Carr, a Paragould native, is a double major in political science and criminal justice and a member of the Donaghey Scholars Honors Program. This summer, he interned in the Little Rock office of , R-Ark., where he spent five weeks assisting with constituent services, writing letters, answering phone calls, and attending meetings with local leaders. He also accompanied staff members to community events across the state.

鈥淚 spent half of my time in the office and half of it out,鈥� Carr said. 鈥淚 would answer questions for constituents, help with casework, and go to meetings with mayors, state representatives, and different interest groups. My favorite part was meeting with members of the community and seeing the impact it makes. You don鈥檛 think about politicians going out and meeting with groups like Arkansas Disability Rights and hearing what their thoughts are on bills. Being able to help members of the community be heard was really meaningful.鈥�

Carr said attending the was one of his most memorable moments. The Arkansas Economic Development Commission, Division of Rural Services, and the Arkansas Rural Development Commission host this conference so people can learn about programs and services available to assist rural communities and their leaders with development, planning, and revitalization efforts.

鈥淚t was my second day on the job, and I had a VIP lanyard,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t felt pretty special as an intern. I shadowed our field representative and took notes on the event.鈥�

The internship gave Carr practical insight into how government functions at the local, state, and federal levels.

鈥淚鈥檝e learned how to interact with members of the community,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 want to serve the public, and this showed me how the public鈥檚 needs can be addressed by different levels of government. We鈥檝e studied it in class but seeing it in action was really cool.鈥�

Following his internship, Carr traveled abroad for a four-week summer program at the , where he studied international relations and comparative criminal justice.

鈥淚t was interesting to see international relations taught from a European perspective,鈥� Carr said. 鈥淚t helped me to think creatively and critically and to consider things from a different point of view. Meeting people from different cultures and backgrounds was also helpful. I got over my culture shock pretty fast, and it was amazing to build friendships with people from around the world.鈥�

Carr鈥檚 time abroad included field trips to St. Andrews, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, as well as a tour of a decommissioned nuclear bunker. He also went hiking in the mountains around Stirling and sampled traditional Scottish dishes.

鈥淚 really enjoyed haggis and fish and chips,鈥� Carr said. 鈥淢y professor would teach us a Scottish word of the day, which was fun. Their accent changes a lot depending on where you are in Scotland, and it was interesting to hear how much of the Scots language is still part of everyday life.鈥�

Carr credits the Donaghey Scholars Honors Program for supporting him throughout the process.

鈥淭he Donaghey Scholars program was a huge help in all of this,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey helped me plan and get into the study abroad program, and they also provided a recommendation for my internship. They made both of these amazing opportunities possible.鈥�

Carr, who plans to graduate in May 2027, hopes to pursue a career working in policy or political campaigns.

鈥淭his summer showed me that I鈥檓 on the right path,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 want to keep serving the public and making sure people鈥檚 voices are heard.鈥�

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Dr. Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm, professor of political science at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, was a member of three large cross-national research projects during the pandemic. He answered a call to write a paper for a special issue of a journal that brings together scholars to examine how the Covid-19 crisis affected practices on conducting field research in conflict-affected contexts.

His article, 鈥�,鈥� was published in Qualitative Research, a peer-reviewed international journal.

Peace and conflict studies is an academic field that examines the nature of conflict and violence, and how to prevent, resolve, and transform it.

Wiebelhaus-Brahm discusses his experiences with three large international research collaborations. These include the pre-pandemic Beyond Words: Implementing Latin American Truth Commission Recommendations; one ongoing when the pandemic began (Gender, Justice, and Security Hub); and one launched during the pandemic (Truth Commissions and Sexual Violence: African and Latin American Experiences).

The study highlights how, contrary to early predictions, the pandemic has, if anything, deepened structural imbalances between North-South research teams and raised ethical challenges in knowledge production and sharing.

鈥淭here are typically power imbalances between researchers in the North and South,鈥� Wiebelhaus-Brahm explained. 鈥淭he events that we research in peace and conflict studies are more likely to happen in the global South. The expertise of researchers in the South is critical for the success of these projects, but researchers in the North often shape the research questions, and the project is often geared to advance their careers. Meanwhile, researchers in the South are often at the most risk in order to collect data, depending on factors like potential violence from local groups and reprisal from the government.鈥�

The pandemic had a great effect on how Wiebelhaus-Brahm and his colleagues proceeded with research. On off-campus duty assignment during the 2020-21 academic year, Wiebelhaus-Brahm was meant to travel to four continents to do field work, but the pandemic put a stop to all of that and had various effects, for better and worse, on his research collaborations.

In the Gender, Justice, and Security Hub, all of Wiebelhaus-Brahm鈥檚 field work was canceled, and the researchers in the South played a more critical role in advancing projects and collecting data. Some new research studies developed in response to the pandemic, such as exploring how the pandemic impacted women鈥檚 livelihoods.

