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

Little Rock couple’s $37,000 gift endows business scholarship

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 27 Jun 2019 15:00:36 +0000

University of Arkansas at Little Rock business and finance students can now look forward to an additional scholarship to help them complete their dream of finishing a college education, thanks to a generous gift from a community-minded Little Rock couple. ��Henry “Hank” Kelley Jr. and his wife Stephanie have donated $37,000 to the A.P. Vibhakar Endowed Scholarship, named in honor of Dr. Ashvin Vibhakar, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s long-time Joe. T. Ford Chair of Finance. ��“I am touched and honored to have this scholarship endowed in my name,” Vibhakar said. “I am thankful to Hank and Stephanie, who I consider to be my close friends and family, for their gift. Hank was one of my MBA students in the 1980s, and having a past student honor me this way gives me the sense that I have a made a difference in the community.” Chancellor Emeritus Joel Anderson created the scholarship in 2009 with a $5,000 gift, and the Kelleys’ donation brings the scholarship’s endowment to $50,000. Now that the endowment has reached that level, the scholarship will be awarded annually to a ��Vlog��ý Little Rock minority student majoring in international business or finance. ��Hank Kelley and Vibhakar are both members of the . Kelley, incoming president of Rotary 99, said his new responsibility led him to understand how important higher education is to the future of Little Rock.

�� Dr. Ashvin Vibhakar

“The scholarship that Stephanie and I funded is a recognition of Ashvin Vibhakar’s service to his students and ��Vlog��ý Little Rock,” Hank Kelley said. “We share membership in Rotary 99 of Little Rock with many other members of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock community, and Stephanie and I know Little Rock’s trajectory is directly tied to having a student-focused research university in our city. We know no better way to express our appreciation to Ashvin and Diane as friends than to help fund this important scholarship in his name.” Chancellor Andrew Rogerson, also a Rotarian, said the university is indebted to Hank Kelley and other donors like him in central Arkansas who understand the importance of helping ��Vlog��ý Little Rock thrive.�� “Hank and Stephanie are pillars of the community who have given their hearts and souls to Little Rock,” Rogerson said. “Their latest gift to support business scholarships is yet another investment in the future of this university that will help us cultivate future leaders in central Arkansas.” ��Hank Kelley is the CEO, partner, and executive broker in his brokerage and property management firm, . He received an MBA from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, both with honors. In addition to his Rotary membership, Kelley is involved with the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Foundation, Baptist Health Foundation Board, Fifty for the Future, and the Board.�� Stephanie Kelley works as a Pilates instructor, coach, and mentor in the community. She is a graduate of Mount St. Mary Academy and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where she and Hank met. The couple has four children and nine grandchildren.�� Hank and Stephanie Kelley (photo above right) have endowed a scholarship in honor of Dr. Ashvin Vibhakar (photo above left), chair of finance at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock.

Chancellor Emeritus Anderson honored at Blue Ribbon Bash

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 16:29:54 +0000

Dr. Joel Anderson, chancellor emeritus of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, was highlighted as the 2018 honoree of the Blue Ribbon Bash for the .�� The annual fundraiser is the signature event of the Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation and was held Sept. 6 at Chenal Country Club, sponsored by Arkansas Urology. It is held in September to highlight National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. Former U.S. Rep Mike Ross, a ��Vlog��ý Little Rock alumnus, and his wife, Holly, co-chaired the event. Anderson, who retired as chancellor of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 2016, is a prostate cancer survivor who was diagnosed in 2013. “It was a heavy moment to hear that news and to know that, now, my name and cancer went together,” Anderson said. “Once you have that diagnosis, you remember friends and relatives who died from prostate cancer. You absorb the fact that it is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among men. After the diagnosis, you find yourself in a sea of uncertainty, and fear is the twin of uncertainty.” Anderson thanked the Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation for making a difference in the fight against prostate cancer. Last year, the foundation conducted around 2,500 prostate cancer screenings in Arkansas. “Once you recover and become a cancer survivor, you think about all the men who had prostate cancer 75 years ago and back of that,” he said. “Back then, PSA tests, radiation, robotic surgery, and chemotherapy were not options for them. For them, prostate cancer was a silent, asymptomatic disease until it reached a painful, terminal stage. Today, there are powerful tools for treating prostate cancer. But you can’t get treatment if you don’t know you’ve got it. All of us prostate cancer survivors in this room know that those 2,500 screenings are saving lives, informing a number of them that their screening produced information that needs additional evaluation, that they should get in to see their doctor.” Bill Johnson, director of development and media relations for the Arkansas Prostate Foundation, said the event raised $150,000, which will benefit the foundation’s education and advocacy programs and fund free cancer screenings across the state. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in Arkansas men. The American Cancer Society estimates that 1,260 men in Arkansas will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, and 280 Arkansas men are expected to die from it this year. Of these, more than two times as many black men will die as white men. The prostate cancer check is a simple blood test, according to Johnson. However, typical blood tests do not include testing for prostate cancer. That test must be requested.

Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail joins new U.S. Civil Rights Trail

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 23 May 2018 15:37:50 +0000

The Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail, a project of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity, has been named a part of the new.�� “I think it is great that we were ahead of the curve by about seven years and that the rest of the country has finally caught up with us,” said Dr. John Kirk, director of the Anderson Institute. “We are delighted that the people on the trail will be recognized nationally.” The U.S. Civil Rights Trail is a collection of churches, courthouses, schools, museums, and other landmarks, primarily in the Southern states, where activists challenged segregation in the 1950s and 1960s to advance social justice. After former National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis encouraged historians to identify surviving landmarks where major events of the civil rights era occurred, Georgia State University found 60 sites. Southern state tourism directors added more than 40 secondary sites. The trail, which includes more than 100 attractions across 14 states, debuted on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which was also the 155th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Places where activists successfully sought equal access to public education, public transportation and voting rights comprise many of the locations grouped under the theme “What happened here changed the world.”��

Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail. Photo by Lonnie Timmons/��Vlog��ý Little Rock Communications.

Established in the summer of 2011, the honors those who made significant contributions to civil rights in Arkansas. The trail raises public awareness of the long and rich legacy of Arkansas’s civil rights history. “The purpose of the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail is to remind people of the long and wide history of civil rights in Arkansas, and that it is more than just about the 1957 desegregation of Central High School,” Kirk said. “We wanted to bring attention to the events and people who encouraged civil rights before, during and after the events at Central High.” The trail begins in front of the Old State House Convention Center on Markham Street and will eventually extend to the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park. Each honoree’s name is commemorated with a 12-inch bronze marker on the trail and a biography on the trail’s website. New markers are added to the trail each year in a public ceremony that also recognizes civil rights activities of the past and those who work for racial equality today. The ceremonies have honored sit-ins and freedom rides, the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School, the desegregation of downtown Little Rock, and the efforts of professionals in the areas of medicine and healthcare, politics and law, and economic advancement. The 2018 theme honored Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller, who in 1967 became Arkansas’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction. While in office, Rockefeller appointed a number of African Americans to state commissions and departments for the first time. “We will keep going until we run out of space,” Kirk said. “There are still plenty of little known events, organizations ��and people whose names need to be known and whose stories need to be told.”

Professor presents Anderson Institute’s first Plain Talk on Race and Ethnicity lecture

Jenny Lambert — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 15:30:51 +0000

