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

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Announces Search for Dean of College of Business, Health, and Human Services

John Hill — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 14:40:09 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has launched a national search for a leader for the College of Business, Health, and Human Services (CBHHS). The College of Business, Health, and Human Services is the largest college at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock and contains eight departments and schools as well as the Arkansas Economic Development Institute, the state’s lead Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, and MidSOUTH. The dean will be responsible for working with many business and industry leaders in the area and cultivating students to help build the state’s growing workforce and economic development. The search committee brings together a wide variety of university, industry, and community leaders to choose the next leader of this distinguished college. Dr. Brian Berry, vice provost for research and dean of the Graduate School, is leading the search committee as chair. “We are excited to begin the search to fill this critical leadership position on our campus,” Berry said. “The committee that has been assembled includes representation from all of the schools in the college as well as community stakeholders. I am hopeful that we can identify the right candidate to help lead this college and continue to build upon the strength of the faculty and students.” Other search committee members include Melvin Beavers, the Chancellor’s DEI fellow; Mike Blain, captain with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, Jay Chesshir, president and CEO of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce; Sloan Davidson, director of the School of Nursing; Mark Funk, chair of the Department of Accounting, Economics, and Finance; David Gilliam, associate professor of marketing; Michael Johnson, director of development and external relations; Kim Jones, professor of social work; Mary Parker, professor of criminal justice; Janae Snyder, associate professor of counseling, human performance, and rehabilitation; Michael Stewart, CEO of Saline Health System; Cathy Tuggle, owner and principal broker of Tuggle Services, Inc.; and Sharon Vogelpohl, president and CEO of MHP/Team SI. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock will continue for the position until it is filled, though the priority application review deadline is Oct. 30. Interviews will begin in November, and the new dean is expected to begin during the spring 2023 semester. They will take over for Dr. Deborah Baldwin, associate provost of collections and archives at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, who has been serving as the interim dean of CBHHS since August.

Braun Stepping Down as Dean

John Hill — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 14:14:43 +0000

Dr. Frank Braun, dean of the College of Business, Health, and Human Services at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, announced Thursday that he will be stepping down as dean of the college effective July 31. Braun will return to the faculty and continue working on several current research projects. He has served as dean since August 2021. Prior to serving as dean at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, he served as department chair, associate professor of business and health informatics, and director of the Master of Science in Information Systems Program at Northern Kentucky University. “I am appreciative to Dr. Braun for his service to the College of Business, Health, and Human Services,” said Dr. Ann Bain, provost and executive vice chancellor. “I wish him the best with his future endeavors.” Dr. Deborah Baldwin will provide interim leadership for the College of Business, Health, and Human Services beginning Aug. 1. Dr. Baldwin currently serves as associate provost at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock and is director of the Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture. “I would like to thank Dr. Baldwin for her willingness to serve in the interim capacity,” said Bain. “Having previously served as a dean and an interim provost, I am confident she will be a strong asset to the college during this period of transition. She is a long-time and well-respected leader in the Central Arkansas community, and she will continue working to foster partnerships that positively impact our community and business partners throughout the state.” A national search for a permanent replacement will begin immediately.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown Welcomes New Staff Members

