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

Registration Open for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s 2022 Student Research and Creative Works Expo

John Hill — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 13:33:21 +0000

Registration is now open for students who want to show off their academic research and other projects during the 2022 Student Research and Creative Works Expo. This year, the expo will be held on Friday, April 8, as an outdoor event between the Fine Arts Building and the Center for Performing Arts. Whova, a free event app, will be used to support an online program and promote networking. Registration will close on Friday, March 18. Winners of the 2021-22 Signature Experience Awards do not need to apply for the expo unless they are presenting an additional project outside of their grant project. The Expo will be open to the public, allowing members of the Little Rock or campus community to attend the presentation of students’ projects. Both undergraduate and graduate students may apply for the Student Research and Creative Works Expo .

��Vlog��ý Little Rock alum creates dance troupe to inspire deaf, hard of hearing dancers

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 20:50:56 +0000

While growing up as a deaf child in an adopted family with hearing parents, Brandy Mimms felt conflicted about whether she belonged in the hearing world or the deaf world.�� “When my parents found out I was deaf, they tried their best to make me into a normal kid,” said Mimms of Little Rock. “I grew up in the hearing world. I went to speech therapy, and I learned how to talk. In the deaf world, I had a hard time because I didn’t know sign language. I always found myself in the middle of two worlds, feeling isolated.” Now a graduate of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s dance performance program, Mimms has opened a nonprofit modern dance troupe to bridge her two worlds. Mimms created the Listen With Your Eyes Dance Troupe to provide more opportunities for dance performers in Arkansas and to raise awareness about deaf and hard of hearing performers. “I am a deaf dancer, and I want to open opportunities for other deaf dancers out there like me who may be too scared to come out to perform,” Mimms said. “I love to dance, and I want to continue to share my journey and story with the world. If you love to dance and you have a story to share, then my dance company is the perfect place for you.” The dance troupe, which includes members Ronesha Butler, Alexandreia Tolbert, Shalondra Martin, and Jaime Smith, gave its first performance, “Al Courant,” at Little Rock’s Southwest Community Center on Oct. 26.�� “Our first performance had a very good turnout,” Mimms said. “The dance company is very welcoming to everyone. People enjoyed the performance and wanted to know how they could be more involved in the deaf community.” The dance troupe’s successful first performance will certainly not be its last. Any theater, school, or community organization who is interested in hosting a performance with the Listen With Your Eyes Dance Troupe can contact Mimms at brmimms0410@gmail.com. “I want to give people a chance to share their stories. Everyone is welcome in my company, no matter what,” Mimms said. “If you love to dance and you have a story to share, then my company is a perfect place to be. We really express ourselves with our bodies. We are trying to break the language barrier.”

I need a hero

While growing up in New Orleans, Mimms recalls how tough it was being the only deaf student at her elementary school. She didn’t know sign language, and she didn’t go to school with students like her until junior high school. “When I was in high school, I saw other deaf students, but they did not allow us to sign in class because they thought sign language was a barrier that kept us from learning English,” Mimms said. “My parents died when I was a kid, so I wished there had been a deaf person when I was growing up who could inspire me.” Mimms met the childhood hero she was looking for in Antoine Hunter, a black deaf dancer who founded the Urban Jazz Dance Company in San Francisco. After connecting on social media, Hunter invited Mimms to attend the Bay Area International Dance Festival in 2016, which turned out to be a life-changing trip for Mimms. “When I met Antoine, he showed me that it is possible to be a deaf dancer,” Mimms said. “San Francisco is where I found my identity as a deaf dancer. Growing up in the hearing world was very hard for me, so I hadn’t fully accepted my identity as a deaf person at that time. Going to San Francisco helped me to embrace my identity.”��

