to me. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock has helped me grow as a person because we have a really diverse community, and it’s helped me figure out who I am.” While at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, Arnold has served as president of the Campus Garden Alliance, vice president of the Biology Club, and a student ambassador for the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Out of all her activities, Arnold found participating in the Learning Assistant Program to be the most rewarding. Learning assistants take a course on the science of learning. Then they work with faculty to design and implement active learning instruction in the classroom. “The most meaningful will always be the LA program because we get to work with students and help tutor them,” she said. “It’s the best feeling ever when you can connect with another student, and they come up later and tell you that you made a difference for them.” She is especially grateful to Ronia Kattoum, an instructor of chemistry, for serving as an inspirational mentor in her life. “In high school, I’ve always been seen as the dumb blonde stereotype by people who don’t know me,” she said. “Ms. Kattoum took a specific interest in me and asked me to join the Learning Assistant Program. She is the first professor that made me feel like I am important and that I could do whatever I put my mind to. Having that mentor in my life that sees the best in me really inspired me and helped me through my college career.” While Arnold will start medical school in the fall, she’ll be working as a patient care technician at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences next year. With graduation fast approaching, Arnold finds the end of her undergraduate career to be “bittersweet,” but is looking forward to starting the next step toward medical school. “I am very excited to move forward in my life, but I am also sad that I won’t be in the same environment that I have been for the past four years,” she said. “I walk around campus, and I think this is one of the last times I will be here as a student. I’m just thankful for the opportunities and the kind of environment ��Vlog��ý Little Rock offers to their students. That’s really what helped me here.”

Graduating Student Finds New Career, Love of Writing at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

John Hill — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 13:55:43 +0000

Kristina Johnson, a Little Rock native who now lives in Hot Springs Village, has known since high school that she wanted to pursue her passion for writing in college. “When I was a senior, I thought about what I was good at. I really liked English and creative writing. I’ve enjoyed writing short stories in my free time for many years.” After graduating high school, Johnson joined ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 2014 for the close location to home and focus on education. “I took my ACT here and really liked the campus,” she said. “It was just a really pretty campus that fit my dreams of college. I wanted to live at home, and it was the perfect setting for me to focus on my education.” She would graduate in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing and then join the graduate program. Johnson is now looking forward to her December graduation with a Master of Arts in Professional and Technical Writing degree. She is thankful to professors Heidi Harris, Karen Kuralt, Londie Martin, and Joe Williams for helping her. “The feeling of finishing my professional portfolio and my professors coming back and saying, ‘This looks good,’ is the most relief I’ve ever had,” Johnson said. “It took a lot of effort and hard work to get here. I’m very happy and proud of what I accomplished.” She cites her greatest accomplishment at graduate school as writing a grant that provides $10,000 in funding for two pilot suicide prevention programs in Arkansas jails. “I took the grant writing class with Dr. Barb L’Eplattenier,” she said. “It was one of the hardest classes I took in all my education, but it was worth it. I wrote my first grant, and it was funded. It was definitely my biggest accomplishment of graduate school, maybe ever, and it gave me a new appreciation for writing and how it can be used to help people.” Unlike most new college graduates, Johnson won’t have to worry about finding a job as she started her career as a technical writer at MidSOUTH, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s social work academy, last year. She is responsible for developing training materials and coordinating continuing education trainings. “I’ve done it sort of backwards,” Johnson said. “I’ve already gotten a job so this degree will help push my career forward and give me bigger opportunities in the future.”

