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

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Launches Leadership Academy to Provide Professional Development Opportunities for Business Community

John Hill — Wed, 12 May 2021 21:57:56 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has launched a new Leadership Academy to provide customized and affordable professional development training for local businesses and organizations. The Leadership Academy provides leadership development to support professional growth within the organization. The Leadership Academy offers a variety of training in areas including business decision-making, personnel management, and communication. Courses are offered in person or in hybrid learning. “The need for the Leadership Academy came from the industry,” said Dr. Otmar Varela, director of the Leadership Academy and professor of management. “After conducting several focus groups last year with local business experts in leadership development, we realized the need for the academy. We believe this program offers a tremendous opportunity to provide unique training for the business community.” The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Leadership Academy is a joint effort between the School of Business, the Department of Applied Communication, and the Office of Extended Education. “I love that the School of Business and the Department of Applied Communication are teaming up on this venture,” said Dr. April Chatham-Carpenter, chair of the Department of Applied Communication. “We both have offered these types of workshops separately for years, but teaming up allows us to expand our offerings and tailor them to the needs of specific businesses in the community.” Training programs are tailor-made for each organization. The Leadership Academy experience begins with a client meeting to understand their specific needs. An expert facilitator will assess the organization and collaborate with the clients to create a custom-learning curriculum that supports the needs and goals of the organization. Clients are able to design their own curriculum and set the schedule and learning method that best fits their organization. Courses are offered in a variety of topics including strategic decision-making, performance management, and public speaking for professionals, as well as diversity management, emotional intelligence, and workforce engagement. The Leadership Academy faculty members will also work with organizations to create a personalized training that adapts to the attributes of participants. “I am thrilled that the School of Business and the Department of Applied Communication will be offering the Leadership Academy to Little Rock,” said Dr. Jane Wayland, dean of the College of Business, Health, and Human Services. “Businesses will be able to customize the training they need at a reasonable cost. High-quality instruction is assured by using full-time faculty who are experts in their fields.” The faculty instructors in the Leadership Academy include Drs. Naeem Bajwa, Richard Woodridge, and Otmar Varela from the School of Business as well as Drs. April Chatham-Carpenter, Gerald Driskill, Kristen McIntyre, Julien Mirivel, Bailey Oliver, Avinash Thombre, and Carol Thompson from the Department of Applied Communication. Christine Cotton serves as the partner from the Extended Education office. McIntyre, director of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Communication Skill Center, has collaborated with Varela for many years on offering communication workshops to business students and is excited to see the effort expand to the Leadership Academy. “It’s exciting to see our years of collaboration together formalized in the offering of such a valuable program,” she said. For more information on the Leadership Academy, including a free assessment of your organization’s training needs, contact Dr. Otmar Varela at oxvarela@ualr.edu or visit the Leadership Academy’s website.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Announces Events to Recognize Diversity Month