Dr. David Briscoe, professor of sociology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, recently kicked off the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity’s lecture series, Plain Talk on Race and Ethnicity, with his presentation of “How Can Black Parents Rear Their Children to Be Black Americans in a Color Conscious Society?” During his 30-minute presentation on March 29, Briscoe spoke about the importance of parenting and how black parents must go above and beyond the basics of raising their children to assure that they become well-rounded, functional beings that are equipped with the necessary tools to survive in the societal jungle in which they live. “Black parents have to protect their children from all of the dangers that other parents are concerned about, but they have the added challenge of protecting their children from internalizing the host of the external messages that tell them almost on a daily basis that they’re not good enough, that they are too violent, that they aren’t smart enough, not pretty enough, not as valuable as other children, or that black lives don’t matter,” Briscoe said. “As black children internalize these messages, they become part of the child’s personality and self-identity.” According to Briscoe, America has long had issues in the field of human relations. “Sociologist Robin Williams indicates that one of the core values of American society is brute superiority,” Briscoe said. “He puts emphasis on the fact that the country is bent toward race, and that there are racism issues prevalent in this society.” The ideology of superiority and inferiority have been woven into the fabric of American culture and society, despite the perpetuation of liberty and justice for all, as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble of the United States Constitution, and the Pledge of Allegiance, Briscoe said. Because of these factors, Briscoe strongly suggested that black parents inform their children of the historical, legal, political, social, and economic climates that black Americans have and continue to experience almost daily that are relative to race and the color barrier. In addition to addressing America’s history and societal messages, Briscoe also challenged black parents to hold a mirror to themselves and come to terms with who they are as black Americans. He believes that if they don’t recognize the challenges they’ve faced as black individuals, they would have a hard time trying to resocialize and reshape the thoughts and attitudes of their children. Following the lecture, the floor was opened for discussion, and the questions came pouring in. This led to an intense dialogue between several students and guests, which was addressed by Chancellor Emeritus Joel Anderson as being “much needed.” For more information on Briscoe’s research, contact him at dlbriscoe@ualr.edu.

��Vlog��ýPB honors Chancellor Emeritus Joel Anderson

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 13:27:01 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will honor Dr. Joel Anderson, chancellor emeritus of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, as one of five honorees at the institution’s Saturday, April 28, at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.�� For the past 30 years, ��Vlog��ýPB has recognized outstanding individuals who have made a significant contribution to advancing positive change at ��Vlog��ýPB, in Pine Bluff/Jefferson County and surrounding communities, in the state of Arkansas and in the nation. Their contributions may have been philanthropic, civic, social, and political. Anderson is being honored for his role in establishing ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Institute on Race and Ethnicity and making diversity a defining mark of his administration. The institute is dedicated to promoting racial and ethnic justice in Arkansas through educational programs, research, and community outreach. Upon his retirement, the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees named the institute in his honor. The other honorees include Calvin and Janetta Brooker, L.J. Randle, and the late Henry “Hank” Wilkins III. Anderson, who retired in June 2016 following a 45-year career at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, volunteers as a part-time Scholar in Residence at the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity, where he focuses his efforts on program development, grant writing, and community outreach programs.

Joel Anderson returns to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock as Scholar in Residence

Ajani Oyindamola — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 18:45:01 +0000

This fall, the faculty, staff, and students of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will see a familiar face on campus. Chancellor Emeritus Dr. Joel Anderson, who retired in June 2016 following a 45-year career at the university, has returned to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock to work as a part-time Scholar in Residence at the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity. “I should say that I don’t intend to give up the joys of retirement,” said Anderson, who has spent his first year catching up on reading the newspaper, traveling with his wife, Ann, and visiting his three sons and five grandchildren. “Racial and ethnic justice has been a concern of mine for a long time,” he said. “If by working in the Institute on Race and Ethnicity I could make a contribution on that front, I would like to do so.” While volunteering at the institute which bears his name, Anderson will focus on development and grant writing and will work on community outreach programs. These programs include the Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Conference and the. “We are delighted to welcome back Dr. Anderson to campus as our Scholar in Residence, not least since the Anderson Institute is his creation and his legacy,” said Dr. John Kirk, director of the Institute on Race and Ethnicity. “Dr. Anderson’s community standing and passion for issues of race and ethnicity make him the perfect ambassador for the institute.” Anderson plans to mentor a group working with the institute. “I want to have a regular discussion meeting with a set group of students on various issues of race and ethnicity,” he said. “Before launching such a project, I want to get students involved in choosing the focus and shaping the approach. Conversations become more comfortable and honest when people get to know and trust each other.” Anderson became interested in the Civil Rights Movement as a college student at Harding University in Searcy, which was segregated during the time Anderson attended in the early 1960s. “Despite the official position of the administration, there were a few faculty members that quietly and privately would say segregation is not right,” he said. “That got my attention.” During his tenure as chancellor, Anderson created the Chancellor’s Committee on Race and Ethnicity in 2006. Out of the committee’s work, the Institute on Race and Ethnicity was created in 2011 to work with Arkansas communities to end racial and ethnic injustice.