John Hill — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 18:43:26 +0000

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown operations have expanded with the addition of two new staff members: Ashley Clayborn, director, and Maha Ramzan, office administrator. They are joined by Elizabeth Small, director of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Real Estate Program and newly appointed director of business networks, who will spend significant time at the Downtown facility. Ashley Clayborn is now heading ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown. As the director, she focuses on curating the downtown space for educational and professional programming. The director serves as a university liaison through public relations, community engagement, and relationship management with internal campus stakeholders and external partners. Clayborn earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Hendrix College and a master’s degree in communication from the University of Arkansas. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Education in Rural Education from the University of West Alabama. Before joining ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, Clayborn worked as executive assistant to the president at National Park College. She said it was her interest in public engagement through community spaces that led her to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown. “When I completed my master’s degree, I wrote a thesis on the ways we use public space to affect identity, whether that is looking at public history or creating spaces for public engagement,” Clayborn said. “I found a passion for public space. Then the pandemic hit and public spaces were no longer safe for my research, so I made a transition from traditional academia to an administrative role at National Park College. I loved the people, and it got me thinking about more applied work engaging with the public and community. This position is the perfect marriage of my professional goals and research interests.” Clayborn also works with the Downtown Little Rock Partnership on the Second Friday Art Night Committee. She looks forward to restarting Friday Art Night celebrations at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown and plans to start with an exhibit of artwork from the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Permanent Art Collection for the November event. Maha Ramzan has joined ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in a dual role as the office administrator for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown and the Sequoyah National Research Center. This position is responsible for the coordination of administrative activities in both centers including day-to-day scheduling, internal communications, and financial management.

Photo of Maha Ramzan by Ben Krain.

Before joining ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, Ramzan worked as a patient guest representative at Baptist Health. Ramzan is a 2021 graduate of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management. She also earned an Associate of Liberal Arts and Science from ��Vlog��ý-Pulaski Technical College and is pursuing a Master of Business Administration from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. Small is now based at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown, where she teaches classes in the Real Estate program and works with central Arkansas businesses to explore ways to partner and engage with ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. “Our recent reorganization under CAHC allows us to pivot ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown toward a new focus on education, business, culture and the arts, and civic reflection,” Clayborn said. “We offer classes and educational events at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown as well as work with the university community to connect the upcoming work force from the university with the local business industries.” ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown is also the home of the Joe Jones mural, “The Struggle in the South,” since 2018. Completed in 1935 at Commonwealth College in Mena, the mural serves as an example of protest art made during the Great Depression. “We want to showcase art exhibits, student creations, and archival materials from the Center for Arkansas History and Cultural to create conversations around the Joe Jones Mural,” Clayborn said. “Dr. Deborah Baldwin views ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown as a space for the community to come together and host seminars, workshops, lectures, exhibits, and educational programming. We want to start conversations that are directed toward increasing civic engagement.” ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown is open for classes and events under the fourth phase of Covid restrictions. The center can host up to 60 people for a standing reception and 45 people for a lecture or other seated event.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock receives $325,000 grant from National Endowment for the Humanities

John Hill — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 20:01:01 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has received a $325,043 grant from the (NEH) to create a rich collection of digitized material integrated into a map-based website that tracks how urban renewal changed the City of Little Rock in the decades following the Central High School desegregation crisis. The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture (CAHC) will lead the project, “Mapping Urban Fracture: Charting the Context and Consequence of the Little Rock Central High Crisis Project.” The center’s director, Dr. Deborah Baldwin, associate provost of collections and archives, will serve as the principal investigator for the three-year project that begins June 1. CAHC received a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2018 for an 18-month pilot project of the map that brought together humanities scholars and technical specialists to select, digitize, describe, and create a website making the resources available to the public. A prototype of the project can be found on the . The Mapping Urban Fracture project will create a virtual collection comprising approximately 700 new reports and maps created after 1989 and develop an access interface to research spatial segregation with meta and geospatial data. The website includes the digitization and geolocation of maps, architectural drawings, reports, and related photographs to address humanities issues and questions. The project will create an aggregated collection of digital products that track the history of Little Rock through patterns of residential segregation, urban renewal, public school desegregation plans, and local elections and governance. While scholars will generate sample narratives to interpret the virtual collection, members of the public, particularly teachers and students, can find and create their own stories through the data. “One of the reasons we wanted to complete this project is to make our collections more accessible to a wide variety of people, and we believed integrating them into a multilayered map on a website would do that,” Baldwin said. “It is an opportunity for the university to pull together expertise in many different areas and focus them on a project that can inspire a lot of conversation about the development of this city.” The NEH awarded $24 million in grants for 225 humanities projects across the country. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock was one of only two projects in the state selected for a 2021 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. “NEH is proud to support these 225 new projects, which embody excellence, intellectual rigor, and a dedication to the pursuit of knowledge, even as our nation and the humanities community continue to face the challenges of the pandemic,” said NEH Acting Chairman Adam Wolfson. “We look forward to the contributions these projects will make to our understanding of ourselves and our society through exemplary humanities research, publications, documentary films, exhibitions, and undergraduate programs.” The Mapping Urban Fracture project will allow the CAHC to place collections from various institutions together in a single, searchable database so that users can interact with digitized and described materials both spatially and visually. The project combines geographic, print, architectural, photographic, census, and election data to provide a complex portrait of the effects of government, politics, and growth on the urban environment. In the 1960s, urban renewal in central Little Rock comprised one of the largest demolition and clearance programs in the country. As a result of renewal efforts, Little Rock’s Central High district shifted from being a majority-white to a predominantly African-American neighborhood. The Ninth Street Corridor, the city’s African-American business district, was cleared of its inhabitants and businesses to make way for freeway construction.

Downtown Little Rock in 1951. Photo Courtesy of the CAHC collection: Earl Saunders, Jr. Photograph Collection.

The Mapping Urban Fracture project will not only digitize important historic materials from this period and make them freely available online, it also will develop methods that can be used nationally for describing place-based materials in ways that others can easily find. Because this project includes many maps and architectural drawings, the team will attach geospatial data to the digital files so that computers and Geographic Information Systems can be used for analysis. Focus groups with local educators as well as a teacher advisory group will ensure the project interface is accessible to both teachers and students. The project will also increase community engagement and civic discourse by providing the local community with access to resources and information about spatial segregation, the effects of past urban renewal initiatives, and the evolution of school desegregation. “There are many mapping projects around the country right now,” said Laura McClellan, assistant director of the Center for Arkansas History and Culture. “There is a trend to use data in a visual way, and we feel like expressing data in a visual way with all these different kinds of collaborators brings a richness to the discussion of the history of Little Rock that ordinarily we couldn’t have. This is a way to connect with multiple collaborators with a new way of discussing the information that also follows national trends. We are cutting edge.” CAHC personnel and partners hope to make presentations on this “cutting edge project” at the Society of American Archivists, the Arkansas Historical Association, the Society of Southwest Archivists, and the University of San Diego’s Digital Initiatives Symposium. A variety of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock departments will collaborate in the creation of the project, including the CRUX Lab, the Arkansas Institute for Economic Advancement, the Department of History, and IT Services. “This is a very collaborative project that pulls together people who are interested in the humanities,” Baldwin said. “The enjoyable part of this project is gathering a wide variety of people who don’t always work together.”

Vinikas donates planned gift to promote study of history at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, preservation of history collection

John Hill — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 13:00:05 +0000

A retired University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor has made a planned giving agreement that will honor his love of Arkansas history and encourage more students to enter the field for years to come. Dr. Vincent Vinikas, professor emeritus of history who taught at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock for 34 years, has donated a revocable trust, worth an estimated $100,000, to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock along with his collection of materials about American history. The trust will create two endowed funds, one for the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture and another for the Department of History. “There are two goals for my donation,” Vinikas said. “One is to promote the study of history, and the other is to promote a sense of community in the Department of History. The first gift promotes the study of history, the most important subject. There is no way to understand the present without understanding the past. I would like people to have a sense of community. The other gift is to promote a sense of collegiality and a community of ideas among faculty and students at the university who are studying, teaching, and researching history.” The Vinikas Endowment for the Study of American Culture will be used to process and maintain the Vinikas Archival Collection, which contains materials on the Great Depression, Native Americans, American culture, and American social history. The endowment will promote a better understanding of the history of American culture through scholarly study at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels and through public programming. “Dr. Vinikas dedicated his time to projects that directly involved students in ways that helped them see the relevance of history,” said Dr. Deborah Baldwin, director of the Center for Arkansas History and Culture and associate provost of collections and archives. “This endowment will continue this legacy.” The second half of the donation will establish the Vinikas Faculty/Student Success Endowment for the Department of History. The fund will promote fellowship and community among history students and faculty by supporting departmental events, including guest speakers, field trips, recruitment, and banquets. “We are thrilled about Dr. Vinikas’ planned gift to the History Department! His plan to create more opportunities for the historians and geographers of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock to gather and build esprit de corps is as unique as it is generous,” said Dr. Jess Porter, chair of the Department of History. “Dr. Vinikas is as friendly a person as has walked through these halls, so what could be more fitting than a fund to celebrate and encourage department camaraderie? Thank you Dr. Vinikas for your past, present, and future contributions to making our department a place where students and faculty find intellectual and social enrichment.” Vinikas joined ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 1983 and holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Before retiring in 2017, he served on the Faculty Senate, as faculty advisor to Phi Alpha Theta, and on an intercollegiate scholarship committee for the United Steelworkers Union. “A university is only as good as its faculty and supporting our faculty seems critical these days,” Vinikas said. “I hope this gift makes our university a better place, and that it encourages other people to be generous as well.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock remembers Linda Pine

John Hill — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 22:04:57 +0000

Linda Pine, an assistant professor emeritus of Ottenheimer Library at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock and former senior archivist with the Center for Arkansas History and Culture, passed away Sept. 17. “Linda had a keen knowledge and passion for Arkansas history that was truly an asset to the university,” said J.B. Hill, director of Ottenheimer Library. “She was successful in building a rich collaboration of Arkansas materials for scholars, as well as mentoring graduate students in their development as historians and archivists.” Pine was born Feb. 23, 1955, in Boulder, Colorado. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Hendrix College in 1978 as well as a master’s degree in public history from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 1986, where she was only the third person to graduate from the program. Her coursework at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock included library science, archival management, historic preservation, oral history, and southern history. She worked at the Arkansas Gazette from 1980 to 1983 as a chief marker/indexer and researcher in the news library. When she joined ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 1983, Pine worked as a research assistant and manuscripts supervisor at Ottenheimer Library. In 1989, she was named head of Archives and Special Collections. This was followed by her appointment as an assistant professor in 1991. In 2009, Pine became the director of Archives and Special Collections. In this position, Pine administered the Archives and Special Collections unit in Ottenheimer Library as well as the library’s portion of the Arkansas Studies Institute. She later became a senior archivist with the Center for Arkansas History and Culture and retired in May 2014. “Linda played a critical role in assembling the vast resources on Arkansas history that the university has been able to make available to students and the public,” said Dr. Deborah Baldwin, director of the Center for Arkansas History and Culture and associate provost of Collections and Archives.

Linda Pine, middle, speaks with Deborah Baldwin, left, and Joel Anderson, right, during her retirement party at Ottenheimer Library.

In the resolution giving her the title of assistant professor emeritus of Ottenheimer Library after her retirement, Pine is noted for her dedicated service that led to the development of rich collections in Arkansas history, the preservation of the records and history of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, and the collaboration of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock and the Central Arkansas Library System in the creation of the Arkansas Studies Institute. Dr. John Kirk, George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History, recalled how Pine helped him when he first arrived in Arkansas. “Linda was the first person I ever encountered at ��Vlog��ýLR back in the early 1990s when I was a visiting graduate student from the UK working on my Ph.D. dissertation,” Kirk said. “She went above and beyond to help me out. That Christmas, Linda made me a stocking filled with presents so that I would not feel as far away from home and family. I still have it and put it out every year. She was one of many distinguished alumni that have deeply influenced archives, museums, and other forms of public history in Arkansas and beyond.” Through her community and professional service, Pine worked with the Society of Southwest Archivists, Arkansas Archivists and Record Managers, Arkansas Women’s History Institute, Arkansas Historical Association, and National Dunbar Alumni Association History Project. Pine has also volunteered with the League of Women Voters of Pulaski County and the Old State House Museum, where she was a writer and later served on the editorial board for the Arkansas News, a newspaper published by the Old State House Museum for fifth graders in Arkansas. Condolences may be sent to Pine’s mother, Shirley Pine, at 106 Gilbert Drive, Little Rock, AR 72205, or sign her