Cybersecurity Leader Earns Master’s Degree from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

John Hill — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 13:38:11 +0000

A ��Vlog��ý Little Rock student has earned his master’s degree after advancing cybersecurity education for hundreds of students and teachers throughout Arkansas. Andrew Bomberger, of Hot Springs, will graduate with a master’s degree in computer science on Dec. 17. While he’s grown into one of the department’s leading students, Bomberger was originally on a very different career path before discovering his passion for cybersecurity. “I used to live in Pennsylvania, and my uncles owned a dairy farm,” he said. “I grew up thinking that I would do that for a living. I got to help on the farm and figured out it was something I wasn’t interested in. Around 2016, I saw a conference talk on cybersecurity and social engineering and thought it was really fascinating. I would love to be on the side that helps people configure devices, monitor networks, and help protect people from the bad people trying to break into their networks.” Bomberger joined ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 2017 after seeing the many awards the university’s Cybersecurity Club had won. He joined the Cyber Arena project, a cloud-based cybersecurity education initiative, in 2019. The Cyber Arena provides free cybersecurity education, training, and exercises to Arkansas students and teachers. So far, more than 2,000 students have benefited from the Cyber Arena nationwide. “I’ve really enjoyed working on the Cyber Arena for the past four years,” he said. “When I started, I only knew bits and pieces about programming. This has been a great learning and networking experience, meeting a lot of professionals in the field. I’ve grown a lot as a person and a programmer from this project. I’ve enjoyed helping others learn more about cybersecurity, and I hope I’ve inspired other kids to go into the field.”

Photos of Andrew Bomberger by Ben Krain.

Although his professors have tried to get him to enroll in a doctorate program, Bomberger said he is finished with his education for now and has been interviewing for cybersecurity positions. His graduate project has taken his work in the Cyber Arena to the next level. He is building a cloud-based emulated red team network to provide advanced cybersecurity training for teachers and students. In cybersecurity, red teams consist of hackers who evaluate system security by acting as adversaries to overcome cybersecurity controls. Companies often hire hackers to test their network protections. “My project was focused on seeing if we could automate the attack process,” Bomberger said. “It was taking specific machines that have various attack scripts and injecting them into different controlled student networks. The idea behind all of it is that it would help emulate a more realistic environment for cybersecurity training. If we can place more weaknesses and attacks into the system, we can hopefully enhance learning as a long-term goal and make the experience more dynamic for students.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Grad Honors Promise to Children by Graduating College 23 Years After She Started

John Hill — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 16:00:53 +0000

A ��Vlog��ý Little Rock business graduate is honoring a promise she made to her children to finish her college education. Anita Burnett, a North Little Rock resident, will graduate with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Business Analytics degree on Dec. 17, more than 23 years after she initially began her college career. “My children learned that you can do anything when you make a plan,” she said. “It’s not always easy, but you make it work if something is important to you. If I wanted to show them that a college education was important, I had to lead by example and be the kind of role model that they can look up to and be proud of.” Burnett began college at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 1999 just like many other new high school graduates. Things were going well for several semesters as she worked as a manager at Arby’s and made the honor’s list, but then life got in the way. “I was doing well,” Burnett recalled. “Then in 2001 I took on the additional responsibility of becoming the 21-year-old legal guardian of my 16-year-old sister. The next semester was a struggle, and I didn’t do so well. I decided to take some time away from school. My intent was to make sure that my sister finished high school, and then I was going to go back to school. Life happened, and the more time that passed, the more my plan to return to school seemed to fade.” Burnett would later move to Michigan for five years to care for her mother before returning to Arkansas. She has a son, Nathan, 17, and a daughter, ChloeAnn, 10, and worked in a variety of careers as a restaurant manager, tech expert, and diesel cashier. When her son was in ninth grade, he attended an event that encourages students to prepare for the future by thinking about college and careers. “I was telling my son how important it was for him to go to college,” she said. “He called me out on telling him that it was vitally important, even though I hadn’t finished. I had a bunch of excuses for not returning to school. I had two kids and worked full time. I just didn’t have the time. Then my kids ganged up on me. They said that they refused to be the reason that I didn’t go back to school.” Burnett started at ��Vlog��ý-Pulaski Tech in 2019 and graduated with an associate degree in 2020. She rejoined ��Vlog��ý Little Rock the same year. “I started realizing how much I loved school again and missed it,” she said. “My son said I’m happy when I am doing school work and told me to get my bachelor’s degree. I talked to an advisor here and told them I needed a degree that would help me get a better job. I needed to make it worth it to take time away from my kids. The advisor told me about the in-demand field of business analytics. I had to watch YouTube videos to learn coding. It wasn’t as easy as the first time I went to college. I had to teach myself to study again, and it was hard work.” Burnett’s children stepped up to give her time to study and go to class. Nathan would watch his little sister, while ChloeAnn helped her mother study. “My daughter likes to proofread my papers and when I have, for example, 11 chapters to read, she will read out loud to me to give my eyes a break,” Burnett said. “She tells me all the time how she’s going to do great in college since she already helps me.” Now that she is graduating, Burnett is looking for a career in business analytics and is making sure that her children get every opportunity to go to college. “My parents and grandparents didn’t go to college, and none of my siblings or nieces or nephews went to college,” she said. “I am going to make a change. My son graduates from high school in the spring. He intends to follow in my footsteps and go to college. I may be a first-generation college grad, but I know I won’t be the last.”