He was able to spend more time analyzing data and writing up results for the Beyond Words project, which had finished up data collection before the pandemic started.

The third research project, Truth Commissions and Sexual Violence: African and Latin American Experiences, had issues getting started. The researchers had to rely more on secondary data and explored fewer countries because of the pandemic.

When looking back on these research collaborations, Wiebelhaus-Brahm and his co-authors said there should be a more equitable partnership between all researchers and that it鈥檚 important to find ways to ensure that projects are designed and implemented in an equitable manner, and that the research produced will benefit everyone involved.

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Dr. Rebecca Glazier, a professor of political science in the School Public Affairs, published a paper, 鈥淟ong-Term Effects of COVID-19 on Political Science Teaching,鈥� in the journal PS: Political Science and Politics.

She surveyed about 300 political science faculty who are members of the American Political Science Association (APSA). The data reveals a picture of faculty who are doing more for students and feeling strained by their efforts. Those with more experience teaching online before the pandemic held a more favorable view of online teaching when they were surveyed during the pandemic. The results found that the attitude of most faculty members (about 80 percent) towards online teaching became more positive (46.2 percent) or stayed the same (31.9 percent) during the first two years of the pandemic.

鈥淲e thought that teaching during COVID would make a lot of people hate online teaching,鈥� Glazier said. 鈥淎s a whole, it didn鈥檛 make people more negative. The people who were most affected were those that had to teach online for the first time as a result of COVID-19.鈥�

About 22 percent of those surveyed now have a more negative attitude regarding online teaching because of the pandemic.

鈥淭eaching for the first time during COVID was really hard for a lot of faculty members. They were all of a sudden being thrown into teaching online with a week鈥檚 warning,鈥� Glazier said. 鈥淭hat is what made some people hate online teaching. If you give people some training and preparation, people don鈥檛 hate online teaching.鈥�

Glazier and her co-author, Dr. J. Cherie Strachan of the University of Akron, are both members of the Political Science Education group of APSA. Glazier received a Small Research Grant from APSA to support her project.

In addition to studying attitudes toward online teaching, Glazier said her research also found that faculty members developed some positive teaching habits during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Faculty members reported spending more one-on-one time meeting with students to discuss personal problems, though women consistently reported giving more of their time to students both before and during the pandemic. Many faculty members also reported becoming more empathetic during the pandemic.

鈥淚t has made me more aware that many of my students have challenges that I do not know about which affect their performance,鈥� one respondent stated.

Glazier said most of her research project鈥檚 big-picture findings 鈥� attitudes toward online teaching and faculty becoming more empathetic and spending more one-on-one time with students 鈥� 鈥渆xtend across all disciplines and are something that all faculty are dealing with.鈥�

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鈥淎s a first-time applicant, I am profoundly grateful to have been bestowed with such a prestigious grant, a recognition that far exceeded my expectations,鈥� said Rodriguez. 鈥淩eceiving this grant has been an immense honor for me, and I am filled with deep appreciation.鈥�

Rodriguez received $2,750 in total to put toward her research, winning $2,125 from the SURF grant, as well as $625 matched by 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock.

Rodriguez has long been intrigued by migrant issues, an oft-discussed topic in the Rodriguez household. She dove deeper into the subject through her academic pursuits, seeking to understand the factors influencing Oaxacan immigrants鈥� choice of Arkansas as their destination.

鈥淚 am a first-generation Mexican-American in the United States,鈥� explained Rodriguez. 鈥淢y parents are Oaxacan, and I always asked them, 鈥榳hy Arkansas?鈥�

Citing statistics from 2023-2024, which placed Arkansas at 49th in crime and corrections, 43rd in education, 47th in health, 40th in infrastructure, and 29th in opportunity, Rodriguez questioned the underlying factors driving Oaxacan immigrants to the state.

These questions led Rodriguez to do her own research examining what factors play into Oaxacan immigration to the U.S. The comparative study investigates the push and pull theory in relation to both Oaxacan migrants and non-migrants, focusing on the impact of political, social, and economic factors in migration decisions. Her research revealed some expected results, as well as some unexpected.

鈥淢y research has given me a more detailed answer to my question: 鈥榃hy Arkansas?鈥欌�� said Rodriguez.  鈥淭his study fills a significant gap in immigrant literature regarding Oaxacan immigrants and analyzes authentic responses regarding what drives them to migrate to Arkansas. My findings support the common assumption that economic factors are the most prevalent. Surprisingly, social factors are equally significant, which was unexpected.”

After graduation, Rodriguez plans to pursue the legal field and court interpreting, and hopes to see others continue to explore the complexities of migration through research.

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Long is graduating from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in political science, a minor in history, a 4.0 GPA, and a goal to become a lawyer.

At the Dec. 16 commencement ceremony, Long鈥檚 mother, