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

Alum named first deaf superintendent of Missouri School for the Deaf

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 23:17:54 +0000

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has selected University of Arkansas at Little Rock alumnus Ernest Garrett III to head the Missouri School for the Deaf. When Garrett assumes his duties on July 1, he will become the first deaf superintendent of the school since its establishment by the Missouri Legislature in 1851. Garrett, currently serving as executive director of the Missouri Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, received an Associate of Arts degree and dual Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2003. He earned a Master of Science degree and a Master of Social Work degree, with a school social work specialization, from Gallaudet University. He is pursuing a research doctorate in management, with a specialization in leadership and organizational change, from Walden University. A native of St. Louis, Garrett is immediate past president of the National Black Deaf Advocates Inc., which gave him the 2009 Advocate of the Year Award. Garrett is also recipient of the 2011 Lasting Impression Award from Special School District of St. Louis County. He is a member of the Relay Missouri Advisory Committee, Missouri Newborn Hearing Screening Standing Committee, Missouri Department of Mental Health Deaf Advisory Council, and Missouri Deaf-Blind Technical Assistance Project Advisory Committee. Garrett is also a board member of the National Association of State Agencies for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Inc., and he is an advisory board member for the Described and Captioned Media Program, funded by the U.S. Department of Education and administered by the National Association of the Deaf. In addition, he is a member of the National Association of Social Workers, School Social Work Association of America, Academy of Management, and the Society for the Advancement of Management.

��Vlog��ýLR Alumni @ Work in the community

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 18:49:12 +0000

A strong alumni network enhances the value of a degree from a university. Many ��Vlog��ýLR alumni have discovered ways to show their Trojan pride by giving back to the community and by excelling in their professionals lives. The following University of Arkansas at Little Rock Alumni were recently recognized for their contributions:

Carolyn Pharis McCone, B.A. ’77, M.S.W. ’78, was named executive director of The Centers for Youth and Families Foundation.

Greg Joslin, M.P.A. ’92, became a partner at Irwin Partners.

Melissa S. Hendricks, M.A.’01, has been named director of development for Vera Lloyd Presbyterian Family Services.

Amanda M. Seevers, B.A.’13, joined Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods as an account coordinator.

��Vlog��ýLR alum, consultant, comes full circle to Arkansas after going global

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 21:57:14 +0000

Long before the term “global” came into widespread use, ��Vlog��ýLR alumna Susan Screeton knew she wanted to “go international.” Screeton, a planning and guidance consultant with Fidelity Investments responsible for covering the University of Arkansas System, wanted to set herself apart as she was finishing her business degree at ��Vlog��ýLR in the mid-1990s. “Of course, today we know business has gone global, but at the time I thought about an international focus, it was still a novel concept,” she said. Screeton sought out an opportunity with a study abroad program in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where she took courses in international finance and marketing and earned nine credits one summer as part of her degree plan. When she returned to the U.S., she landed her first career position doing commercial real estate with a regional bank in Little Rock and eventually relocated with them to St. Louis. Screeton finally got the global exposure she was looking for as a treasury management analyst working with the firm, but it required relocating to New York City. Screeton next grew her business career working with a global Wall Street firm servicing the media telecom sector. “If you are a large corporate operating globally, you require bank accounts and services around the globe,” she explained. “I was responsible for helping large corporations create banking structures that facilitated their global banking needs.” After three to four years of dedicated work, Screeton earned the role of vice president-global cash management sales officer. She has come full-circle to be closer to family in her home state of Arkansas, where she helps people fulfill their dreams of a comfortable retirement. She offered this career advice for other business majors considering their first opportunities straight out of college. “I hope this doesn’t sound cliché, but I always tell people to follow their heart,” she said. “Follow your heart with your ultimate goal in mind.” For Screeton, she said it took about five years for things to begin falling into place after she finished her formal education, but she never lost sight of what she desired. “It’s similar to the process for financial planning,” she said. “It’s all about the planning. It’s not the goal that is as important as deciding what exactly it is you want. When you know that, then you can do anything.”

��Vlog��ýLR Alumni @ Work in the community

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 22:11:43 +0000

The following University of Arkansas at Little Rock Alumni were recently recognized for their contributions:

Alan Ables, B.A. ’69, has published a fiction novel, “Tale of the Tape: Two Unlikely Heroes Take Down the Dixie Mafia.”

Simon Gould, B.S. ’90, will be inducted into the .

Lynn Hamilton, MBA ’79, has been named president and general manager of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Hamilton is also the 2013 ��Vlog��ýLR College of Business Distinguished Alumnus.

Joseph W. Price II, J.D. ’07, was selected to participate in the Arkansas Bar Association’s Leadership Academy Class of 2013-14.

John Rainwater, J.D. ’09, was selected to participate in the Arkansas Bar Association’s Leadership Academy class of 2013-14.

Janet Davis, B.A. ’72, and Dr. Glenn Davis, ’72, were named 2013 Outstanding Philanthropists by the Arkansas Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Bryan Hosto, B.B.A. ’85; J.D. ’89, was promoted to the Board of Directors of Make-A-Wish Mid-South.

To learn more about ��Vlog��ýLR alumni, go to /alumni.

Alumna recognized as an Arkansan of the Year

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 19:25:48 +0000

��Vlog��ýLR alumna Georgia Mjartan, the executive director of Our House, a non-profit shelter for homeless families, is featured in this month’s issue of as one of eight Arkansans of the Year.

With a $1 million annual budget, Mjartan and her staff of 37 provide job training and placement, child care, and summer camps to more than 1,000 people every year. She and the others selected by the magazine’s editorial team were recognized for demonstrating “tireless commitment to making our state a better place to live.” According to Arkansas Life, Mjartan is “slowly whittling down a checklist of goals she made when she first started the job.” In 2005, Mjartan took on the challenge of leading Our House at only 25 years of age and at a time when the organization couldn’t pay its utility bills or pay the contractors for an emergency shelter. Today, she is helping lead the way to a new 19,000-square-foot youth center that will serve more than 140 children per day when it opens next spring, more than tripling the number of homeless and near-homeless children who will be served. Mjartan has credited her success in managing resources for Our House to the things she learned while participating in ��Vlog��ýLR extracurricular activities. She was president of the Student Government Association, editor of a literary magazine, and first runner-up for homecoming queen. She also competed for a Rhodes Scholarship and became ��Vlog��ýLR’s first George Mitchell Scholar, which funded her study at the University of Ulster in Ireland. The former Donaghey Scholar was also ��Vlog��ýLR’s 2002 Whitbeck Scholar who led the class at commencement in a silver robe signifying her rank as first in her class. Mjartan also earned a Fannie Mae Foundation Fellowship to study at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She and her husband, Dominick, also a former Donaghey Scholar, are active with the ��Vlog��ýLR Alumni Association and the Office of Recruitment. Learn more about Mjartan and the work at Our House at ��Vlog��ýLR Grads@Work.

��Vlog��ýLR alum named to Arkansas Highway Commission

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 20:06:22 +0000

Frank D. Scott Jr., 29, a master’s of business administration alumnus of ��Vlog��ýLR’s College of Business, has been named to the Arkansas Highway Commission. Scott’s appointment was announced during a press conference given by Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe on Oct. 17. He replaces John Burkhalter, who resigned to seek the democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. Scott is an executive with First Security Bank and a former member of Beebe’s policy staff. Beebe said he had seen Scott grow “from an eager young man to an experienced, knowledgeable and fair-minded professional” and added, “I know Frank will make the most of this opportunity.” Scott spent five years as Beebe’s director of intergovernmental affairs. His new appointment runs through Jan. 14, 2017. He serves on both the ��Vlog��ýLR Alumni Association Board of Directors and the ��Vlog��ýLR Management Business Advisory Council. Scott also serves as a board member of the Little Rock Port Authority, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Arkansas, Better Community Development Inc., Walk It Out (chairman), and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. Learn more about Scott and other ��Vlog��ýLR graduates online at the Grads@Work site.

Office of Communications earns first place award

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 22:11:41 +0000

The ��Vlog��ýLR Office of Communications recently earned a first place award from the Arkansas Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

��Vlog��ýLR Executive Director of Communications Judy Williams receives the first-place award from PRSA Award Committee Member Kristen Vandaveer

The award in the Marketing Communications for a Nonprofit Organization category, recognized the success of the ��Vlog��ýLR Grads@Work campaign. The campaign grew from national research that indicated one of the top reasons today’s students choose a particular university is based on their ability to get a job once they graduate. “The strategy was to tell as many real-life alumni career stories as possible so that the audiences could relate to a real person who got their degree at ��Vlog��ýLR and is now successfully employed,” said Judy Williams, ��Vlog��ýLR executive director of communications. “What makes this award so gratifying is the fact that our staff – not an advertising agency – created this campaign that went from research to concept to execution. We all pulled together as a team to create our best work. I am so proud of our staff,” she said. Another huge benefit to the campaign was having the association with so many of our alumni who had great stories to tell, Williams said. “We worked very closely with the ��Vlog��ýLR Alumni Association and our faculty to connect us with graduates from all majors in a variety of jobs.” The marketing campaign drove audiences to a website – the hub of information for the campaign – ualr.edu/success. There, viewers could connect with ��Vlog��ýLR by learning more about featured graduates, applying to the university, or sharing their own graduate stories. Within the first two weeks of the site’s launch, there were nearly 26,000 page views from almost 2,000 unique visitors. The integrated campaign, which included television, print, radio, online, outdoor boards, and bus bench advertising, was launched early last year with a Grads@Work kickoff party held in downtown Little Rock for graduates working in central Arkansas. On-campus promotions and media relations were also part of the campaign. The 2013 Prism Awards event was held Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Arkansas Arts Center. The Prism Awards are awarded by PRSA, which recognizes exceptional public relations programs and the skills of the state’s practitioners, companies, and organizations. For a list of all of this year’s winners, go to .

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

Alum named first deaf superintendent of Missouri School for the Deaf

����Vlog��ýLR Alumni @ Work in the community

����Vlog��ýLR alum, consultant, comes full circle to Arkansas after going global

����Vlog��ýLR Alumni @ Work in the community

Alumna recognized as an Arkansan of the Year

����Vlog��ýLR alum named to Arkansas Highway Commission

Office of Communications earns first place award

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

��Vlog��ýLR Alumni @ Work in the community

��Vlog��ýLR alum, consultant, comes full circle to Arkansas after going global

��Vlog��ýLR Alumni @ Work in the community

��Vlog��ýLR alum named to Arkansas Highway Commission