��Vlog��ý Little Rock releases virtual exhibit to commemorate history of Elaine Massacre

John Hill — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 14:31:15 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture has launched a virtual exhibit to commemorate the 1919 Elaine Massacre, the deadliest racial conflict in Arkansas history. The exhibit, “,” is an interactive experience based on historical resources, including photographs, scholarly essays, and educational resources that can be used by historians, teachers, and students. “The Elaine project took well over a year to create,” said Dr. Deborah Baldwin, director of the Center for Arkansas History and Culture. “The 100th anniversary of the Elaine Massacre and the Red Summer took place last year, and we worked collaboratively with a variety of people at the university, the city of Little Rock, and partnering institutions to tell the history of Elaine Massacre and racial violence in Arkansas.” Scholarly essays written by professors and historians shed light on racial violence in Arkansas and the world, sharecropping, black labor organization, a comparison of white and black newspaper coverage of the conflict, the exodus of the black population from Phillips County, and the implications of the Moore vs. Dempsey Supreme Court ruling in 1923. The landmark ruling freed the Elaine 12, a dozen sharecroppers who were convicted of murder and sentenced to death by an all-white jury following the Elaine Massacre. In order to explore the effects of racial violence Arkansas during the 19th century, the exhibit includes a map that shows incidents of racial violence in the state from 1904 to the present. Racial conflict in the early 20th century, Jim Crow laws, and a lack of economic opportunities caused many black Arkansans to flee the state to cities in the north. A second interactive map shows how the Great Migration caused a sharp decrease in the state’s black population between 1910 and 1980. In 1910, black people consisted of 28.1 percent of the state’s population, which dropped to 16.3 percent in 1980. Pulaski County’s 1910 black population of 40.9 percent dropped to 23.9 percent by 1980. “What the center does best is to use primary source materials, mapping, and other educational materials and put them together in a fashion that gives people a good scope of the issue,” Baldwin said. “We do it well, and we do it via web exhibits that are very accessible to the general public, students, teachers, researchers, and historians.” An unprecedented number of racial violence against black people occurred across the country during 1919, leading the violence to be called the Red Summer. The Elaine Massacre began on Sept. 30, 1919, when a group of law enforcement officers interrupted a meeting of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union at a church in Hoop Spur, near Elaine. “The union’s goals were to help members obtain fair wages and treatment within the sharecropping system,” said Brian Mitchell, assistant professor of history at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock who was one of the contributors to the exhibit. “The black farmers who joined the union believed that by combining their financial resources, they could afford to hire legal representation and sue their plantation owners for stolen wages and spurious accounting of their debts.” Black sharecroppers met to discuss unionizing. In the confrontation, one of the officers was killed and a second wounded. Local telegraph operators contacted law enforcement in neighboring towns and the governor’s office. A mob of hundreds of white men poured into the county to suppress an alleged black revolt. At the end of the violence, five white men and an unknown number of black people were dead, though the number is estimated to be in the hundreds. The virtual exhibit was made in partnership with the Arkansas Humanities Council and funded by a grant from the Democracy and the Informed Citizen Initiative by the Federation of State Humanities Council and a grant by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture receives $20,000 to digitize issues of Oxford American Magazine

John Hill — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 14:44:28 +0000

The Center for Arkansas History and Culture at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has received $20,360 to digitize and make searchable issues of Oxford American, a quarterly literary publication based in Little Rock, Arkansas, that showcases the best in southern writing. The center will digitize 106 issues of the publication from spring 1992 to fall 2019. Additionally, the center will perform optical character recognition of the text, a process that allows users to actively search content in the digital copy of the printed publication. The project will be completed in the center’s Digital Services Lab, a comprehensive state-of-the-art technology space that provides digitization and born-digital processing services. The space is equipped with audio, video, photograph, and document digitization spaces along with a space specifically for processing digital materials. “We are pleased to partner with this outstanding publication to promote a better understanding of southern culture,” said Dr. Deborah Baldwin, director of the Center for Arkansas History and Culture. “Our Digital Services Lab is not only a value to the university, but also to the community.” The six-month project will digitize a total of 13,580 pages. Each digital copy of the publication will be produced in a high-quality image format.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock students capture history of Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau

John Hill — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 22:09:40 +0000

University of Arkansas at Little Rock public history students are working to preserve the history of Little Rock one organization at a time. Since 1984, students in Deborah Baldwin’s class have annually created a history of a local Little Rock organization, business, or nonprofit. They have completed histories on the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Arkansas Educational Television Network (AETN), Arkansas Times, Little Rock Zoo, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Junior League of Little Rock, Little Rock Central High School, Arkansas Arts Center, and many more. The students recently completed a history of the Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission and the , just in time to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The project was headed by public history students Alex Soulard and Nancy Tell-Hall. Additional members of the class include Kathryn Bryles, Jessica Chavez, Kary Goetz, Andrew McClain, Devin Sorrows, and Kathryn Thompson. “It was an interesting experience to be a project manager,” Soulard said. “My biggest takeaway from the project was the real-life, hand-on experience we received by working on a team with a real client. As historians, we largely work individually. We hardly get to work with a group of people. When you are completing a 50-year history project in four months with nine other people, you learn really good project management skills.” The comprehensive history of the two organizations, “Fifty Years of Southern Hospitality,” resulted in a 200-page report that included 17 oral history interviews as well as extensive research into the financial, tourism, and operational impact of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. “I want to thank the students and ��Vlog��ý Little Rock for preserving the history of the organization,” said Gretchen Hall, president and CEO of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. “I think they did an excellent job documenting our history and compiling it.” The visitor’s bureau plans to use sections of the report to promote its 50th anniversary and to educate employees and visitors about the importance of the organization. “This year is our 50th anniversary. The report communicates the value of our organization for the past 50 years,” Hall said. “We can use it as a springboard for the conversation of where our organization will go in the next 50 years.” The Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau serves as the official marketing organization for the City of Little Rock and is tasked with marketing the city as a meeting, sports, and leisure travel destination. Funding through the city’s hotel, motel, and restaurant tax, the bureau manages the Statehouse Convention Center, Robinson Center, River Market, and multiple parking facilities. The Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission serves as the governing body for the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. The seven-member volunteer consists of two elected officials from the City of Little Rock, four owners within the Little Rock hospitality industry, and one at-large seat. The organizations will continue to strive to improve the city’s economy and residents’ quality of life through the promotion of tourism in Little Rock. Upcoming projects include the renovation of the Arkansas Arts Center and the construction of several youth sports facilities.

$2.25 million gift to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture to help secure Rockefeller legacy in Arkansas

