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

Founding Dean Dr. Mary Good left lasting legacy in Arkansas��

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 23:10:08 +0000

Dr. Mary Lowe Good, founding dean of the Donaghey College of Engineering and Technology (EIT) at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, passed away Wednesday, Nov. 20, in her sleep. Funeral services will be Nov. 25 and 26 at�� Dr. Good served as dean since the college’s founding in 1999 until her retirement in June 2011. She came to the university as a person with national stature in higher education, industry and government—a 46-year career in academia, corporate America, and public service. She served in scientific capacities in the administrations of four American presidents, , , , and . Dr. Good, with her shock of white hair, sensible shoes and commanding presence, gained a reputation as a no-nonsense dynamo who told legislators, governors, and a U.S. President that Arkansas’ future in the 21st century required a world-class engineering facility in the capital city and home-grown students to fill its classes. With her impressive educational and career experience, it was no wonder that she left a lasting impact on the university, Little Rock, and the state. Under her leadership, EIT developed a national reputation for excellence for assembling a first-class faculty and graduates prepared to succeed in high-paying engineering and technology jobs. This created a major positive impact on economic development in central Arkansas. “We have been very fortunate to have the benefit of Dr. Good’s leadership in establishing our College of Engineering and Information Technology,” said ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Chancellor Christina Drale. “She brought us top-rated talent, industry and government partnerships, and a brilliant vision of what we could become as a center for research and education in the engineering field. “The wonderful thing about Mary is that she took her role very seriously and made a personal connection with everyone affiliated with the college, from high ranking government sponsors to prospective students and families from remote locations. Creating success was personal for Mary and she never let us down. We will really miss her.” Former President Bill Clinton, keynote speaker at the college’s 10th anniversary gala on Nov. 19, 2009, told a sold-out crowd at the Jack Stephens Center that the decision by ��Vlog��ý Little Rock leaders to entice internationally renowned chemist Mary L. Good to be the inaugural dean of the Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology will have a profound impact on the state of Arkansas. “I think 50 years from now, when you look back, you might think that the establishment of the College of Engineering and Information Technology and the luring of this astonishing woman into this job may wind up being the most significant thing this institution has done since its creation,” Clinton said. Honorary chairs for the gala were Thomas “Mack” McLarty, former White House chief-of-staff, and retired Acxiom chief executive officer Charles Morgan. Proceeds from the $250-a-plate gala helped to support the college. More than 500 local, state, and national business and scientific leaders�� attended the reception and dinner in the Jack Stephens Center, just a block from the new six-story, state-of-the-art EIT building that would open in spring 2010. Dr. Good led the development of the EIT curriculum with input from area engineering and technology employers, including�� Acxiom, Southwest Power Pool, and Verizon Wireless, and SAIC. Over the years, these companies have supported the college’s programs and students through funding research and facilities and hiring students for both internships and career employment.

Dr. Mary Good (center) at the dedication of the Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology in 2010.

In 2010, the Systems Engineering program was the top-ranked engineering program at a public university in the South by U.S. News & World Report. In 2012, Dr. Good was one of five national dignitaries in education honored at the inauguration of the new U.S. News STEM Leadership Hall of Fame. She had a special interest in recruiting young women into engineering and other STEM careers through the Arkansas Women’s Foundation program, Girls of Promise.�� At the time of Mary’s retirement, Dr. Joel Anderson said, “In 10 years, she took EIT from concept to exceptional reality. With her unmistakable intellectual strength and well-known inability to take no for an answer, this hard-charging Arkansas woman was the ideal choice to serve as founding dean of EIT.” Following retirement, Mary continued to serve as special advisor for economic development for Dr. Anderson. She donated her papers to the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Center for History and Culture. Archivists are currently processing her collection.�� A former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr. Good was the recipient of many awards, including the Vannevar Bush Award, the National Science Foundation’s highest honor; the National Science Foundation Distinguished Service medal; the American Chemical Society Priestley Medal, and was the sixth annual Heinz Award Winner. She was inducted in the in 2015. Her amazing life and career are chronicled on and . The Arkansas Education Television Network created this about Dr. Good when the network honored her as one of AETN’s Men and Women of Distinction which recognized Arkansans who have made a profound effect on the development of the state.