College provides a new opportunity in life

As a child, Mimms loved to dance, but she never imagined pursuing the art as a career. She never took dance lessons, but she taught herself how to dance from the performances she saw on television. Her favorite dancer was Shirley Temple. “Brandy began her formal dance study with the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Dance Program in August 2013 as a displaced survivor of Hurricane Katrina,” said Stephen Stone, associate professor in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance and Mimms’ academic advisor. “From the onset of working with her, our faculty could see that she had a passion for dance because of her attitude of appreciation. She has always been especially thankful for the opportunity to study what she instinctively loves.” Mimms’ professors said that her presence in the program inspired many of the students and teachers to gain an interest in sign language. “Brandy’s presence in our program has been wonderful for the departmental culture,” said Stephanie Thibeault, associate professor of dance. “The presence of interpreters in our classes became the norm, and they became a part of our dance family. Many of our majors have shown an interest in sign language and interpreting. While this can be a natural extension of dancers’ nonverbal communication, I believe our dancers may have been more interested in the field after interacting with Brandy on a daily basis.” Ever since coming to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, Mimms has been all about being the first. She became the first deaf member of the Little Rock Dance Team after her third tryout and became the first deaf graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance performance in December 2018.

Photo of Brandy Mimms by Lonnie Timmons III.

“I was even the only deaf student who graduated during my commencement ceremony, and the school officials made sure I had a good spot to see the interpreter,” she said. “I love my school.” After graduation, Mimms has used the time to establish her career as a dancer and advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing. She performed in the Bay Area International Dance Festival and participated in two panels about life as a deaf dancer at the International Black Dance Conference and Dance USA. Mimms received a $1,000 Signature Experience Grant from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in 2018 to give dance lessons and choreograph a dance performance with students at the Arkansas School for the Deaf. After three weeks of dance lessons, the students performed during the Research and Creative Works Expo at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock in April. Mimms’ project, “Deaf Can Dance,” received first place in the Service Work/Professional Application category. After the success of the project, the Arkansas School for the Deaf hired Mimms as a dance teacher. Her professors says that Mimms’ accomplishments have served as an inspiration to many and have grown as she has embraced her identity as a deaf dancer.�� “For many years of her life, Brandy felt that her hearing loss was a detriment to her dreams and what she could potentially offer to others,” Stone said. “As time has moved forward, Brandy has grown to embrace this aspect of who she is…now realizing that this is the very gift that she has to offer her students, performers, peers, and also her mentors.” At age 40, Mimms acknowledges the fact that there’s little chance she’d ever be hired by a professional dance company. As someone who has spent her entire life overcoming challenges, she wasn’t about to give up on her dreams of performing as a professional dancer. She also wanted to open her own dance studio to provide dance lessons and free ASL classes. “I am at an age where there is a very small chance that I can go professional in New York or California with a professional dance company, but I love to dance so I am seizing every opportunity I can find to continue to journey,” Mimms said. “There are a lot of deaf people in this world, and not a lot of people can communicate with them. I want to break the language barrier to help all people communicate freely.”

A Call to Ministry: Lauren Humphrey uses graphic design skills to illustrate Bible for African children

