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

Hass Adds to Economic Development Skills

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:08:37 +0000

Tonya Goza Hass, assistant research extension specialist at ��Vlog��ýLR, has completed an intensive week-long, three-tiered program from the University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute. Hass completed the OU EDI fall session, held in Indianapolis, on Nov. 15. The program provides a broad spectrum of advanced education for the economic development professional. Classes focus on business retention and expansion, real estate, and finance, as well as areas of concentration in marketing, strategic planning, entrepreneurship, and managing economic development organizations.

Forum to Teach ‘Hand to Hand’ Eco Development

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 21:36:10 +0000

Frank Crockett of American Electric Power Southwest Power Pool will present a forum Thursday, Sept. 20, on how to work with industrial prospects and how to learn what drives their decisions.

The forum will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in room 450 in the ��Vlog��ýLR Donald W. Reynolds College of Business Center at University Avenue and 28th St.

The cost is $35 per person and the deadline to is Wednesday, Sept. 12.

The “Hand to Hand Sales for Economic Development” forum will explain a sales system designed to work with industrial prospects from the initial contact to the selection of their next new industrial location.

The forum explores “why people buy” and how to work with clients to find out what really drives their industrial project. The discussion will include what to say, what to ask, and how to ask it in the proper manner.

“From the science of sales to the psychology involved in sales, it is great information,” said IEA’s Tonya Haas.

Crockett has more than 20 years of economic development experience and has served as a manager of community affairs and economic development executive with Kentucky Power and Appalachian Power in Virginia. He also has nine years of previous experience with local government agencies.

To register, go to .

Economic Conference to Forecast State, National Outlook Nov. 2

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:12:51 +0000

Kenneth Simonson, chief economist of the Associated General Contractors of America, will present his take on the national economic outlook at the Arkansas Economic Forecast Conference, hosted by the Institute for Economic Advancement, Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Little Rock. Simonson’s talk from 9:30 to 10:20 a.m. will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Roby Brock, editor-in-chief of “Talk Business.” Panelists will be Ray C. Dillon, president and chief executive officer of Deltic Timber Corp.; Lane Kidd, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association; and J. French Hill, chief executive officer and chair of Delta Trust and Banking Corp. From 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Dr. Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster at the ��Vlog��ýLR Institute for Economic Advancement, will present Arkansas’s economic outlook. Jon Harrison, former general manager of North American Motor Grader Operation for Caterpillar Inc., will deliver the luncheon keynote speech at 12:30 p.m. for the conference is $50. Checks can be made payable to the IEA Forecast Conference. For more information, contact Tonya Hass at 501-683-7407.

RFP, RFI Topic of Economic Institute’s Forum Feb. 24

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:59:13 +0000

Community and economic developers, along with elected officials, can hone their skills in Requests for Information (RFI) and Requests for Proposals (RFP) at ��Vlog��ýLR’s in the College of Business’s winter forum from 9 a.m. to noon, Thursday, Feb. 24, in Room 450 of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Business and Economic Development. Speakers include Denise Hanna and Clint O’Neal with the and Frank Crockett, manager of economic development for Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas for located in Shreveport, LA. Cost of the event, including lunch, is $35. Participants can register before Feb. 19. Seating is limited. For more information, contact Tonya Hass.

In Memoriam: Dr. Barton Westerlund

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:17:53 +0000

Dr. Barton Westerlund, former director of the Industrial Research and Extension Center at ��Vlog��ýLR from 1962 to 1984, died Saturday, Jan. 22. He was 89. A former chair of the Department of Marketing and Advertising, Westerlund was a professor of economics and marketing until his retirement in 1990. His is survived by his wife, Dorothy Perkins Westerlund, and their three children. Services will be held Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 11 a.m. at Faith Lutheran Church at Markham Avenue and Mississippi Street. Burial will be private at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock. Arrangements are with Little Rock Funeral Home, 8801 Knoedl Ct., Little Rock, 501-224-2200. His online guest book can be signed at .