Chancellor Emeritus Dr. Joel Anderson is working as a Scholar in Residence at the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/��Vlog��ý Little Rock.

“That group recognized that race was the No. 1 issue in Arkansas,” Anderson said. “It’s the major issue that inhibits progress in the community and the state. The issues that are related to race and ethnicity are not going to just disappear.” In 2016, the institute was renamed after Anderson to honor his “pivotal role in pursuing racial and ethnic justice in Arkansas.” In 2016, the Arkansas Historical Association honored the institute for its work. The institute received the Diamond Award for the in recognition of excellence in public history engagement. It also received an award of merit for the Arkansas Civil Rights History Tour App created with the city of Little Rock. The app offers residents and visitors a new way to explore the city’s rich civil rights history. Anderson is glad to return to campus. “Besides seeing old friends and making new ones, few places are as stimulating and full of interesting people as a university campus,” he said. “When you retire, you find yourself interacting mostly with people your own age. I love the wisdom of the old, but I miss hearing those younger voices.”

Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail honorees remembered for strides in economic advancement

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 07 Feb 2017 15:23:09 +0000

Angela Walker fondly remembers her grandfather, William “Sonny” Walker, was her family’s “personal hero.”�� “He was a great man,” said Angela Walker, an early childhood education master’s student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. “He was always a gentleman you could talk to about anything. He made a big impact on our community.” Sonny Walker, former head of the Arkansas Office of Economic Opportunity, was one of 10 people whose names were added to the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail Feb. 1 near the Ron Robinson Theater in downtown Little Rock. Established in the summer of 2011, the Civil Rights Heritage Trail honors those who made significant contributions to civil rights in Arkansas. The trail raises public awareness of the long and rich legacy of Arkansas’s civil rights history. This year’s event recognized African Americans who made great strides in economic advancement. “In times when African Americans were often treated as second-class citizens and faced many obstacles, economic advancement was in itself a defiant protest against white supremacy and a refusal against the odds to surrender to pervasive racial discrimination,” said John Kirk, director of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity. Gov. Asa Hutchinson stated that the fight for civil rights is not something that belongs solely to previous generations. “It is a battle each generation must engage in,” Hutchinson said. “Emphasizing the importance of our Civil Rights history is important for each generation of Arkansans.” The ceremony brought mixed emotions for Angela Walker. Her grandfather would have been proud to receive such an honor, but she was sad he could not attend the ceremony himself. He passed away June 14, 2016. “He would have loved this,” she said. “He deserved it, but he was a very humble man.” A Pine Bluff native and ��Vlog��ý Little Rock alumnus, Sonny Walker became the first African American to head a state economic opportunity office in the South, a position that Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller appointed him to in 1969. Walker also became the first African American cabinet member of a southern governor. Walker moved to Atlanta in 1972 when President Richard Nixon appointed him regional director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. He later served as director and chief operating officer for the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change and as a speechwriter for King’s widow Coretta Scott King.

John Kirk, director of the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity, announced 10 names to be added to the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail during a program at the Ron Robinson Theater on Feb. 1. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III.

