Venezuelan student finds new home at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 13:34:56 +0000

When Katherine Zambrano first moved to Little Rock to live with her aunt, whose husband was ill, Little Rock seemed like a different world compared to her hometown of Caracas, Venezuela, with a population of more than two million people. “I came from a very big city, like Chicago or New York, and there is a lot of noise there,” said Zambrano, a 21-year-old senior. “Here, it is slow paced, and it is silent at times. It was hard to adjust, but I really love it now. The tranquility and calmness have grown on me.” Anxious to get started on her college education, Zambrano began at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock soon after she arrived in the spring 2015 semester. She is appreciative of the volunteers from International Student Services for helping her adjust to a new country. “International Student Services helped me to adjust to college life,” she said. “Student volunteers tell you about campus life and give you a tour of campus. Everything is overwhelming when you get here, so having someone welcome you and tell you where the best place to eat and hang out is very helpful.” In December, Zambrano will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication and media production and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. She plans to work as a translator and in the communications industry. While on campus, Zambrano has received a variety of work experience to prepare her for the future. She has worked in the Office of Testing Services and International Student Services.

Katherine Zambrano attends Mosaic Church where she worked as an intern translating Spanish and also works as a children’s Sunday school teacher with her husband. Photo by Benjamin Krain.

“In the International Student Services office, I have been able to work alongside incredible people who have become my friends and meet new people from all over the world,” she said. “My favorite part of being a student is getting to meet people from Argentina and Saudi Arabia and everywhere in the world. It’s great that we have such a cultured school.” On the communications side, she worked as a lab assistant for the School of Mass Communication, managing communication equipment used by students. She has also served as an intern at KATV and at Mosaic Church, where she served as a Spanish translator and created graphics. Zambrano also enjoyed working on “The Lunch Box,” a television news program produced by the School of Mass Communication, and a class documentary. “As a mass communication major, I was fortunate to work with a documentarist from HBO. He was our teacher for a semester, and we were able to make a documentary from scratch. It was great and an experience that I will never forget.” She is also actively involved in the community and volunteers at Mosaic Church, the children’s ministry at Fellowship Bible Church, and as a group leader for International Student Services. On campus, Zambrano has also served as president of the International Club and vice president of Genesis Campus Ministry, where she met her husband, David, who is studying to be a physician assistant at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The two were married at Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs in 2017.

Katherine Zambrano has worked as a lab assistant in the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock television production studio. Photo by Benjamin Krain.

One of her favorite teachers was Dr. Mark Giese, who retired from the School of Mass Communication in 2017. “He was the one who got me interested in media production,” Zambrano said. “I had one of his classes, and he was this person who wanted you to learn. He was very passionate toward filming and photography, and he wanted you to love it.” Zambrano is thankful to her friends in International Student Services and Counseling Services who helped her adjust to college life and make ��Vlog��ý Little Rock her new home. “I arrived in the U.S. three and a half years ago and was met with a lot of incredible people that guided me and taught me all I know now,” she said. “I knew English but that was where my knowledge stopped in terms of college, and I was met with so many people that wanted to help me succeed and that was the biggest incentive to continue going. I love the community, and people are so friendly, and people aren’t afraid to say hello and will come up and meet new people.”

Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Conference to focus on race, ethnicity, religion

Ajani Oyindamola — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 21:00:16 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will host the 14th annual Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Conference on Thursday, April 13. 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. “The 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,” said John Kirk, director of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity. “He believes that religious communities can play an important leadership role in influencing attitudes and opinions on the subject.” The event will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the ��Vlog��ý 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’Connell 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, ��Vlog��ý 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:

��86 percent say they are aware of the important needs in their community
��81 percent say they can make a difference in their community
��76 percent volunteered at their place of worship in the past month
��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’s 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 ��Vlog��ý 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/��Vlog��ý Little Rock Communications.

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

Venezuelan student finds new home at ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

Racial Attitudes in Pulaski County Conference to focus on race, ethnicity, religion

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

Venezuelan student finds new home at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock