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

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to Celebrate Earth Day April 20

John Hill — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 13:26:13 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is celebrating Earth Day with Teslas, a campus cleanup, energy-efficient giveaways, and an electronic recycling drive. The Earth Day celebration will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 20, in the Chi Omega Courtyard outside Ottenheimer Library. The Tesla Owners Club of Arkansas will be a new addition to the Earth Day festivities. The club will bring Tesla’s Model Y and Model S vehicles to campus for viewing. Keep Little Rock Beautiful is looking for volunteers to participate in a campuswide cleanup event. Participants should visit the Keep Little Rock Beautiful tent for trash grabbers and trash bags to collect litter on campus. Those who bring back their bags will receive a free t-shirt. Back by popular demand, the Sustainability Committee and Entergy are giving away free desk lamps with USB ports and smart power strips. Meanwhile, participants may drop off their electronics for a recycling drive in Lot 15. Additional vendors include Purely Essential 4 Life, Sacred Earth Gifts, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Campus Garden, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Wellness, Friends of Fourche Creek, Keep Little Rock Beautiful, Little Rock Wastewater Authority, Audubon Society, Arkansas Geological Survey, Calm +Confidence, and Houseplant Collection. For more information, contact Toni Boyer at thboyer@ualr.edu.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to Celebrate Earth Day April 22

John Hill — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 14:22:47 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is celebrating Earth Day with a campus clean up, tours of the campus garden, and energy-efficient giveaways.�� Earth Day is Thursday, April 22, and this year’s theme is “Restore Our Earth.” Students, faculty, and staff are invited to the annual Earth Day 2021 Campus Clean-up from 3:30-5 p.m. Participants should meet at the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Parking Deck Bridge near Lot 12. Bags and gloves will be provided. The event is hosted by the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Sustainability Committee, Keep Arkansas Beautiful Foundation, and the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Research and Extension. Contact Seth Cook at sbcook@ualr.edu for more information. Members of the Campus Garden Alliance will be giving guided tours of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Campus Garden, located at 3340 Fair Park Blvd., every 30 minutes from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Contact Nancy Hyde at njhyde@ualr.edu for more information. Back by popular demand, the Sustainability Committee and Entergy are giving away free desk lamps with USB ports, smart power strips, and LED light bulbs. Grab your energy-efficient giveaways from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Alumni Plaza in front of Ottenheimer Library. For more information, contact Jim Carr at jkcarr@ualr.edu.

Sustainability grant proposals accepted through April 12

John Hill — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 15:03:40 +0000

The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock is accepting submissions of innovative research and teaching proposals for five grants of up to $2,500 toward the development and promotion of the principles of sustainability.�� The submission deadline is 5 p.m. Monday, April 12. All full- and part-time faculty, instructors, students, and staff may apply. Grant funds will be available for the 2021-2022 academic year and must be used by June 30, 2022. Funds may be used for travel, educational materials, equipment purchases, field trips, or guest speakers. Grant recipients are required to submit a written report at the end of the funding period and present a poster at the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Earth Day Celebration on April 22, 2022. Grant applications can be . For more information, contact Jim Carr at jkcarr1@ualr.edu.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock students clean Coleman Creek

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 14:23:06 +0000

��Vlog��ý Little Rock student volunteers helped clean up Coleman Creek in honor of Sustainability Day on Oct. 23.�� Students who volunteered include Seth Cook, Eireona Flowers, Jerrica Gipson, Caleb Head, Makira Hines, Kevin Jones-Benjamin, Willie LeBlanc, Cecily Mobley, DeShawn Parks, and Kameron Wayne.�� “I came to help clean up the cleanup the creek,” said LeBlanc, a junior mass communication major. “It’s important because there is wildlife that lives in and around the creek. It’s good for the environment.”�� Seth Cook, a biology graduate student and graduate assistant with the Emerging Analytics Center, was inspired to organize creek cleanup days after interning with the Sustainability Committee.�� “When I was an intern in 2015, I got involved with the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Campaign,” Cook said. “After my internship, I kept the connection and felt it was a good way for students to volunteer on campus.”�� It’s especially important to keep Coleman Creek clean because it empties into Fourche Creek. It’s considered the most important urban watershed in Arkansas, since the watershed drains and filters runoff from Arkansas’s capital city.�� “I’ve always had the sustainability mindset, especially since interning with the Sustainability Committee,” Cook said. “These cleanup days are important because this is our one opportunity to catch trash in Coleman Creek before in empties into Fourche. Who knows where the trash will go after that?”

Sustainability Day volunteers remove trash from Coleman Creek before it enters Fourche Creek and the urban watershed that filters runoff from Little Rock. Photo by Ben Krain.

Campus Sustainability Day, Oct. 23, to promote responsible stewardship of physical resources

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 13:29:52 +0000

The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock campus community is invited to celebrate Sustainability Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, October 23, in Alumni Plaza in front of Ottenheimer Library. The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Campus Garden Alliance will be onsite to share information and encourage participation in the Campus Garden. Entergy Arkansas will give away eco-friendly light bulbs. Onsite vendors will include , , , , and . Sustainability Day is an opportunity to celebrate and cultivate choices for sustainable living that lead to healthy environments, economies, and societies.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock awards five grants to make a more sustainable campus

Ajani Oyindamola — Mon, 06 May 2019 13:51:10 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Sustainability Committee has awarded nearly $7,000 to five projects proposed by ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students with the goal of making the campus more sustainable and environmentally friendly.�� Anna Griffiths, a junior environmental geology major, received a $1,000 grant to improve the university’s recycling program. She will place disposable GPS trackers in designated recycling bins on campus to track where recycling from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock goes. Next, she wants to fix any problems in the campus’s current recycling program and work with Facilities Management to roll out a new recycling program. Griffiths will use the $1,000 grant to purchase disposable GPS tracking devices, host recycling demonstrations, and create custom banners, signs, and posters to promote recycling on campus. “I wanted to focus my Donaghey Scholars final project on a sustainable, community service project,” Griffiths said. “It is important to have a working recycling program to benefit our campus and our environment. Every sustainable college has a great recycling program. Setting a foundation for a well-operating recycling system is essential for creating a path of sustainable development for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock.” A second project will allow students on campus to study outside longer by providing a designated outdoor study space with a solar-powered charging station to power up electronic devices. The team of Ethan Bowen, Jordan Hancock, Hannah Krehbiel, and Garry Roberts came up with the idea while researching sustainability projects for a class assignment. They received a $1,970 grant to purchase a solar umbrella station for a common outside area on campus. “We found solar-powered charging stations and thought it’d be perfect,” said Hancock, a freshman art history major. “This is a clear demonstration on how clean energy can be converted and used in everyday life. This will show that ��Vlog��ý Little Rock is committed to sustainability, educates students on clean energy, and encourages students to spend time outside.” A group of Donaghey Scholars will use a $1,518 grant to purchase and install a water bottle filling station for the University Commons Building. Since it is a high-traffic area for residential students on campus, the students believe this location will help ��Vlog��ý Little Rock eliminate the use and environmental impact of tens of thousands of bottles per year. �� The students include Savannah James, freshman English and political science major; Jade Keathley, sophomore music major; and D. Cecily Mobley and Karson Oates, both first-year computer science majors. “If more people on campus had access to water bottle filling stations, a higher number of people would take advantage of them, given the positive environmental impact and the health benefits of avoiding sugary drinks as well as the benefit of saving money over time,” James said. “It is necessary to increase access to these filling stations in order to combat plastic waste on campus. Ultimately, by installing these filling stations, the university would have a straightforward opportunity to combat the amount of waste produced with the use of single-use plastic water bottles and promote a healthier, more sustainable attitude within the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock community.” The fourth project, which received a $1,000 grant, includes a plan to save the campus money by planting indigenous, drought-resistant plants across campus. The grant recipients includestudents Sadie Goss, B. LaTambria Hampton, C. Sam Koon, and D. Aleigha Smith. According to their proposal, the university would save money by using local plants native to Arkansas, rather than importing non-native plants that don’t fare well in Arkansas’s harsh summers. Local plants would require less water to maintain. The team hopes that student organizations will get involved and volunteer to plant the native plants once they are purchased. �� The final grant recipient is Jason Spencer, an earth sciences graduate student, who will use a ��$1,500 grant to purchase and install a solar station that will provide power for a recently installed greenhouse at the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Campus Garden. The solar station will run fans to cool the greenhouse, lighting, and irrigation pumps. The project will allow the Campus Garden to grow food year round. The Campus Garden donates food to the Trojan Food Pantry, which benefits ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students, faculty, and staff and members of the community.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock presents Earth Day festivities April 22

Ajani Oyindamola — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 13:39:22 +0000

The University of Arkansas Little Rock Sustainability Committee invites faculty, staff, students, and members of the community to celebrate Earth Day on Monday, April 22.�� Festivities will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Donaghey Student Center mall area. Participants will be able to purchase various homemade items from vendors, including Carmen Farms, Global Ties of Arkansas, Little Brick Oven, Sacred Earth Gifts, Sardis Garen, and Treazure & Yummie Pralines. Michelle Butler, an administrative analyst in the College of Engineering and Information Technology, will sell Purely Essential Oils. Along with external vendors will be ��Vlog��ý Little Rock organizations, such as the Garden Alliance Club, Geology Club, and McNair Scholars. The Sustainability Committee will use the Trojan Transit to provide tours of the Campus Garden. Tours will leave the Campus Garden booth at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 1:30 p.m. Free electronic recycling will be available in Lot 15 from 7:30 a.m. to noon while free document shredding will be available in Lot 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, contact Sustainability Committee Member Frances Frazier at fjfrazier@ualr.edu.

New bike-sharing program launches Homecoming Week

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 21:35:21 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is welcoming bikes back to campus with the launch of a new bike-sharing program with VeoRide that begins as the campus celebrates Homecoming Week Nov. 26 to Dec. 1.�� The program will allow employees, students, and visitors to get around campus quickly by renting the bright teal-colored bikes through VeoRide’s app, available for download on Apple’s App Store and Google Play. Biking to classes and events on campus will be easier than ever as these dockless bikes may be parked and made available at any public bike rack. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students and employees can purchase a monthly pass for $13.99 or a yearly pass for $48.99. Community members and visitors will pay $25.99 for a monthly pass and $99.99 for a yearly pass. Riders can also get a day pass for $6.99 or pay 50 cents for every 15 minutes of use. Riders can use the VeoRide app to find an available bike and reserve it for up to 10 minutes in advance. Next, they scan the bike’s QR code or enter an ID to unlock the bike. Riders can leave the bike in designated areas and push the slider on the lock to end the trip. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock first entered the world of bike sharing with a partnership with San Francisco-based Spin that launched in February. The company abruptly canceled its bike-sharing program July 16 in order to focus on offering electronic scooter rentals. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Sustainability Committee member Toni Boyer Stewart said the campus community is excited for the return of a new and improved bike-sharing experience. “The campus community truly liked the bike-sharing program. It’s very convenient,” Boyer Stewart said. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock will be home to about 100 bikes with VeoRide, which will hire two employees to monitor the bikes on campus and move misplaced bikes to proper parking spaces. The VeoRide bikes will also offer some new features. Riders will have the ability to pause their ride to accommodate brief stops during their commute. If a rider would like to stop at the Donaghey Student Center to buy a drink, he or she could pause the ride, make a purchase, and then return to the same bike without the inconvenience of renting a different bike, Boyer Stewart explained. The bikes will also have a geofencing feature so that campus administrators can identify areas, such as sidewalks and parking lots, where the bikes cannot be parked. Riders will be unable to lock the bikes in these locations and must park them in an approved area to end their ride. In the upper right photo,��Maximum and Alex Tolbert, a member of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Dance Team, check out a new bike from VeoRide.��

Sustainability Day returns to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 19:26:28 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Alumni Plaza was transformed into an exciting and environmentally conscious market on Wednesday, Oct. 24, with the return of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s annual Sustainability Day. The event, featuring local vendors, campus organizations, and food trucks, was organized by ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Sustainability Committee in order to promote a sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle to the entire campus community. Sustainability Committee Chairman Jim Carr offered his advice to students and faculty about how they can make small but important sustainable choices on campus. “Thinking about the consequences of your activities is the first step in living a sustainable lifestyle,” Carr said. “Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Don’t use the handicap buttons on the doors unless you need them. Just take some time to think about how what you’re doing will affect the Earth around you.” Other vendors also offered their own advice on how anyone can make small changes in their lives that will go a long way in helping the environment. “Recycling isn’t as difficult as a lot of people think it is, and collectively it goes a long way towards building a better future for the planet,” said Molly Gallaher of Pup Eats Dog Treats. “Buying locally and supporting your local farmers is another way to ensure that you know where your food is coming from and that it was made in an environmentally friendly way.” For those who preferred something sweet, Rosalind Porter came all the way from New Orleans with her unique selection of the city’s famous pralines. “I’ve got pralines for vegans that are plant-based. I’ve got pralines for diabetics,” Porter said. “I’ve got my own flavors and I’ve got the regular kind too. Everyone should be conscious of both the environment and their own health, and I’m hoping my pralines will satisfy both.” ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s campus was also represented at the market with fresh veggies from the Campus Garden Alliance and intensely spicy hot sauces made by biology professor Dr. Stephen Grace. Marion Richard, president of the Campus Garden Alliance, left a message for the campus about why sustainability should not be ignored. “Sustainability is important because our planet is important. Because people are important. It’s as simple as that,” said Richard. “The Campus Garden Alliance is committed to this by both providing fresh, organic food for the campus food pantry and teaching sustainability lessons throughout the year.” Sustainability committee member and event organizer Frances Frazier hopes that all who attended came away with lessons learned. “Sustainability is a very important issue on this campus,” she said. “We want our students and faculty both to make smart, conscious choices about what they do and how it affects the planet. I hope that everyone who comes this year will come away with something new.” To learn more about ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s sustainability committee, click here. L to R: Campus Garden Alliance supervisor Dr. Stephen Grace, President Marion Richard, and Secretary Quinshell Smith

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to celebrate Sustainability Day Oct. 24

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 19:15:05 +0000

Learn how to protect the environment and conserve resources during the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s annual Sustainability Day events Wednesday, Oct. 24.�� To start the day, the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock will host an electronic waste recycling drive from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in parking lot 15, located near the residence halls at the intersection of 28th Street and Fair Park Boulevard. Members of the university and the Little Rock community can drop off any electronic-related devices to be recycled, including televisions, microwaves, batteries, and printers. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the university Alumni Plaza, located outside of the Ottenheimer Library, will be filled with food trucks, a farmers market, recycling demonstrations, and other displays for the Trojan community to enjoy. Local vendors, including the Campus Garden Alliance, will also be present throughout the day, selling items from fresh fruits and veggies to precious stones and natural herbs. Entergy will also be giving away free light bulbs. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Frances Frazier at fjfrazier@ualr.edu.

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

����Vlog��ý Little Rock to Celebrate Earth Day April 20

����Vlog��ý Little Rock to Celebrate Earth Day April 22

Sustainability grant proposals accepted through April 12

����Vlog��ý Little Rock students clean Coleman Creek