During the Feb. 1 event, a 12-inch bronze marker was placed on the trail for each honoree. The trail begins in front of the Old State House Convention Center on Markham Street and will eventually extend to the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park and other points throughout the downtown corridor. The markers for this year’s honorees were installed at the corner of LaHarpe Boulevard and President Clinton Avenue. During the ceremony, the Dunbar Magnet Middle School Singers, Tonya Leeks, and David Ashley performed live music from the Civil Rights era. The event was held in partnership with the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, and the Clinton School of Public Service. Other 2017 honorees include:

��William Wallace Andrews, a prominent African American leader and entrepreneur in Little Rock before and after the Civil War
��Scott Winfield Bond, a successful landowner, farmer and businessman in the Arkansas Delta and one of Arkansas’s wealthiest African Americans during the period before the New Deal in the 1930s
��John Edward Bush, co-founder of the Mosaic Templars of America, a fraternal organization that expanded to 26 states and six foreign countries between the 1880s and 1930s. He was also chair of the Arkansas Republican Party.
��Robert Lee Hill, founder of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America, which organized in the Arkansas Delta to gain fair wages for sharecroppers after World War I
��John Harold Johnson, who built the largest African American publishing company in the world, producing titles such as Ebony and Jet magazines
��Walter “Wiley” Jones, one of the wealthiest African Americans in the South from his various business endeavors in late 19th century Pine Bluff
��Chester W. Keatts, co-founder of the Mosaic Templars of America, a fraternal organization that expanded to 26 states and six foreign countries between the 1880s and 1930s
��Josephine Irvin Harris Pankey, a successful real estate developer who accumulated large tracts of land in West Little Rock during the age of segregation
��Sue Cowan Williams, an English teacher at Dunbar High School who successfully sued the school district for equal pay with white teachers during the 1940s

For more details, please contact the Anderson Institute at 569-8932 or race-ethnicity@ualr.edu. In the upper right photo,��Gov. Asa Hutchinson gives the introduction to the induction ceremony for the 2017 Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail honorees. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III.��

Joel Anderson recognized for outstanding civic work

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 20:50:16 +0000

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Chancellor Emeritus Joel Anderson recently was saluted for his outstanding civic work in the Little Rock community. Anderson was awarded the William F. Rector Memorial Award for Distinguished Civic Achievement during a Dec. 16, 2016, luncheon at the Robinson Center. Fifty for the Future, a civic organization of Pulaski County business leaders, has given the award since 1976 in honor of William Rector, a community leader in Little Rock for more than 25 years. Anderson was surprised to receive the award: He wasn’t even aware he was in the running for the prestigious award. However, Anderson was honored to be recognized by Fifty for the Future, an organization that includes many of the city’s “business movers and shakers.” “I believe the award reflects, at least in part, a recognition by the business community of the university’s significant contributions to the progress of the city and the region,” Anderson said. The award comes with a $2,500 contribution to a charity of the winner’s choosing, which Anderson donated to the ��Vlog��ýLR Alumni Association Scholarship Fund.

Legacy of community involvement

Anderson became ��Vlog��ýLR chancellor in 2003, bringing with him more than 30 years of university and community service. Anderson’s 45-year career at the university ended with his retirement in June 2016. He had previously served ��Vlog��ýLR as provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and as founding dean of the Graduate School. During Anderson’s tenure as chancellor, the campus completed several major building projects including the Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology, the Donaldson Student Services Center, the Nanotechnology Center, the Coleman Sports Complex, the Jack Stephens Center, the University Plaza shopping center purchase, the Coleman Creek Greenway Project, and three residence halls. Among the numerous highlights of Anderson’s service as chancellor are the recent partnership with eStem to build a new high school on the university’s campus; the expansion of doctoral programs; completion of a $103 million comprehensive campaign, and the creation of the George W. Donaghey Emerging Analytics Center. He has served on 10 boards, including the Arkansas Symphony and United Way. He chaired the boards of the Arkansas 4-H Foundation and the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority. He also served as president of the Rotary Club of Little Rock. He earned degrees in political science from Harding University, American University, and the University of Michigan and completed the Harvard one-month Institute for Educational Management. Anderson, a native of Swifton, and his wife, Ann, a native of Huntsville, have three sons and five grandchildren. They will be seen at Trojan basketball games, and are active members of the Pleasant Valley Church of Christ.

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