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 22:30:15 +0000

The Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust has gifted $2.25 million to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture to preserve and educate the public about the history of Arkansas, including the notable contributions of Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller. The gift, announced Sept. 10 at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown, will create the Winthrop Rockefeller Archival Fund, a quasi-endowment. It is the sixth largest cash gift in ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s history. Funds will be used to preserve, house, and catalog historical items from the Rockefeller Collection and to support topics and activities related to the center’s mission. “Almost a half a century ago, Arkansas lost a great leader, and I lost a friend with the passing of Winthrop Rockefeller,” said Marion Burton, executive trustee of the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust. “The trust that bears his name was established at the time of his death and has carried on his vision for the state. “The Charitable Trust and the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock center have been good partners in bringing the Arkansas story to the community. The Trustees have always carefully considered the impact of its donations, and this gift was no exception. The Charitable Trust recognizes the strengths and reputation of the Center for Arkansas History and Culture and is pleased to make this further commitment to their work.” The collection is comprised of papers, memorabilia, and historic records related to Gov. Rockefeller, Arkansas’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction and celebrated philanthropist. The Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust donated the collection to the center in 1980. The Rockefeller Collection, which was instrumental in establishing ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s archives program, represents the center’s largest collection with more than 2,000 boxes. The gift will allow the center to create educational activities, research initiatives, and events associated with the Rockefeller Collection and other collections housed in the center. “I want to thank Will Rockefeller and his family for their support for the Center for Arkansas History and Culture and the state,” said Deborah Baldwin, director of the Center for Arkansas History and Culture and associate provost for collections and archives. “We hope that the family will continue to see the center as the place to secure the Arkansas Rockefeller legacy. We are pleased that the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust has confidence in our vision and execution of the work.” Baldwin said plans for the center include increasing its archives to include collections of underrepresented groups that will complement its collection of records related to state leaders. The center will also increase efforts to digitize collections housed in the archive, making this historic information more accessible to the public. “Our archival collections can become a more complete reflection of the state’s people and organizations,” Baldwin said. “Scholars can better explore the ‘why’ questions of history with more complete information. This gift will make a difference. Positive change is a hallmark of Winthrop Rockefeller’s work. Behind all of these initiatives is our goal to inspire people to engage with Arkansas history and the future it maps for us.” Additionally, the center will offer more educational opportunities for students by granting awards to conduct research and providing experiential learning opportunities. “The Department of History views this remarkable gift as a watershed moment in its efforts to prepare students for professional careers through experiential education,” said Jess Porter, chair of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Department of History. “The Center for Arkansas History and Culture has long been an indispensable partner of our graduate program in Public History. Under the leadership of Dr. Baldwin, the center has trained a generation of graduate students who have gone on to become leaders in the humanities in central Arkansas and beyond.” Porter added that the center’s “hands-on experiences and cutting-edge technologies for undergraduates offer an applied dimension of archival education that is unparalleled in Arkansas.” The Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust was created by Gov. Rockefeller in 1972 to support charitable organizations. Rockefeller moved to Arkansas in 1953 where he established Winrock Enterprises and Winrock Farms, chaired the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission, and initiated many philanthropic projects. Rockefeller’s progressive and philanthropic vision is reflected in the papers he left behind and remains alive through the work of organizations he founded and inspired. “Governor Rockefeller believed that if others knew more about his adopted state, they would value it as much as he did,” said Burton. “They would then want to visit and invest in the place he chose as home.” The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock center has created special digital archive projects with the assistance of the Charitable Trust for educational programs for teachers and others around the state. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture The Center for Arkansas History and Culture collects, keeps safe, and makes available Arkansas history that connects people to each other and their shared experiences. The center collects materials on a variety of topics, with a strength in materials related to Arkansas governors, state legislators, civil rights history, environmental issues, urban and metropolitan development, family papers, the built environment, and women’s history. Reflecting the changes Arkansas has experienced over time, the center seeks additional collections in underrepresented populations and on cultural organizations. Collections are primarily paper, but also include multimedia and digital material. In the upper right photo, Deborah Baldwin, front left, associate provost of the Center for Arkansas History and Culture, watches archive footage of the Rockefellers with Rockefeller family members, Win Rockefeller Jr, center, Will Rockefeller, far back, and Lisenne Rockefeller, right, during an event at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown announcing a $2.25 million gift from the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture to preserve and educate the public about the history of Arkansas. Photo by Ben Krain.

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

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Announces Search for Dean of College of Business, Health, and Human Services

Braun Stepping Down as Dean

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Downtown Welcomes New Staff Members

����Vlog��ý Little Rock receives $325,000 grant from National Endowment for the Humanities

Vinikas donates planned gift to promote study of history at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock, preservation of history collection

����Vlog��ý Little Rock remembers Linda Pine

����Vlog��ý Little Rock releases virtual exhibit to commemorate history of Elaine Massacre

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture receives $20,000 to digitize issues of Oxford American Magazine

����Vlog��ý Little Rock students capture history of Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau

$2.25 million gift to ����Vlog��ý Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture to help secure Rockefeller legacy in Arkansas