John Hill — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 18:38:18 +0000

To celebrate Diversity Month, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Diversity Council has scheduled a variety of events set to take place throughout the month of March. Presentations will include discussions on a range of topics, research findings, and historical events. Addressing Microaggressions – Noon, Wednesday, March 3 The Academy for Teaching and Learning Excellence (ATLE) will present this upcoming Lunch and Learn session as an opportunity for faculty to engage in conversations about how to deal with microaggressions in the classroom. Disability and Diversity – Noon, Thursday, March 4 The director for the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Disability Resource Center, Reed Claiborne, will present a discussion on disability and the things that frame perceptions of disabilities such as legal definitions, media portrayals, historical treatments, and more. Anti-Blackness, Social Feelings, and Public Policy: 1964-2020 – 6 p.m. Thursday, March 4 ��Vlog��ý Little Rock English Department’s Cooper Honors Program will present a talk with Dr. Lisa Corrigan, associate professor of communication and director of the Gender Studies program, who will discuss her latest book, “Black Feelings: Race, Affect, and the Long Sixties.” Building Collaborative Relationships to Improve Race Relations – 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 9 A panel of researchers from the Little Rock Congregations Study (LRCS) will discuss findings relevant to race relations from their Fall 2020 survey with 35 community congregations. The panel will consist of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock professors Gerald Driskill, Rebecca Glazier, and Kirk Leach. In partnership with the Clinton School of Public Service, the panelists will also present a process of facilitating community dialogues on key issues found within their survey results. Modern Warriors of World War I: American Indians in the Great War – Noon, Wednesday, March 10 Presented by Erin Fehr, an archivist with the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Sequoyah National Research Center, this event will highlight the sacrifice and bravery of American Indians and Alaska Natives that served in World War I. It will inform audience members about things such as how they used their language to create a code that was never broken by the Germans. The Sequoyah National Research Center created a to identify all 12,000 American Indians that served in World War I, which can be found online as part of the ’s website. New Funds for Minority Businesses in Little Rock – 2 p.m. Thursday, March 11 The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center will present a panel discussion on new funding opportunities available in Little Rock for minority businesses. We Sing! A Celebration of Women’s Heritage – 3 p.m. Sunday, March 14 ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Choirs will host a live-streamed performance celebrating Women’s Heritage Month, featuring historically informed music performances, poetry reading, a speaker with commentary on notable women of the suffrage movement, and a special musical oratory presentation with Dr. Linda Holzer and Dr. Yslan Hicks. Putting the Pieces Together: A look at how Universal Design for Learning, Open Educational Resources, and Affordable Learning Content work together to benefit students and faculty – 3 p.m. Monday, March 15 in the Ottenheimer Library Presented by e-Learning Specialist Hannah Hurdle, will discuss the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Open Educational Resources (OER), and Affordable Learning Content (ALC) frameworks for inclusive learning. Entrepreneurship: My Journey into the Unknown – 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 16 Entrepreneurial Education Specialist Pamela Reed, with the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, will present a panel discussion featuring minority entrepreneurs. Connecting & Utilizing Social Media for Each Generation – 1 p.m. Thursday, March 18 Jennifer McDannold, coordinator of student orientation and transitions, will present information about each generation, focusing on social media and marketing tricks as well as best practices for Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. “This is Not Who We Are:” Discussing Whiteness, Denial, & Division – 10 a.m. Monday, March 29 Laura Casey, a student success coach with the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Student Retention Initiatives (SRI) team, will host a discussion on the experiences of whiteness and confronting denial. She will be utilizing references such as Ibram Kendi’s book “How to Be an Antiracist” in her presentation to unpack what denial mixed with whiteness looks like. Exploring Our Power and Privilege – 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 30 Sharon Downs, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, will present this final event to encourage conversation on the concepts of power and privilege.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock working with local congregations on the 2020 Little Rock Congregations Study

John Hill — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 21:03:00 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is working with churches and congregations in Little Rock for the 2020 Little Rock Congregations Study. This year’s study asks congregation members about the community issues that are important to them. One of the long-term goals of the research is to bring together congregations and nonprofit organizations that would like to partner together to tackle Little Rock’s biggest problems. “We are excited to work with these congregations through this community-based research project, because we see it as a mutually beneficial way that the university and the community can connect,” said Dr. Rebecca Glazier. “Our students get a hands-on research experience they will never forget, and participating congregations get a professional report on the attitudes and well-being of their members. The students are contributing so much passion and creativity to this project to make it possible to do community-based research in the middle of a pandemic.” The is led by ��Vlog��ý Little Rock professors Rebecca Glazier, Gerald Driskill, and Kirk Leach, in consultation with the project’s Clergy Advisory Board, a group of eight clergy members in Little Rock who advise the Little Rock Congregations Study. Currently, 36 congregations are participating in the study, and thousands of congregation members will have the opportunity to complete the survey distributed through their place of worship. The online survey will be available until Nov. 1. “As a student researcher that is passionate about helping people, I am excited about how the data we collect will impact congregations and nonprofits,” said Alanna Tatum, a Master of Public Administration student from North Little Rock. “This study is going to connect people that want to serve to people that need to be helped in our community.” Every congregation that participates will receive a report that includes data on demographics; worship service attendance; mental, physical, and spiritual health; congregational and community engagement; perceptions of community and racial unity and division; and ways members desire to serve the community. The report will also connect congregations and nonprofit organizations with similar community service goals. “We ask questions about how they are doing spiritually, the community issues that matter to them, and where they would like to get involved,” Glazier said. “The reports the students will help produce will include information on how to connect with nonprofits and other congregations working on the issues that matter most to each congregation’s members, so we hope our work will help facilitate collaboration.” Glazier and her student researchers have been surveying and interviewing religious leaders since the summer and in the current stage of the research, they are now surveying individual congregation members. Some of the study’s early research looked at how religious leaders in Arkansas are growing more concerned with the issue of race relations in the U.S. After hosting a Little Rock Religious Leaders Summit last year, the Little Rock Congregations Study research team decided to address questions of race and social justice. “The work which we are doing gives us the opportunity to bring our community closer together both religiously and socially. Throughout our studies, we are striving to discover the impact religious, religious institutions, and their ideals have in the city of Little Rock,” said Issac Thomas, a political science and history major from Ashdown, Arkansas. “I believe that the research we do now will be a precept by which the social issues facing not only our own city, but the wider world, can be mitigated.” Community members who are interested in learning more about the Little Rock Congregations Study research project can or may contact Glazier at raglazier@ualr.edu.

Little Rock Congregations Study shows more clergy are concerned about race relations

John Hill — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 21:32:06 +0000

Research from the at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock shows that religious leaders in Little Rock are growing more concerned with the issue of race relations. The Little Rock Congregations Study is led by ��Vlog��ý Little Rock professors Rebecca Glazier, Gerald Driskill, and Kirk Leach, in consultation with the project’s Clergy Advisory Board, a group of eight clergy members in Little Rock who advise the Little Rock Congregations Study. Glazier, a professor of political science, and her student researchers are surveying religious leaders over the summer as part of the 2020 study. After seeing the protests that enveloped the community after the death of George Floyd, Glazier turned to the Today, there are no longer any faith leaders in Little Rock who are responding that the issue of race relations is “moderately important” or “slightly important.” A recent look at the results shows that 30 percent of clergy identify the issue of race relations as “important,” while 70 percent identify it as “very important.” “I think the clergy in Little Rock have been concerned about race relations for many years,” Glazier said. “We see a trend of increasing importance in this issue that has been going on for years. I think it reflects a growing awareness of this issue in our society. As we have seen more instances of police brutality caught on video, you see our society saying this is unacceptable. You’ve seen the Black Lives Matter movement grow. We’re seeing how important racial justice issues are.” After hosting a Little Rock Religious Leaders Summit last year, the Little Rock Congregations Study research team decided they would more directly address questions of race and social justice during the 2020 study. Among other topics that faith leaders emphasized at the summit, racial division rose to the top again and again. “When we look at the data we have collected over the years, they tell a story of a city that is deeply divided,” Glazier said. “Little Rock has a history of racial violence, segregation, red-lining, and hate. It is no surprise that the vast majority (86 percent) of 2020 responding clergy strongly agree or agree that ‘Little Rock has a problem with racial division.’” Clergy, historically, have played an important role in civil rights in the United States in terms of mobilizing and healing. Many of the religious leaders participating in the study have talked about their roles as leaders in the current crisis. “I think they can continue to play a very critical role at this moment in history,” Glazier said. “The clergy that I have been talking to for years have said we’ve heard a lot of talk about the need for social justice and better race relations, but we haven’t seen a lot of actions. I believe the religious leadership think now is the time to take more action. They are leading conversations across racial lines, holding meetings with police, protesters, and legislators, holding peaceful protests, and talking about working peacefully toward reconciliation. The call is very much to action and not just to words.” During an interview with Pastor Billy Burris of St. Peter Missionary Baptist Church, Burris recalled the many activities he participated in during a single day, which included a prayer call, an interview on a radio station, and a meeting with other pastors and the chief of police. “We are just trying to help, trying to be a conduit, if you will, between law enforcement and the community, and doing what we can for the peaceful protests,” Burris said. Hope remains strong among religious leaders in Little Rock that the situation will improve. Sixty percent of early clergy respondents agree or strongly agree that race relations are likely to improve in Little Rock in the future. “Places of worship and people of faith have always played a powerful role in mobilizing people to fight for justice and in healing past wounds,” Glazier said. “The early results from our 2020 study reveal that there is still a lot of hope in our city. Communities of faith are key to making that happen.” In the upper right photo, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock professors and student researchers, from left, Gerald Driskill, Jessica Olson, Jasmine Pugh, Kaylyn Hager, and Rebecca Glazier are researching how partnerships between churches and nonprofit organizations can provide services to the community. Photo by Ben Krain.

Little Rock Congregations Study seeks to benefit, connect congregations through new survey

John Hill — Fri, 15 May 2020 20:13:55 +0000

When Rebecca Glazier first began the Little Rock Congregations Study in 2012, her goal was to learn about faith-based community engagement and to provide her students with an opportunity to learn outside the classroom. In 2020, her goal is to use the results to make a difference in the community by bringing together congregations and nonprofits who want to tackle Little Rock’s biggest problems. “Last year, we brought in over 50 clergy leaders in Little Rock and asked what are the most important issues facing the city,” Glazier said. “We learned that one of the key things congregations struggled with was connecting across these issues and finding other congregations and nonprofit organizations that were working on the same issues. They wanted a better way to work together to help solve problems facing the community.” The 2020 will move completely online. This move will allow significantly more people to participate in the survey and for the data to be compiled more easily. “We have learned that when congregations serve the community, it creates a culture of service that also leads members to serve in their own places of worship,” Glazier said. “We have learned that growing congregations are significantly more likely to be led by clergy who are engaged in the community.” The surveys have been prepared by an interdisciplinary research team at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, including Glazier and ��Vlog��ý Little Rock professors Dr. Gerald Driskill and Dr. Kirk Leach, in consultation with the , a group of eight clergy members in Little Rock who advise the Little Rock Congregations Study. Graduate and undergraduate student researchers are also part of the Little Rock Congregations Study team. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students participating in a course on religion and community will be working on this project and helping to write reports that will be shared with each congregation and with the broader community during the fall 2020 semester. Researchers are working with individual congregations to send the survey to all of their members. “We know being physically distant from each other in places of worship has been hard,” Leach said. “This survey provides an opportunity for leaders and members to reconnect and share how they are doing.” Every congregation will receive a report that includes data on demographics; worship service attendance; mental, physical, and spiritual health; congregational and community engagement; perceptions of community and racial unity and division; and ways members desire to serve. A unique feature of the report is that leaders will learn of other congregations and nonprofits that share a desire to collaborate on specific community needs. The research team is currently recruiting places of worship to participate. “I think the work of the Little Rock Congregations Study provides a great opportunity for all of us to learn more about what congregations and other religious groups are contributing to the community and also more comprehensive information about what the members of our individual congregations care about and value,” said Lindy Vogado, associate pastor at Second Presbyterian Church and member of the Clergy Advisory Board. “We hope the information we gain from this study will help us to serve our neighbors better.” The most important data congregations will receive in Glazier’s opinion is information that will hopefully build partnerships between congregations and nonprofits who wish to combine resources to take on a community issue affecting Little Rock. “Leaders will receive data on whether their members think their place of worship should be involved in helping to solve the community issues they see as most important and whether the members would be willing to volunteer on those issues,” Glazier said. “Because we know how important collaboration is to religious leaders, for each of the top three community issues of concern to their congregants, we will include the contact information for other congregations and nonprofits currently working on those issues. These reports will provide immediate, valuable data to leaders to know what matters to their members and how to get engaged.” “We continue to learn that we are better together,” Driskill said. “We can tackle the most difficult challenges when we collaborate. This survey will aid us all in working together toward bigger dreams–toward building hope.” The surveys are expected to be available to fill out online between Oct. 1 to Nov. 2. Congregations who are interested in participating in the 2020 Little Rock Congregations Study may contact Glazier at raglazier@ualr.edu.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock study explores need to form partnerships between nonprofits, congregations