International STEAM delegates to visit ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Janea Snyder — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 14:46:21 +0000

An international delegation of eight women — all successful in their respective STEAM fields — will visit the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on Monday, Nov. 5, as part of a “Hidden No More: Advancing Women in STEAM Fields” program. A community forum and reception talk will take place from 5-7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5, in the Windgate Center for Art + Design and is free and open to the public. The women will participate in a panel discussion beginning at 5 p.m., followed by networking with international and local leaders at 6 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. The woman are part of a program inspired by the movie “Hidden Figures,” about black female mathematicians who played a vital role in NASA’s mission to the moon. The movie led the U.S. Department of State to create the last year brings women leaders who represent “hidden talent” in their home countries to the United States to explore U.S. efforts to prepare women and girls for careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. The Hidden No More program, now in its second year, includes professionals in the arts as well. This year 48 female leaders from 48 different countries — all of whom work in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art, and math — were invited to the United States to network and explore policies promoting the interests of women in STEAM. The women first convened in Washington, D.C. and then split into smaller groups to visit six smaller cities, including Little Rock. The theme for their time here in Little Rock is “STEAM Education and Youth Engagement.” The visitors included the following:

Austria – Dr. Miriam Unterlass, group leader and lecturer, Institute Of Materials Chemistry, Technical University Vienna
Chile – Carolina Andrea Fuentes Pezoa, team lead, Big Data And Analytics, Equifax Inc.
Croatia – Maja Macinko Kovac, teacher, Eugen Kvaternik Elementary School
Honduras – Michelle Fontecha Sandoval, executive director, Honduras Stem Foundation
Kyrgyz Republic – Shirin Mukanbetova, executive director, Kyrgyz Software and Services Developers Association
Netherlands – Tamar Gans, founder And CEO, Robotwise
Portugal – Maria Lopes Goncalves De Brito Amorim, principal investigator, Cell Biology and Viral Infection Group, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia
Sri Lanka – Amali Manori Ranasinghe, project scientist, coordinating secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry of Science, Technology and Research

Three of the women will participate in a panel discussion on Monday, along with Dr. Mary Good, founding dean of the George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology; Dr. Mariya Khodakovskya, interim associate dean for research and graduate studies in University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s College of Arts, Letters and Sciences; and Dr. Yang Luo-Branch, digital marketing and GIS manager at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. The event is hosted by Global Ties Arkansas, a nonprofit which contracts with the federal government to bring international delegates to Little Rock for professional training. The group will return to campus on Tuesday, Nov. 6, to meet with Vernard Henley, assistant dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology, and Thomas Wallace,��senior instructor of information science and web design, who teaches the Girls Coding Camp at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock each summer. On Wednesday, Nov. 7, they will tour the George W. Donaghey Emerging Analytics Center where faculty and students perform innovative research in technology, infrastructure and applications for virtual reality, visualization, and interactive technologies. Thomas Coffin, senior operating manager, will provide the tour of the virtual reality cave invented by Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira, who was recently elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Anyone interested in attending the community forum is asked to RSVP to Heidi Whitman, heidi@globaltiesark.org.

Fribourgh ceremony raises more than 51k for student scholarships, honors Dr. Mary Good

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 21:58:04 +0000

When Dr. Nancy Gray entered her freshman organic chemistry class at Bucknell University in 1972, she was dismayed to see there was only one other woman in the class. �� That same year, Gray, now BioVentures director at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, was inspired when she read how Dr. Mary Good became the first woman elected to the board of directors of the American Chemical Society. “I thought to myself, yes, a woman can make it in the field of chemistry,” Gray said. She introduced Good, an innovator in economic development and technology in Arkansas, as the recipient of the seventh annual Fribourgh Award Sept. 15 at the Pleasant Valley Country Club. Created in 2010, the Fribourgh Award honors the late Dr. James H. Fribourgh, former ��Vlog��ýLR professor emeritus, who served the university for more than 45 years as chair of life sciences, interim chancellor, vice chancellor for academic affairs, and distinguished professor of biology. The award recognizes an individual who has made considerable contributions to the state through the disciplines of mathematics and science. This year’s event raised more than $51,000 that will benefit the Science and Mathematics Leadership Endowed Scholarship Fund for undergraduate students at ��Vlog��ýLR. The 2016-17 recipients of the scholarship are Jon Siratt, who is double majoring in physics and mathematics, and Evgeniya Fedorova, a biology major with a concentration in molecular biotechnology.��

A crowed gathered to honor Dr. Mary Good during the seventh annual Fribourgh Award Ceremony Sept. 15 at Pleasant Valley Country Club. Photos by Chris Hatley.

