- University News Archive - 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock /news-archive/tag/islamic-center-of-little-rock/ 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Wed, 12 Jun 2019 12:41:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock grad ready to take next step in research, community, and med school /news-archive/2019/06/12/arooba-ilyas-grad/ Wed, 12 Jun 2019 12:41:57 +0000 /news/?p=74525 ... 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock grad ready to take next step in research, community, and med school]]> With a father as a doctor and an older sister in medical school, being a doctor would seem the obvious choice for Arooba Ilyas, a recent graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in biology.聽 鈥淓ver since I was little, just seeing how happy my dad, a pediatric nephrologist (kidney doctor for kids), is and how many people he gets to help is inspiring,鈥 she said. 鈥淓ver since I was little, I thought I would be a doctor. When I get into high school, something about marine biology piqued my interest.鈥 Choosing 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock was an easy choice for Ilyas. She was familiar with campus since she conducted research with 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock professors in high school. Her older sister graduated from 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock and was a member of the Donaghey Scholars program. Ilyas was thrilled when she was also accepted to the program, which covers her tuition, fees, computer, housing, and study abroad experience. 鈥溙切腣log传媒 Little Rock really stood out to me,鈥 she said. 鈥淚n high school, I worked with faculty from the Chemistry Department, and I got to see how willing 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock is to promote research in youth. That is something I am very passionate about, since I think it is important to expand young minds. Since my sister was in the Donaghey Scholars program, I know that they really help students to become who they are during college.鈥 Ilyas started at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock in fall 2015 as a biology major with no plans to enter medicine, but those plans quickly changed. 鈥淚 came into college saying I鈥檓 not pre-med, but I really gained a passion for medicine working as a volunteer in the 糖心Vlog传媒MS Emergency Department,鈥 Ilyas said. 鈥淚 realized that I didn鈥檛 want to be a doctor just because I wanted to be like my dad.鈥 While at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, Ilyas has been passionate about educating the public about world cultures and developing services in the Muslim community. Ilyas鈥 parents are from Pakistan, and she is a first-generation American college student. As part of the Muslim Student Association, she helped organize the World Hijab Day celebration on campus as well as a multicultural fashion show. 鈥淲orld Hijab Day is Feb. 1, and we encourage people to wear scarves to step into the world of a hijabi woman. I put on the hijab in ninth grade, and I remember getting so many stares when I was walking down the hallway,鈥 she said. 鈥淚f people are looking at me, I realized I can be an example of what a Muslim is instead of what Muslims are perceived as. And the multicultural fashion show is a way for us to get in touch with different cultures on campus.鈥 In the community, she volunteers with the Islamic Center of Little Rock as part of a team that is working to bring counseling and therapy to the mosque. 鈥淭he Islamic Center of Little Rock want to start implanting counseling services and couples therapy. Muslim couples have been turned away from other places for counseling because they are Muslim,鈥 Ilyas said. 鈥淢y team is also trying to get counseling services for high school kids. I鈥檝e become a mentor for a lot of the younger Muslims that I know. They often tell me that they feel like they don’t鈥 fit in or have to conform to things that don鈥檛 fit with their religion. Having a therapist who is Muslim or who understands the Muslim experience is helpful to these kids.鈥 Now that she has graduated, Ilyas is taking a gap year to focus on her research and volunteer work with the Islamic Center of Little Rock as well as study and take the MCATs (Medical College Admission Test) and apply for medical school. At 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, she received a Signature Experience Award, which provides $1,000 for a student to conduct a research or creative project, to study how renewable resources can be used to purify water with Dr. Noureen Siraj, assistant professor of chemistry. 鈥淚鈥檓 using consumption waste materials, such as used tea leaves and cigarette buds, as a green chemistry source to purify water,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 walked around campus with little baggies and gloves and picked up the old cigarette buds. Why not use something that is littering the world and put it to better use?鈥 She has even come full circle by mentoring high school students that work in Siraj鈥檚 lab during the school year, just like she did in high school. 鈥淚 could have just done a baking soda volcano for a high school science fair project, but the fact that I got to work in a real lab was very cool,鈥 Ilyas said. 鈥淚鈥檝e got to help high school students in Dr. Siraj鈥檚 lab, since I want to encourage students to pursue their passions at a young age.鈥 ]]> Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Conference to focus on race, ethnicity, religion /news-archive/2017/04/03/racial-attitudes-pulaski-county-conference-race-ethnicity-religion/ Mon, 03 Apr 2017 21:00:16 +0000 /news/?p=66739 ... Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Conference to focus on race, ethnicity, religion]]> The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will host the 14th annual Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Conference on Thursday, April 13.聽 The conference will feature the results of the 14th annual Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Survey, which focuses on attitudes toward race, ethnicity, and religion, as well as the results on the Little Rock Congregations Study, which reviewed how religious organizations in Little Rock affected community and political engagement in their congregants. 鈥淭he theme of race, ethnicity, and religion is one that has not been covered in the past, and in particular reflects our founder Dr. Joel Anderson’s desire to engage the city’s religious communities in efforts to address issues of race and ethnicity,鈥 said John Kirk, director of the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity. 鈥淗e believes that religious communities can play an important leadership role in influencing attitudes and opinions on the subject.鈥 The event will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Fine Arts Building with a panel discussion on the results of the Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Survey, followed by a free lunch at noon. The panel on the results of the Little Rock Congregations Study will be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m. The Racial Attitudes panel will include religious leaders discussing race and religion in Pulaski County. Scheduled participants include Pastor Alex Diaz of Mosaic Church, Pastor Wendell Griffen of New Millennium Church, the Rev. Marie Mainard O鈥機onnell of First Presbyterian Church, and Bishop Anthony Taylor of the Diocese of Little Rock. The results of the racial attitudes survey indicate members of the black community tend to identify themselves as being more religious than do white and Latino people, Kirk said.

Little Rock Congregations Study

Dr. Rebecca Glazier, 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock associate professor in the School of Public Affairs, and Dr. Warigia Bowman, assistant professor at, led the Little Rock Congregations Study to determine how religious organizations affected community and political engagement in their congregants. The professors and their students surveyed nearly 1,500 people at 17 houses of worship in Little Rock. The congregations included four black Protestant churches, four Evangelical Protestant churches, three mainline Protestant churches, two Catholic churches, one Mormon church, one mosque, one Jewish temple, and one nondenominational Unitarian Universalist church. Some of the results of the Little Rock Congregations Study include:
  • 听听听听听86 percent say they are aware of the important needs in their community
  • 听听听听听81 percent say they can make a difference in their community
  • 听听听听听76 percent volunteered at their place of worship in the past month
  • 听听听听听72 percent volunteered outside their place of worship in the past month
The Little Rock Congregations Panel includes local religious leaders who will discuss community involvement and religion in Little Rock. Panel members include Pastor Brodes Perry from Saint Mark Baptist Church, Pastor Carissa Rogers from Quapaw United Methodist Church, the Rev. Danny Schieffler from St. Mark鈥檚 Episcopal Church, Brother John Tait of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and from the Islamic Center of Little Rock. The event is free and open to the public. Register by filling out the online form. The conference is sponsored by the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity, the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock School of Public Affairs, and the University of Arkansas . For more information on the Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Survey, contact Tamisha Cheatham at 501.569.8932 or tmcheatham@ualr.edu. For more information on the Little Rock Congregations Study, contact Rebecca Glazier at 501.569.3331 or raglazier@ualr.edu. In the upper right photo, Rebecca Glazier leads a training session for her students participating in the Little Rock Congregations Study. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Communications.]]>