John Hill — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 14:43:30 +0000

While many nonprofits and religious congregations partner together to help people in need in the Little Rock area, more partnerships are needed to meet the city’s growing demand for services, according to the results of a University of Arkansas at Little Rock study. The Little Rock Congregations study is an ongoing research project led by Dr. Rebecca Glazier, associate professor in the School of Public Affairs, stemming from research begun in 2012 about the effects of religious organizations on community engagement in Little Rock. Her research partners include Dr. Kirk Leach, assistant professor in the School of Public Affairs, and Dr. Gerald Driskill, professor of applied communication. Glazier recently released the results of the 2019 survey, which focused on surveying and interviewing nonprofit leaders to learn more about how and when collaborations with congregations occur. “We were surprised and excited about how open nonprofits are to working with congregations in Little Rock,” Glazier said. “The lens that we brought to this part of the research was to fulfill a need that we’ve heard about congregations wanting to work with more nonprofits. We saw an overwhelming amount of nonprofits that wanted to partner with congregations. We were worried that many might have policies that prevent them from working with religious organizations, but that wasn’t the case.” Researchers spoke with 118 nonprofit leaders in the Little Rock area, out of 329 that were contacted. The survey found that 70 percent of the respondents have partnered with congregations in the past. All of the respondents who’ve partnered with congregations expressed interest in partnering again. An additional 20 percent of respondents have not had a partnership with a congregation, but expressed interest in doing so, while 7 percent of respondents have no desire to partner with a congregation, and 3 percent reported their nonprofit’s policies don’t allow collaboration with a religious organization. “A lack of interest is not preventing partnerships,” Glazier said. “Nonprofit policies are not preventing partnership. Nonprofits are actively seeking partnerships. Our conclusion from this data and from the clergy study in 2018 is that more partnerships will happen as more connections across organizations are made. We hope to facilitate such connections throughout 2020.” The vast majority of respondents (79 percent) are collaborating with other organizations, including congregations, to deliver needed social serves in Little Rock. Of the nonprofit leaders surveyed, 19 percent said they collaborate to connect with the community, 17 because of the topic, and 13 percent as a cost-reduction strategy. The community services provided by nonprofits are more diverse than those offered by local congregations. In 2018, the study found that marriage and relationship counseling are the most popular services (61 percent) offered by Little Rock-based congregations followed by food pantries (48 percent) and education services (34 percent). On the other hand, the most common service offered by nonprofits is education (30 percent), followed by healthy eating (17 percent). The diverse range of services provided by Little Rock nonprofits include community gardens, pregnancy testing, and entrepreneurial support, which are all topics that never came up in previous research with congregations.There is a great potential for the expansion of partnerships between nonprofits and congregations to meet the rising needs of the Little Rock community. Out of those surveyed, 80 percent reported an increase in demand for their services. Glazier feels that two key areas for future collaboration include education, one of the highest service areas offered by both nonprofits and congregations in Little Rock, and food initiatives. “Many congregations host food pantries and many nonprofits focus on healthy eating education,” Glazier said. “Working together, the two types of organizations could get more and healthier food and better nutrition information to people in need in our community.” Since the study began in 2012, more than 170 students have conducted research. When the project began, the researchers investigated the impact of community engagement by congregations. Since 2018, they’ve looked more closely at the role of nonprofit organizations. The 2019 study focused on surveying and interviewing nonprofit leaders to learn more about how and when collaborations with congregations occur. Researchers looked at the impacts of local faith-based community engagement while also providing relevant and meaningful information and resources to the community, such as an interactive map of the city’s food pantries. “Churches may have been more focused on people in their congregations in the past, but now, more than ever, they’re raising their heads and looking around their community for opportunities to serve,” said Lauri Currier, executive director of The Call. The Little Rock Congregations Study will continue this year with a survey of congregation members in Little Rock. The surveys will include questions about community issues church members see as most important to the city, what issues they would like their congregations to be active in, and if they are willing to volunteer. Congregation leaders can use the results to prioritize their community engagement initiatives, while the researchers will connect congregations and nonprofits that are interested in working on the same issues. “We want to facilitate partnerships between nonprofits and congregations,” Glazier said. “We’ve heard them say they want to make more connections to help the community and to really make a difference for our city. We can make the process so much easier by connecting congregations and nonprofits together.” In the upper right photo, from left, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock professors and student researchers Gerald Driskill, Jessica Olson, Jasmine Pugh, Kaylyn Hager, and Rebecca Glazier are researching how partnerships between churches and nonprofit organizations can provide services to the community in the Little Rock Congregations Study. Photo by Ben Krain.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock researchers study impact of faith-based community engagement in Little Rock

Ajani Oyindamola — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 18:27:21 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is researching how places of worship in Little Rock work with nonprofit organizations to promote community engagement and provide social services to vulnerable populations. The Little Rock Congregations Study is part of an ongoing research project led by Dr. Rebecca Glazier, professor in the School of Public Affairs, stemming from research begun in 2012 to study the effects of religious organizations on community engagement in Little Rock. The interdisciplinary project brought together 59 student researchers from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock who gained invaluable research experience. More than 110 clergy members from congregations across Little Rock completed the survey, while 24 clergy were interviewed. Additionally, students wrote. Undergraduate students in Glazier’s Survey Research Methods class assisted in developing the survey and distributing it to clergy members. They also wrote stories highlighting the good work done through partnerships between places of worship and nonprofit organizations. Members of Dr. Kirk Leach’s graduate Nonprofit Management class and Dr. Gerald Driskill’s undergraduate Intercultural Communication class conducted in-depth interviews with clergy members. “Sometimes, the university can feel pretty distant from the rest of the city,” Glazier said. “The Little Rock Congregations Study gets students out of the classroom and into the community to do research that really matters. We are working hard to share findings that clergy members, congregants, and the broader Little Rock community will find valuable.”

Dr. Rebecca Glazier stands with Little Rock Congregations Study student researchers Anet Rosas-Labrada, Anna Aguilar, Rhodes Houser, Nikki Partlow-Loyall, and Josie Keathley.

The researchers have found that marriage and relationship counseling is the most common service provided by congregations, with 61 percent of responding congregations providing these services, followed by 47 percent of congregations in the study providing a food bank. Partnerships between congregations and nonprofit organizations are a common occurrence. More than 50 percent of congregations with food banks have a partner to help provide that service. Meanwhile, 60 percent of congregations who provide medical screenings or other services have a partner, likely because these types of services are more resource intensive. The most common reason for a partnership between a congregation and a nonprofit is a desire to connect with the community. “Partnerships aren’t happening out of a need for resources, as we might expect, but are more often motivated by the desire of a congregation to get beyond their own members and connect with the broader community in Little Rock,” Glazier said. Three of the student researchers, all political science majors, are taking the project a step further. They have received Signature Experience Awards from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock to conduct individual research projects with the help of faculty mentors. Jordan Wallis, a Marine Corps veteran, received a grant to look specifically at veterans’ services provided by congregations and nonprofits in Little Rock. “I am excited to be able to do empirical, community-based research that will further my education and allow me to do a little bit to help fellow veterans in need,” Wallis said. Next, Paige Topping received a grant to study community outreach efforts to share the results of the Little Rock Congregations Study. “I am thankful for the opportunity to not only research issues that are important to my community, but to also connect on a local level and create long-lasting relationships and positive impacts,” Topping said. The third student, Madison Rodgers, received an honorary award to look at longitudinal data from the Little Rock Congregations Study and track community engagement over time. Updates on the continuing research can be found on the or. In the spring 2019 semester, the group will survey people who work at nonprofit organizations in Little Rock to get their perspectives on collaborating with congregations. Additionally, the researchers have received a $1,000 grant from the Arkansas Community Foundation to host a workshop in the spring 2019 semester to share the latest research findings with clergy members. They will also build a clergy advisory board to help prepare for the 2020 Little Rock Congregations Study. In the upper right photo, Dr. Rebecca Glazier (left) discusses the Little Rock Congregations Study with student researchers Anna Aguilar, Nicole Ursin, and Rhodes Houser.

Graduating student wants to be a mentor for others like him

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 11 May 2018 13:09:54 +0000

For Nigel Spears, serving as a mentor has been one of the most rewarding experiences of his life. He understands how important it is for young people to have positive role models in their lives, so he has volunteered as a mentor for the African American Male Initiative and Charles W. Donaldson Scholars Academy at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. “My dad was in the U.S. Army for 22 years and wasn’t really around when I was growing up,” he said. “He was gone for months and years at a time. I didn’t have any male figures that I felt comfortable looking up to. I want to give back to those who are in the same situation as me. I understand that feeling like you have no male to live up to is hard, especially for African-American men. There are a lot of things you miss out on. If I can be the one that an African-American male wants to model themselves after, if I am able to influence them in any positive way, I want to be that person.” Spears, a native of Fort Smith and a member of the U.S. Navy Reserve, will graduate May 12 from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock with a bachelor’s degree in applied communication. After graduation, he plans to earn a master’s degree in applied communication from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock and then attend seminary school. Spears plans to work as a motivational speaker, trainer, and consultant for mediation conflict, social media, conflict management, and customer service. “I want to see everybody be successful in life,” he said. “I want to give back to my community.” In 2017, Nigel Spears found himself at a point in life where nothing seemed to be going right. “I wasn’t talking to my family. The relationship I was in was going south. I didn’t have a job, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do in my life. I was in a horrible space,” he said. He credits Dr. Gerald Driskill’s class with giving him a new lease on life. “I took Dr. Driskill’s Human Communications Concepts class, and it saved my life,” he said. “Taking his class made me realize how much I needed to grow. It gave me a reality check. I learned the foundations and the principles of self-reflecting, being able to look at yourself and be honest with yourself, and how to fix the problems going forward. His class is what laid the foundation of how I operate my relationships today. I say it saved my life because without those core principles, I probably wouldn’t be here today.”

Photo of Nigel Spears by Ben Krain.

Spears funneled his new life lessons into a motivational video series called SELFISH, which stands for Self, Expand, Language, Forgiveness, Invest, Strategy, and Hone. “In the period between me dropping business finance as a major and finding applied communication, I had to reevaluate myself,” Spears said. “I had to figure out who I was. There are a lot of people, especially students, who live their lives for other people. You have to be able to know who you are, what you want to do, and how to accomplish that.” Spears’ project caught the attention of his applied communication professors. “Nigel won our departmental Making a Difference award in 2017 for his work in developing a video series focusing on showing teens and young adults how to incorporate positive communication into their relationships and their environment,” said Dr. April Chatham-Carpenter, chair of the Department of Applied Communication. “His messages impart practical advice about the impact of such things as word choice in dealing with conflicts.” The catch phrase of Spears’ video series is “Salute Your Struggle.” He believes that every struggle in his life has helped him become the person he is today and wants to help others to embrace their struggles as well. Spears started at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in the Summer Bridge Academy, a three-week residential program aimed at preparing incoming freshmen for college-level work by eliminating the need for them to take remedial math and English courses. He built good relationships with Jonathon Bobo and Kalan Horton. He also worked as an aide for the Green Dot Program and interned as a patient advocate at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He also credits his fraternity brothers in Alpha Phi Alpha for helping him become a leader and providing a support system. Spears is also thankful to his “school mom,” Kristen McIntyre, Chatham-Carpenter, Mia Phillips, Melissa Johnston, and girlfriend, Marqueashia Thompson, for helping him through his ��Vlog��ý Little Rock journey.