Janea Snyder — Thu, 02 May 2019 19:14:06 +0000

Lauren Humphrey came to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock on a Chancellor’s Leadership Corps scholarship to study graphic design. During her time on campus, she discovered another passion: a desire to work in ministry. “I felt called, but not specifically,” she said. “I know that I want to go into ministry, and I would love to do international missions. I always say I’d pack up now and leave if I could.” Humphrey, 22, of Fort Smith, Arkansas, will graduate on May 11 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design, but she won’t be gone from campus too long. She will return this fall to begin a 10-month internship with Christian Ministry, which hosts weekly worship gatherings, discipleship groups, retreats, and mission trips for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students. Chi Alpha staff are full-time missionaries who disciple students on campus. Humphrey’s internship is through the Assembly of God and will help her earn credentials to be appointed as an Assembly of God minister. Humphrey will work with students and then lead an international mission trip in summer 2020. “After, I will ask the Lord if He will have me to serve in the States or in Africa,” she said. Humphrey fell in love with international mission work on a Chi Alpha mission trip. Each summer, Chi Alpha takes teams of 15 to 20 students to Africa or Asia for a month. Humphrey traveled to Zambia one summer and to Sri Lanka and Thailand another. Upon returning from Asia, she got a tattoo of the world’s continents on her forearm. It’s a visual reminder that “the Lord is reminding me that I’m unlimited, that He is everywhere.” Humphrey’s campus pastor, Cody Griggs, suggested she go on her own for a longer period of time if she was considering full-time international missions. “It was a test of calling – seeing if I could manage a budget, find ministry opportunities, enjoy living among a different culture, and feel a calling from the Lord to go back long term,” she said. “I got a calling to devote my life to ministry. I would love to go back to Africa. It’s my dream, but I want to be in the Lord’s will. I want to be where the Lord would have me.” Last summer, Humphrey spent three months in Zambia, working with two ministries: , a Christian nonprofit that establishes churches in the region, and , which serves homeless and orphaned children. The Zambia Project also provides medical services, builds water wells, and translates Bibles into other village languages. Humphrey stayed in Mongu, which has a school, a hospital, a center where caretakers learn how to care for malnourished children, and a therapy department that helps children with physical and mental disabilities. “While I was there, I was talking to one of the physical therapists who said it would be really good if they had a Bible for kids,” she said. “The only printed Bible in Mongu is like the King James that uses old English type language that is very hard for children to understand, and it’s not illustrated,” she said. Humphrey heard similar sentiments from other missionaries in the area and decided to use her graphic art skills to create an illustrated Bible for African children. The project was part of her Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis project that she presented in April. Although English is the official language of Zambia, the Lozi dialect is more commonly used in Mongu. Humphrey found an online New International Version�� of the Lozi Bible which she used. Illustrating the entire Bible would be difficult to accomplish in a year, so she started with the Book of Luke, one of the Gospels in the New Testament. “The book is aimed at the second-grade level,” she said. “Those are kids who can read and want to know more about Jesus, but they also need illustrations and bright colors to stay captivated. With the help of an adult reader, it could also be read to little children, and they would also enjoy the illustrations.” Humphrey selected stories to illustrate and Bible verses to highlight. She needed to test prototypes and experiment with book binding when she learned about ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Signature Experience Awards program, which provides funding for undergraduate students to work on research or creative works with a professor. With the grant, she purchased a thermal binding machine, paper, and ink. Her finished project was a 72-page, full-color book she displayed at the Student Research and Creative Works Expo on April 18. Her mentor was Kevin Cates, associate professor of graphic design. “These probably won’t be sent to Zambia since it would be much more economical for them to be printed in South Africa,” she said of the publication. However, Humphrey hopes to start a nonprofit called Translation Hope so she can raise funds to pay for Bible printing and distribution. In addition to being a student leader in Chi Alpha, Humphrey has worked on The Forum student newspaper as a designer, section editor, editor, and then executive editor. She also has interned in the Chancellor’s Office. Off campus, she works part-time for the after-school program at Lakewood United Methodist Church in North Little Rock and volunteers with the children and youth ministries at Otter Creek Assembly of God in Little Rock. Humphrey is the daughter of Anthony and Kim Humphrey of Fort Smith. Top right photo: Lauren Humphrey exhibits her illustrated children’s Bible at the Student Research and Creative Works Expo on April 18 in the Jack Stephens Center. Above photo: Lauren Humphrey binds pages together in a Bible she illustrated for children in Zambia. The project was part of her BFA in graphic design thesis project. Photos by Benjamin Krain

��Vlog��ý Little Rock student explores “theater of cruelty”

Janea Snyder — Wed, 01 May 2019 22:19:31 +0000

��Vlog��ý Little Rock theater major Selena Gordon has performed in musicals, plays, and even national films, but this semester she worked to create a performance of a different kind – one meant to awaken her audiences’ unexpressed emotions. Gordon spent this semester creating “Wake-up!” – a performance that uses overbearing sensory aspects, such as lights, sound, and gestures to stir emotions. �� “I wanted to make the audience confront issues that society tends to shy away from or ignore because they’re too difficult to talk about,” she said. “Such things include racism, sexual assault, gun control, mental illness, abuse, discrimination in all of its forms, and the political state of the country today.” It’s all part of a “theater of cruelty” experience that Gordon created and debuted at the Fringe Festival on campus in April. Recorded excerpts from the performance also were part of Gordon’s poster presentation at the Research and Creative Works Expo on April 18 in the Jack Stephens Center. Gordon, a Fort Smith native, is a member of the Chancellor’s Leadership Corps. During her time at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock, she has participated in Department of Theatre Arts and Dance productions, including “The All Night Strut” in 2017 and “As You Like It” in 2018. In 2017, Gordon also landed an acting job in the faith-based film “God’s Not Dead 3,” which was filmed in central Arkansas. Last fall, Gordon was one of about 100 undergraduates who received up to a $1,000 grant to conduct original research, creative works, and community service projects this semester as part of the Signature Experience Awards program created by Chancellor Andrew Rogerson. The awards – now in their second year – are designed to foster research and creative works among undergraduate students. Gordon proposed a project in which she would apply the theories of French dramatist Antonin Artaud, which she studied in Lawrence Smith’s Dramatic Criticism and Theory class, to a script she had written. Smith served as Gordon’s faculty mentor for the project. “I learned about Antonin Artaud, who is the mastermind behind the idea (of theatre of cruelty), and I was instantly captured by his life and his theories,” she said. “Artaud believed that theatre had become too focused on words and that we had trapped ourselves in this box of repetitive works that had already been seen before and had been done for too many years. He wanted new works that moved people, that linked to the present world. His answer for escaping this loop was a theatre of cruelty.” Selena Gordon, center, presents her “Theater of Cruelty” project to a judge during the Research and Creative Works Expo on April 18, 2019. Photo by Benjamin Krain

Rak promotes mental health, suicide prevention with inspirational mugs, website

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 19:36:42 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student is promoting mental health awareness with one inspirational smiley-faced mug at a time.�� Emilia Rak, a junior social work major, knows what it’s like to live with mental health disorders and the challenges and stigma that can come from people who don’t understand. “I’ve struggled with mental health issues for several years, and I would become severely depressed,” Rak said. “I had a very good friend, Renee. Her mother passed away a few years ago. She loved coffee, so at her funeral they had a coffee bar. Often, when I was feeling depressed, Renee told me that I had to have a coffee date with her mom in the morning. It was my promise not to harm myself until morning. For many years, my promise to my good friend was the only thing that kept me alive.” Years later, when Rak’s friend continued to struggle with her mother’s death, she began making mugs for her friends who needed a boost to their spirits. The mugs, which she makes at The Painted Pig in Little Rock, are hand-painted with bright colors, smiley faces, and inspirational phrases. “I just started making mugs and giving them to friends of mine who I thought were having a hard time. I love making presents for people,” she said. “While I was doing this, I was engaged in my own art therapy. The mugs take between 2-6 hours a piece to paint. While I was making mugs, there was no room for dark thoughts or to question my own self-worth.” When Rak received a Signature Experience Award from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock last fall, she was grateful for the opportunity to take her project further. “People gave me feedback that my gift saved them from having a bad day or that this simple gift really had an impact in my life,” she said. “The opportunity came up to get the award, and I wanted to really make a difference with the award. I created the website () and started providing content for my website and social media.” Rak was one of more than 100 ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students who received a $1,000 grant to conduct original research, creative works, and community service projects this semester as part of the Signature Experience Award program. Her faculty mentor is Dr. David Namir, professor of social work. She will present her research at the Research and Creativity in the Rock event on April 18 in the Jack Stephens Center. Along with her website, Rak began making more mugs with the goal of delivering them to places that promote mental health awareness and suicide prevention. She gave mugs to the Auxiliary to Arkansas State Hospital, Inc. to support their art therapy program, Creative Expressions, as well as the electroconvulsive therapy suite at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Psychiatric Research Institute. She also presented mugs to her classmates in her social work classes and asked them to please “pay it forward” by either gifting the mug to someone who was struggling or to keep the gift and “pay it forward” by having a positive, productive day that started with a smile.

Emilia Rak creates these inspirational mugs to raise awareness for mental health issues and suicide prevention.

Rak feels the mugs will especially help people with depression and other mental health disorders as well as people who have suffered a major loss in life. “When you wake up, you feel like you have nothing to keep you motivated,” she said. “All you have to do is look at this mug to make you feel better. People have told me that the mugs make them smile and laugh. It’s been proven that if you physically smile, you feel better. This is a simple way for me to address a serious health problem.” Rak will continue to provide mugs and is accepting orders from anyone who would like a mug, but she would like to prioritize organizations that promote mental health awareness and suicide prevention. “I truly enjoy making people happy,” Rak said. “This is something that is simple and effective. I’ve opened a for anyone who would like to donate, and I’d like to keep doing this for as long as I can.” Rak is on track to graduate in May 2020. She hopes to give back by working as a social worker and eventually an art therapist. “This started out as art therapy, and this is why I am enthused about my future career because I know it works,” Rak said. “I want to make an impact in any way I can. Who knows? I might be painting mugs until I’m 110 years old.” In the upper right photo,��Emilia Rak pets her service dog, Rooster The King of the Universe. Photo by Benjamin Krain.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock student tackles fishing problem with engineering know-how

Janea Snyder — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 21:16:32 +0000

��Vlog��ý Little Rock senior Li Morrow grew up fishing in her native China, using just a glass jar with bread in it. “I would tie a string around it and drop into one of the local creeks, ditches or flooded fields then jerk it up if a minnow swam into it,” said Morrow, 33, who will graduate on May 11 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering technology . “If it was muddy the fish would often come up to the surface near the bank and I would scoop them up with a little net.” Morrow became a U.S. citizen in 2013 and now lives in Lonoke. After a friend took her trout fishing, she was hooked. “I started driving up to the Little Red River below Greers Ferry Dam at every opportunity,” she said. “I love it.” There was just one problem. The plastic tackle boxes were too clunky. Morrow searched for a wearable tackle box but couldn’t find one. She tried wearable fishing vests but found them difficult to organize her lures and gear. “I realized that I actually needed very little fishing tackle to be successful, and I got tired of dragging around a heavy tackle box whenever I would move to a new location,” she said. Morrow did what one might expect a ��Vlog��ý Little Rock mechanical engineering technology student to do: she designed and manufactured her own tackle box, which she will debut at the university’s Student Research and Creative Works Expo on April 18 in the Jack Stephens Center.�� Last fall, Morrow was one of about 100 undergraduates who received up to a $1,000 grant to conduct original research, creative works and community service projects this semester as part of the Signature Experience Award Program created by Chancellor Andrew Rogerson. The awards – now in their second year – are designed to foster research and creative works among undergraduate students. Morrow initially bought several small lure boxes, modified them by cutting out sections, and ran a belt through it so she could wear it as she moved around to different fishing spots. For the prototype, she used The SolidWorks® software to ��build the layout and test functionality, and she used a 3D printer to create prototypes ad test alignment. “It has compartments that are specifically designed to accommodate off-the-shelf fishing gear such as 3-½ inch diameter spools of fishing line, standard power bait bottles, six- and eight-inch- long hook removers, and line repair equipment, all of which fit nicely into the tackle box,” she said. The box measures 9.8″ x 8.6″ x 3.0″. It’s small, inexpensive, easy to use, wearable, and it floats. With only one layer, all the fishing gear is also easy to access. The primary tackle box material is a rigid homopolymer polypropylene, which offers a high strength-to-weight ratio, good chemical resistance, weldability, and it is inexpensive. The final manufacturing process would involve an injection molding with the latches and hinges will be snapped into place, and the straps welded. Morrow says her trout fishing tackle box may be a solution for other trout fishermen, and she hopes someone will be interested in buying her design. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock student Li Morrow designed and built a custom wearable tackle box. / Photo by Benjaim Krain

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

Registration Open for ����Vlog��ý Little Rock’s 2022 Student Research and Creative Works Expo

����Vlog��ý Little Rock alum creates dance troupe to inspire deaf, hard of hearing dancers