Graduating Student Finds Inspiration for Law Career at Bowen

John Hill — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 14:20:19 +0000

When future lawyer Johanna Baker Wade was an undergraduate student at Henderson State University, she recalls two events that shaped her life. First, this is where she met her husband, a student at Ouachita Baptist University at the time. “I was a Reddie, and he was an OBU tiger,” she said. “These schools are directly across the street from each other, so I married the enemy.” Second, she recalls a memorable mock classroom visit by the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law that convinced her to go to law school. “The total nerd inside of me thought it was so fun,” she said. “Before then, I didn’t know much about being a lawyer. No one in my life has been a lawyer but my life has been affected by lawyers in a positive way. A lawyer is the reason my stepfather was able to adopt me. It took a lawyer advocating for us, to better my life. Coming to law school helped me understand how big a deal it really was. It has made me aware of how important it is to be a lawyer, to be ready to advocate and do good in the world.” The Magnolia, Arkansas native will graduate this month from the William H. Bowen School of Law. After graduation, her top priority is to study for and pass the bar exam. Inspired by her time as a law clerk in the Sixth Judicial District Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, Baker Wake is planning to pursue prosecutorial work. “It has shocked me how much I have enjoyed being in the prosecuting attorney’s office,” she said. “I love transactional law, but I want to give litigation a shot by working in a prosecuting attorney’s office.” While at Bowen, Baker served as president of the Christian Legal Society and a senator with the Student Government Association. She was also a student mentor, assisting first-year law students in their clerk searches, as well as an academic fellow who mentored first-year law students. She is grateful to professors andre douglas pond cummings, Philip Oliver (retired), Jessie Burchfield, Aaron Schwabach, and others for inspiring her at law school. Throughout her time at Bowen, Baker has gained plenty of legal experience through clerkships at the Bowen Tax Clinic; Winburn, Wilson, Schader & Shram; and the Sixth Judicial District Office of the Prosecuting Attorney. “It is paying your dues as best as I can explain it,” she said. “I am very grateful for every clerkship I have done. For every attorney that was willing to tell me hard truths and give me feedback that was invaluable. I’ve learned what it really takes to work at a law firm and to be a lawyer. It’s not something you can learn just in a textbook. It’s been very eye opening in a good way.” As the end of the law school looms, Baker Wade recalls her time at Bowen with fondness and feels that she’s “accomplished something pretty cool.” “Law school is a great decision,” she said. “These past couple of weeks, I’ve realized how fast it’s gone by and how much I enjoyed my time here. It taught me a lot, and it’s an accomplishment I am really proud of.”