Managers, Community Leaders Invited to Leadership Forum

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 16:03:05 +0000

��Vlog��ýLR’s (IEA) is launching a new leadership forum beginning Nov 19 that includes a series of workshops that teach mid-level managers and community leaders how to become enthusiastic and empowered leaders in their business and communities. The first forum, “Agenda for Change Leadership,” will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 19, at ��Vlog��ýLR’s Donald W. Reynolds Center for Business and Economic Development at 28th Street and University Avenue. The registration fee is $40. Register, or call 501-569-8519 for additional information. “The forum is designed for employees who believe they have leadership potential and need additional training,” said Randy Wright, deputy director of IEA. Topics at the first forum will include dealing with difficult employees (harassment, bullying, and conflict as positive outcomes), adaption of leadership styles (learning which leadership style is best for particular employees), and handling stress. “Stress can be used to increase production and efficiency,” said John Hendon, management instructor in the ��Vlog��ýLR College of Business and president of the VMP Group. “The forum will train participants how to recognize when employees are overstressed and strategies to manage the stress.” Wright and Hendon will be instructors at the forum, along with John Lilly with the Arkansas Management System.

IEA Sponsors Twin Forums Tuesday

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:47:30 +0000

The Center for Economic Development Education and Workforce Analysis and Assistance at ��Vlog��ýLR’s Institute of Economic Advancement (IEA) will host two forums on Tuesday, Aug. 31. The morning targeting innovation and workforce development systems and the afternoon focus on innovation and economic development. Topics include business case in innovation, new futures for youth, two-year college partnerships, workforce development, and innovation in economic development. Admission for both forums is $40 per person and includes a box lunch. Admission for one forum is $25. Space is limited. The morning forum presenters and their topics are Scott Reed, managing director of Reed Realty, “Business Case in Innovation”; Tauheed Salaam, program specialist for capacity building at New Futures for Youth, “Non-government Organization Partnerships”; Mary Ann Shope, vice president for the Economic Development Business and Industry Center, Pulaski Technical College, “Two-Year College Partnerships”; John Brunson Jr., area workforce director of Central Arkansas Planning and Development District, “Connecting Arkansas Workforce Development System.” Afternoon speakers and their topics are Terre McLendon, director of community and industry studies at IEA, “Innovation in Economic Development”; Kirk Manor, project manager at Winrock International, “Innovation Driven Economic Development”; and Dan Curtis, director of Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions, “Innovation Engineering Leadership Institute.” by Aug. 25. To RSVP or for more information, contact Tonya Hass at 501-683-7407. IEA is a part of the ��Vlog��ýLR College of Business.

Issues Breakfast Series Focuses on the Arkansas Workforce

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:04:35 +0000

The in the ��Vlog��ýLR College of Business is hosting a statewide business and economic discussion Wednesday, Aug. 18, with a focus on the state’s workforce. The links educational institutions throughout the state via videoconferencing, and provides an interactive setting for learning about the latest economic trends that affect businesses in the state. The event will be from 7 to 9:15 a.m. The Little Rock site will be in Room 103 of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Business and Economic Development, located on 28th Street and South University Avenue on the ��Vlog��ýLR campus. Parking will be available in Lot 13, in front of the Jack Stephens Center, across the street from the Reynolds Center. The program is the third in the series and will focus on matching the needs of business and industry with the skills of the Arkansas workforce. , chief economist and state economic forecaster for the Institute for Economic Advancement, and Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville will provide the latest data and trends about the state’s economy. Charisse Childers, executive director of , will make the business case for being concerned about student and worker capability in science, technology, engineering, and math. After her presentation, faculty, staff, and business leaders from around the state will engage participants among the seven sites in discussion about workforce readiness. Accelerate Arkansas is a statewide group of leaders volunteering their time and resources to focus on how to move the state forward in the 21st century economy. Cost is $20 for the breakfast event, and reservations are required by Aug. 16. Registration is limited. Reservations for any of the seven locations can be made on the . For more information, contact Neva Wayman, 501-569-8551. The Arkansas Economic Issues Breakfast Series is coordinated by ��Vlog��ýLR’s Institute for Economic Advancement in cooperation with the Center for Business and Economic Research in the Walton College, College of Business at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, Delta Center for Economic Development at Arkansas State University, Economic Research and Development Center at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, University of Arkansas at Monticello and Southern Arkansas University. The series is sponsored by Arkansas Business.

