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

��Vlog��ý Little Rock student discovers passion for bookbinding

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 14:16:32 +0000

In 2018, Mitchel Gundrum, a former executive information technology support specialist living in San Francisco, was ready for a career change.�� “I did some research and realized ��Vlog��ý Little Rock had the best professional and technical writing program online,” said Gundrum, a Wisconsin native. “I was working full-time, so I wanted to get my bachelor’s degree but needed the flexibility of an online program.”�� One of Gundrum’s spring 2019 classes included grant writing with Dr. Barbara L’eplattenier, professor of rhetoric and writing. Through this class, Gundrum wrote and earned a $19,500 grant from the Windgate Foundation for his favorite nonprofit, the San Francisco Center for the Book.�� The nearly $20,000 grant will help extend the center’s visiting instructors program, which provides workshops and lectures on the arts of letterpress printing and bookbinding. The funds will cover travel, housing, and lecture fees for six additional instructors for the center’s 2020 lecture series. Additionally, the grant will help students in need attend the workshops by covering class material fees and a student stipend.�� “The grant writing class was an amazing opportunity to get support for their organization,” Gundrum said. “It’s very difficult to get such a high level of instruction in such a niche market like bookbinding. To be able to get classically trained instructors in San Francisco is a great opportunity. I am beyond words at how well the project turned out. I’m trying hard not to get a big head over my first grant being successful, but it does make me want to try my hands at more grant writing.”�� After his success in the grant writing class, L’eplattenier recommended Gundrum apply for the. He spent the summer working as an archivist intern for the Lincoln Archives Digital Project, which is dedicated to digitizing all federal records housed within the National Archives created during President Abraham Lincoln’s administration.�� “I applied with Dr. Barb’s blessing. She gave me some assistance during the application since I tend to be a very lengthy, verbose writer,” Gundrum said. “I worked to digitally archive and translate more than 500 documents from 1861-1865, the years of Lincoln’s presidency.” The internship gave Gundrum a chance to get his foot in the door and gain some professional experience.

These are a selection of some of the Gundrum’s bookbinding work.

“I jumped at the opportunity,” Gundrum said. “For me, it was beneficial to work at the archives, to learn new technology, and to work with older documents that need to be preserved for the future.” L’eplattenier said Gundram is a great example of how ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students can use their classes to pursue meaningful interests. “Mitch is passionate about bookbinding and used the grant-writing class to develop a deeper relationship with an organization that focuses on bookbinding,” L’eplattenier said. “Then he used the requirements of his internship through The Washington Center to interview and network with prominent people in the book restoration world like Elmer Eusman, head of the Conservation Division at the Library of Congress, and Katie Wagner, senior paper conservator at the Smithsonian Institute Libraries. It’s really exciting and a wonderful example of how students can build on what they’ve learned in their classes with other experiences that ��Vlog��ý Little Rock offers” Gundrum, who graduated with his bachelor’s degree this month, has already embarked on the next step in his professional career. He has enrolled in the two-year bookbinding program at North Bennet Street School in Boston, one of a handful of programs in the country that offers hands-on book arts education taught by traditionally trained instructors. The two-year, comprehensive bookbinding program teaches students how to make, restore, and preserve books and other printed treasures.�� “Restoring old books and bringing them back to life is something that really clicked for me. I am out here in Boston to learn to professionally repair and restore old bindings,” Gundrum said. “I never thought I would go to school again after my bachelor’s degree, but here I am.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock student learns valuable skills on summer internship found through Handshake

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 13:01:54 +0000

As the end of her junior year at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock drew near, Keely Reeves was concerned about a lack of professional experience that she felt would hurt her chances to get a job after graduation.�� “I will graduate in May 2020,” said Reeves, a Benton native double majoring in mass communication and professional and technical writing. “I only had one internship under my belt before last summer, and I was panicking, thinking that I might graduate without having any internships related to my majors.”�� Last spring, she began an intense search for internships that involved video editing, photography, social media, writing, and editing.�� “I went on Indeed.com and applied for everything under the sun in Arkansas,” Reeves said. “Then I tried the university’s new job-search platform, Handshake, since it specializes in internships. I applied for everything under the sun, and I found a great internship with P. Allen Smith Co. in Little Rock.”�� Vlog��ý Little Rock launched Handshake, a career network tailored to college students, in December 2018 to help students connect with future employers. The digital platform system is easy to use and allows users to customize every step of their career development journey.�� “We wanted to provide our students with a professional online job search platform,” said Lisa Henderson-Davis, director of Distributed Learning and Career Center. “It is the most popular and diverse platform, and that is why we picked it. It definitely helps us enhance our services to our students. The creators of Handshake went to Michigan State, and they realized they didn’t have the same opportunities as people coming from Silicon Valley or the East coast, so they built a platform to democratize job searching.”�� Reeves is the first ��Vlog��ý Little Rock student to officially find an internship through Handshake. As a production intern, she spent her summer producing videos and content to increase traffic to P. Allen Smith Co.’s�� social media pages.�� “Keely was a pleasure to work with,” said Patrick Green, director and executive producer of P. Allen Smith Co. “She came in each day ready to learn and to take on any task assigned to her. Our company has expanded our multimedia department into the realm of YouTube. Keely learned how micro content is created and used on Instagram and Facebook to help promote YouTube videos.”�� Green began using Handshake in 2018 as a way to recruit more college students.�� “Handshake is a great tool to streamline the announcement of internships and job openings to current and graduating college students across multiple schools at one time,” Green said.�� The valuable video editing, social media, and marketing skills that Reeves learned have already come in handy.�� “I’m interning at Wildwood Park for the Arts this fall, and I’m doing social media, videography, and photography,” Reeves said. “Working at P. Allen Smith Co. helped me come to Wildwood and think about what kind of videos I can do to promote them on Instagram and Facebook.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock student Keely Reeves used the university’s Handshake career network program to find work as a video production intern. The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Career Center offers students free accounts and training on the Handshake job search tool. Photo by Ben Krain.

At ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, 2,645 students have activated their Handshake accounts and can search through jobs posted by the nearly 3,500 employers from across the country that are recruiting ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students. “Handshake is such a great resource to get an internship, but it also has full- and part-time jobs for students,” Henderson-Davis said. “All students need to do is fill out a profile to search for jobs, and they can make their profile public so employers can find them on Handshake.”�� Gaining professional experience during college is becoming important as more employers expect new graduates to have work experience.�� “We want our students to have more experiential learning opportunities in college,” Henderson-Davis said. “Students need real-world work experience to complement their education by the time they graduate.”�� Reeves remains grateful to Handshake for leading her to an internship that will prepare her for her future career.�� “I thought it was cool to get the internship through Handshake,” she said. “I wasn’t having a lot of luck on Indeed.com for things that would actually work for me. I applied for with P. Allen Smith Company, and they were willing to work with my schedule, and it turned out great.”�� Any student who is interested in joining Handshake can sign up.��

��Vlog��ý Little Rock students earn 4 Acxiom Diversity Scholarships

Shanna Fitzgerald — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 14:43:43 +0000

University of Arkansas at Little Rock students won four of this year’s 10 Acxiom Diversity Scholarships. In its sixth year, the highly competitive program provides $5,000 and an opportunity for a paid internship at , a leading data provider for marketers. The company selects recipients from throughout the country based on their professional interests and academic achievement in an information technology-related field of study. “Acxiom is passionate about helping the next generation of leaders pursue their dreams through computer science and information technology careers,” said Scott Howe, Acxiom CEO and president, in a news release. “Our support positions them for future success and helps foster a more diverse pool of qualified talent, which will benefit the marketing and technology industries for years to come.” ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students who received Acxiom Diversity Scholarships include:

Gary Dewayne Blanks II, an information science student from Little Rock
Mukti Barole Shobha Sangappa, a computer science student from Little Rock, who also is a graduate research assistant with COSMOS — the Center Of Social Media and Online behavioral Studies, Dr. Nitin Agarwal’s research lab
Vishnu Pillai, an information quality student from Little Rock
Aziz Eram, an information quality graduate student from Little Rock, who received a $5,000 renewal scholarship

All four award winners are students in the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology. This year’s award decisions were particularly challenging because of the quality of the scholarship applications, said Tammy Sanders, Acxiom director of engagement. “We look forward to the contributions these students will make to Acxiom and to the marketing industry,” Sanders said in the news release. Pictured above:��Mukti Barole Shobha Sangappa, one of four University of Arkansas at Little Rock students to earn 2017 Acxiom Diversity Scholarships. Contributed photo.��

‘Dean of the Capitol press corp’ honored with endowed scholarship

Shanna Fitzgerald — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 18:33:39 +0000