Bowen Grad Plan to Help Others Through Career as Civil Rights Lawyer

John Hill — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 14:28:16 +0000

Right after high school, Jacobi Malone was adamant that he was never going to attend college. Eleven years later, the Little Rock native is understandably excited about his upcoming graduation from the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. “I’m excited, blessed, thankful, and grateful,” Malone said. “I feel like I am crossing the finish line of this marathon I’ve been on for the last few years. I’m excited to close this chapter of my life and move on to the next.” After passing the bar exam, Malone plans to put his skills to work helping others by focusing on civil rights law in Little Rock. “I want to inform people of their rights and represent them in cases involving gender, race, or inequality of any sort,” Malone said. “Civil rights violations are not as archaic and antiquated as people believe. They are still there and dangerous, and that is what makes me want to go and fight against it.” Providing citizens with the information to empower themselves has been important to Malone for many years. Ever since starting work at Willard Proctor Jr. P.A. in 2011, Malone has been volunteering in a monthly educational program providing legal, political, financial, and health information to minorities at his church, Abundant Grace Apostolic Church. Since joining law school in 2020, Malone has also been an active volunteer with the W. Harold Flowers Law Society, assisting in providing continuing legal education seminars for local African American attorneys. He also served as the liaison between the society and the Black Law Students Association at Bowen, where he served on the association’s scholarship and event planning committees.

From Law Office to Law School

After graduating from John L. McClellan High School, Malone immediately started working as a claims adjustor for attorney Willard Proctor Jr., where he led correspondence regarding claims related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He was later promoted to a legal assistant, where he would work on preparation for jury trials. Malone, who had never intended to go to college, gained inspiration from his boss who encouraged him to pursue a law degree. “Willard Proctor Jr. really encouraged me to go to college,” Malone said. “He told me not to waste my education. He kept encouraging me to take that next step and go to college and then go on to law school. He’s been a big blessing in my life along with my pastor Linda Scott.” Malone would go on to earn an associate degree from ��Vlog��ý-Pulaski Tech and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock before going to law school. Additionally, Malone thanks his mother, Emma Malone, a 1984 graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, for also making it possible for him to complete college and law school. Malone is paralyzed from the chest down, and his mother has been taking him to classes for years. “My mom has been my biggest blessing throughout all of this,” Malone said. “She’s driven me to my classes at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock and Bowen. She’s been there every step of the way.” At the end of his law school journey, Malone cited faith and hard work as the key to his success. “I would encourage anyone that comes from a background growing up in southwest Little Rock that doesn’t have a lot of avenues of success to not let that stop you,” Malone said. “Don’t use that as an excuse. Use it as a stepping stone to go to the next level. Keep God first and continue to work hard, and you will be pretty well off.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to Celebrate Commencement Dec. 17

John Hill — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 15:11:02 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will celebrate its fall 2022 graduates on Saturday, Dec. 17. More than 700 students are eligible to graduate during the fall 2022 semester. The commencement ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. in the Jack Stephens Center. Doors will open at 11:30 a.m. to the public, and graduates need to arrive by noon. Parking information is available online. The 1 p.m. ceremony will feature undergraduate and graduate students from the College of Business, Health, and Human Services, the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education, and the William H. Bowen School of Law. Dr. Dean Kumpuris, chair of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Board of Visitors, and Joshua Silverstein, professor of law and recipient of the 2022 Bailey Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching, will serve as the commencement speakers. Back by popular demand will be celebratory photo backdrops created by Just Peachy. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock will also hold contests for the best-decorated graduation cap. The William H. Bowen School of Law will hold a hooding ceremony to celebrate 15 graduating law students as well as the first graduate of the Master of Studies in Law program. Dean Theresa Beiner and the Honorable Melanie Martin, Little Rock District Court Criminal Judge and president of Bowen’s Alumni Association, will speak at the event, which will take place at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, in the Friday Courtroom at Bowen. The event will be live-streamed . The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock commencement ceremony will be live-streamed on the and the .

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

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Graduate Completes Thesis on Content in German-Language Newspaper During WWI

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Graduate Finishes College Education 50 Years After Starting

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Graduate Encourages More Women to Enter the Construction Industry

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Graduate Prepares for Future as Surgeon

Graduating Student Finds New Career, Love of Writing at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

Cybersecurity Leader Earns Master’s Degree from ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Grad Honors Promise to Children by Graduating College 23 Years After She Started