First Quarter Arkansas Taxable Sales Up 2.4 Percent

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:03:11 +0000

The Institute for Economic Advancement (IEA) at ��Vlog��ýLR’s College of Business announced today the release of new preliminary* data showing a 2.4 percent increase in Arkansas’ taxable sales over the first three months of the year. The increase follows a revised 1 percent gain in the fourth quarter of 2009. Dr. Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster for the IEA, interpreted the rise as a significant sign of economic recovery. “With two consecutive quarterly increases, this is a clear indication that positive growth has taken hold in the Arkansas retail sales sector,” he said. “Mirroring similar gains that we’ve seen in statistics for retail sales nationwide, this information confirms recent trends suggesting that Arkansas is firmly back in the expansion phase of the business cycle.” The IEA’s Arkansas Taxable Sales data are based on sales and use tax reports from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. After making adjustments for lags in the tax collection process, changes in tax law, and regularly fluctuating seasonal patterns, the resulting statistics indicate growth in the underlying tax base – primarily retail sales. “Retail sales represent a significant portion of economic activity, but there have previously been no timely, readily-available statistics to measure that activity in Arkansas,” Pakko said. “The taxable sales statistics that we’ve constructed use officially published data to measure and report it in a way that is transparent and useful for evaluating conditions in the state’s retail sector.” Details about the construction of the Arkansas Taxable Sales series are available on Pakko’s blog, , and are described in the forthcoming issue of the IEA publication, Advancing Arkansas. *Statistics for the first quarter of 2010 are preliminary, pending the forthcoming publication of detailed data in the Department of Finance and Administration’s report, Arkansas Fiscal Notes, for April 2010.

��Vlog��ýLR Team Wins Microsoft Cloud Award

��Vlog��ý Little Rock — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:50:30 +0000

A team of graduate students who work for the in the ��Vlog��ýLR College of Business won the Windows Azure Award for a computer platform designed to make medical data available to researchers around the world, officials of Microsoft Inc.’s Imagine Contest announced Tuesday. The national award, presented at , goes to the team that best utilizes the . Mentored by Dr. James Parrish, assistant professor of management information systems, the Imagine Cup team, Team MedRx, includes Jenish Pahari, a native of Kathmandu, Nepal, who received her MBA in December; and Akheel Ahmed of Little Rock, Travis Bennett of Calico Rock, and Mujeeb Abdul of Hyderabad, India, from the ��Vlog��ýLR master’s computer science program. Team MedRx’s submission is the Collaborative Unified Research Enhancement Database (CURED), which leverages the power and scalability of cloud computing to provide a platform that will provide medical researchers unprecedented access to research datasets from around the globe. Cloud computing is the style of computing in which functionality is provided as a service over the Internet or an internal/external, location-transparent, centralized facility. Cloud computing attempts to provide access to the infrastructure as a utility service, resulting in decreased cost and increased agility. This style may represent the biggest paradigm shift in the delivery architecture of information services since the invention of timesharing or the introduction of the client/server network. “By harnessing the power of global collaboration and combined datasets, CURED could literally change the face of medical research and findings around the world through the use of a technologically-supported brain trust never before tapped,” Parrish said. Dr. Janet Bailey, associate professor of management, also helped prepare the team for the competition. Parrish and Bailey coached eight College of Business teams in the Imagine Cup semi-finals last year – breaking the previous record of teams for a university in the semi-finals. It was the first year for ��Vlog��ýLR to compete in the worldwide contest. In 2009, two of the College of Business teams qualified for spots in the national competition. The team of graduate management information systems students won second runner-up and was selected among five teams in the world to compete for the H.E. Susan Mubarak Special Award at the Software Design Initiative Finals in Cairo, Egypt. “It is our most sincere hope that the lessons we learned during last year’s competition will help us reach even greater levels of success this year,” Parrish added. Team MedRx joins two other ��Vlog��ýLR teams to compete in the U.S. Finals in Washington D.C., in April. The Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology had two teams, CDSS-AI – Artificial Intelligence-based Complex Decision Support System and Mogollar, among the five teams selected as Software Design U.S. Fall Finalists. Now in its eighth year, the Imagine Cup is Microsoft’s largest competition attracting more than 200,000 students from more than 100 countries. Contests are conducted in categories including Software Design, Game Design, and Web Design.

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