In the mid-1980s, the current and former living governors of Arkansas gathered to honor George Douthit, the “dean of the Capitol press corp.” The distinguished guest list included Sid McMath, Orval Faubus, Win Paul Rockefeller, son of the late Winthrop Rockefeller, Dale Bumpers, David Pryor, Frank White, and Bill Clinton. About 800 people attended. Had he been alive, though, Douthit probably would not have been among them. In fact, Douthit would have been “horrified” that all those people gathered on his account, said his daughter Lana Bethune. It’s not that Douthit wasn’t in favor of raising money to help future journalists — mentoring inexperienced reporters was one of his passions. Douthit just thought journalists should remain behind the scenes. “He was very professional,” Bethune said. “He would not accept a cup of coffee. He was really just there to write a story.” Douthit’s former colleagues honored that legacy of professionalism when they established the George C. Douthit Scholarship Trust for journalism students attending Arkansas colleges and universities in the 1980s. They made Bethune, Douthit’s only child, a trustee, and held other fundraisers through the years. Recently, the remaining funds of that trust — more than $75,000 — were donated to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to create the George C. Douthit Endowed Scholarship. The scholarship will support ��Vlog��ýLR College of Social Sciences and Communication student participation in an internship or graduate fellowship with any news outlet in central Arkansas, said Christian O’Neal, ��Vlog��ýLR vice chancellor for advancement. “This is just terrific,” O’Neal said. “Central Arkansas is the best place in Arkansas for future journalists to receive hands-on experience at state-level news organizations that will help them be job-ready when they graduate. This endowed scholarship will enable ��Vlog��ýLR to educate journalists who will be the news leaders of tomorrow.” One of the outlets where future journalists might work is the newly launched — a statewide multi-platform news collaboration that includes K��Vlog��ýR at ��Vlog��ýLR. The funds will support hands-on applied teaching and learning that is already a feature of the College of Social Sciences and Communication, said Lisa Bond-Maupin, founding dean of the college. Helping students get experience with a news organization such as Arkansas Public Media, which is connected to NPR and PBS, is an especially exciting aspect of the donation, Bond-Maupin said. “It involves new voices in public radio and promotes dedication to writing about issues of concern to Arkansans,” Bond-Maupin said. “We are proud to partner with the donors to honor Mr. Douthit’s service to the state and his incredible career in this way.”

George Douthit’s developing journalism career

Douthit got his start in journalism as a teenager, covering sports for the San Antonio Express. He later moved to the Texarkana Gazette as a sports editor, worked for the Associated Press in Fort Smith and Hot Springs, and then joined the Arkansas Democrat.

Artist caricature of George Douthit

During World War II, he served in Europe under General Patton in the Army. Following the war, he became convinced that photography — previously featured infrequently by newspapers — was as important as reporting with words and could greatly enhance storytelling. Douthit decided to teach himself how to take photographs. “He used me as a Guinea pig,” his daughter said, recalling that her father created family Christmas cards as he experimented. Douthit had an eye for beauty and was observant — qualities that served him well as a photographer and reporter, Bethune said. During the later part of his 40-year career, Douthit started his own news service, the State News Bureau, providing issue-based coverage of the Arkansas Legislature to small weekly publications throughout the state that otherwise wouldn’t have regular contact with their lawmakers.

Family and politics

Bethune was 9 years old when Douthit married her mother. She really admired the man she calls both Dad and George. She said the two of them probably worked harder on their relationship than they would have had they been related by blood. Douthit smoked cigars, usually while sporting long-sleeved shirts and ties. Bethune recalls thinking her dad wore his pants too high. “His pants always seemed to be above the waist,” she said. Douthit had a knack for being in the thick of where the news was happening. “It was an interesting ride for me growing up, and I learned a lot about politics,” Bethune said. “Not much happened that he didn’t know about.” Thanks to Douthit’s passion for photography, Bethune also had the opportunity to meet stars such as Gene Autry, Dick Powell, and June Allyson, as well as President Dwight D. Eisenhower. “He always got a story, and he always got the picture,” Bethune said.

Tough questions

Douthit was soft-hearted with Bethune and other family members, but he was notorious for being a tough interviewer. “Everyone knew him,” she said, “and many feared him because he always had the most difficult questions.” Making politicians ill at ease was a point of pride for Douthit: He saw probing questions as an important part of the job. Douthit also was known for giving reporters new to the Capitol beat a hard time — but then he took them under his wing. As someone who skipped college and started in the journalism business at the age of 16, Douthit could relate to the inexperienced but determined. “I think that’s why he was so interested in helping people who came into the business,” said Bethune, who met her husband, Ed, a former U.S. representative from the 2nd District, while attending Little Rock Junior College, which later became ��Vlog��ýLR. Douthit often exhorted young reporters to “get the facts and get them straight.” “To him, that was the whole ballgame,” Bethune said. Douthit was so respected that after he died in 1985, his colleagues and the people he used to make squirm during interviews held a memorial for him on the Capitol steps. His photograph still hangs in the Capitol press room. Bethune remembers and admires the well-known journalist, but she also fondly recalls the kind-hearted man who became her adopted father. “I loved him very much.”

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

����Vlog��ý Little Rock student discovers passion for bookbinding

����Vlog��ý Little Rock student learns valuable skills on summer internship found through Handshake

����Vlog��ý Little Rock students earn 4 Acxiom Diversity Scholarships