Dr. Gerald Driskill to lead upcoming Leadership Lecture, Feb. 22

Jenny Lambert — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:20:37 +0000

Join the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Applied Communication for its upcoming Leadership Lecture on Thursday, Feb. 22, led by Dr. Gerald Driskill, graduate program coordinator of the department. The lecture will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Donaghey Student Center Room G. Members of the Little Rock community are invited to attend and are encouraged to bring a $20 donation. The cost for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock faculty, staff, and students is $5 with their identification cards. To kick off the evening, Driskill will begin with the discussion of his topic, “Leadership and Community Transformation: Co-Creating Counter Narratives.” His goal is to bring to life a perspective that counters the norm of individualism and non-cooperation in the American culture. “Counter narratives in literature focus in on stories that correct missing, incomplete, inaccurate, or even damaged stories,” Driskill stated. “So, for example, one colleague of mine has been doing work in rural communities with the narratives about poverty. The narratives about how to get out of poverty are often missing, inaccurate. People have their stereotypes and prejudice against someone in poverty. Some of their work was about creating counter narratives and being able to empower those community members to share those stories and live those stories, to show there are pathways that we can navigate, and that it’s not impossible to identify positive stories of change within such communities.” Driskill earned his master’s degree in human communication from Abilene Christian University and Ph.D. in communications studies from the University of Kansas. He is the co-author of “Organizational Culture in Action: A Cultural Analysis Workbook,” and has published articles in the Journal of Applied Communication, Communication Studies, Communication Teacher, and the Journal of Communication and Religion. For more information, check out Driskill’s interview about the lecture, or to register for the event, click here.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to host International Celebration Week Nov. 13-16

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 13:24:07 +0000

Continuing a campus tradition years in the making, hundreds of University of Arkansas at Little Rock students, employees, and families will gather for an international Thanksgiving celebration on Wednesday, Nov. 15. The annual dinner is a tradition of International Celebration Week, which runs Nov. 13-16 at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. The week of events strengthens awareness of national cultures and encourages interaction between diverse student organizations and departments on campus. The week’s activities will include a campaign to write letters of hope for people in war-torn Syria, a panel discussion on DACA (Deferred Action for Child Arrivals) program, interfaith dialog lunches, and a day devoted to celebrating the different cultures represented on the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock campus. International Celebration Week will kick off with from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13, in Donaghey Student Center Ledbetter A and B. Participants are invited to write letters of hope to let the Syrian people know the world has not forgotten them. Arkansas-based representatives of the Syrian Emergency Task Force will provide information about the crisis in Syria. Snacks and refreshments will be provided. International Celebration Day will be from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14, in the Donaghey Student Center Ledbetter Hall. With interactive displays, intercultural communication posters, music, dances, and food, this fun-filled event will feature students representing their cultures and discussing worldwide career and volunteer opportunities. Complete the International Celebration day to participate. During the International Celebration Week panel at noon Wednesday, Nov. 15, in Donaghey Student Center Ledbetter A, panelists will discuss immigration in the United States, the nature of DACA, and the politics surrounding proposals to change or eliminate the program. The Thanksgiving celebration provides a free meal for those who cannot travel home for the holiday. Members of the public are invited to join the dinner. The event will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15, in the Donaghey Student Center Ledbetter Hall. Reserve tickets by stopping by the Office of Campus Life in Donaghey Student Center Room 216. To wrap up the week, an interfaith dialog lunch will take place from noon to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, in Donaghey Student Center Room 205G. This event, sponsored by the Chancellor’s Leadership Corps and hosted by the Department of Applied Communication, will provide students with the opportunity to understand the faith and worldviews of other students. Register for the event by filling out this. For more information on International Celebration week, contact Casey Jackson-Aceituno at cljacksonac@ualr.edu or Dr. Gerald Driskill at 501-569-3158 or gwdriskill@ualr.edu.

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

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