At ��Vlog��ýLR, Good served as special adviser for economic development to Joel E. Anderson, former chancellor. She also served as chair of the ��Vlog��ýLR George W. Donaghey Emerging Analytics Center Management Board, and founding dean of ��Vlog��ýLR College of Engineering and Information Technology. She worked in various federal, state, and local positions such as undersecretary for technology for the Technology Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce, was a member of the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and was the chair of the Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board.

Dr. Mary Good gives her acceptance speech for the seventh annual Fribourgh Award.

Good considers the construction of the ��Vlog��ýLR Engineering and Information Technology Building and the Little Rock Technology Park as some of her greatest accomplishments, but most of her pride comes from the accomplishments of ��Vlog��ýLR students. “I am really the most proud of the students who have come out of there. We have students who are doing really exciting things,” she said. Throughout the evening, Good was hailed as a visionary leader in technology and a role model for women in science. “While she was accomplishing all of those visible feats, she was knocking down gender barriers left and right,” Gray said. “If she could be a role model and virtual mentor to a young woman parked in the middle of nowhere in central Pennsylvania, imagine the number of anonymous women in this world that she has influenced by her example.” When asked if she had any advice for women in the sciences today, Good said they should “do what you want to do and keep at it, and most of all enjoy it.”

��Vlog��ýLR art professor designs new Fribourgh Award

Ajani Oyindamola — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 15:59:32 +0000

When Dr. Mary Good receives the seventh annual Fribourgh Award on Thursday, Sept. 15, at the Pleasant Valley Country Club, she will also become the first recipient of a unique work of art designed by a local Little Rock artist and art professor.�� Michael Warrick, a University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor, created the new Fribourgh Award, given to individuals who have made considerable contributions to the state through the disciplines of mathematics and science.

In the past, the Fribourgh Award committee utilized a commercial company to provide the award. This year, the committee searched for a local artist to reimagine the award. Warrick designed six versions of the award that he presented to the committee. The choices were narrowed down to one from which a wooden model was created. In the end, Warrick utilized a basic and modern design with some interesting elements, including hammered surface texture and a gold leaf.

��Vlog��ýLR Art Professor Michael Warrick created a new Fribourgh Award.

While the project took about six months, which is longer than he originally planned, Warrick is excited about how the award turned out. “Whatever I can do to make a project the best possible project, I do. I think of the time spent as an investment,” he said. “There is an old Chinese proverb that inspires me. The sting of doing something badly lasts much longer than the pleasure of doing it right.” Created in 2010, the Fribourgh Award honors the late Dr. James H. Fribourgh, ��Vlog��ýLR professor emeritus, who served the university for more than 45 years in various roles, including chair of life sciences, interim chancellor, vice chancellor for academic affairs, and distinguished professor of biology. Good’s public service record is extensive having served in various federal, state, and local positions such as undersecretary for technology for the Technology Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce, member of U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and chair of the Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board.

Mary Good

At ��Vlog��ýLR, Good served as a special adviser for economic development to former Chancellor Joel Anderson, chair of ��Vlog��ýLR’s George W. Donaghey Emerging Analytics Center Management Board, and founding dean of the ��Vlog��ýLR College of Engineering and Information Technology. “I have admired her approach to developing the Engineering and Information Technology program,” Warrick said. “She has done a wonderful thing for the state and the university.”

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

Founding Dean Dr. Mary Good left lasting legacy in Arkansas��

International STEAM delegates to visit ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

Fribourgh ceremony raises more than 51k for student scholarships, honors Dr. Mary Good

����Vlog��ýLR art professor designs new Fribourgh Award

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

International STEAM delegates to visit ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

��Vlog��ýLR art professor designs new Fribourgh Award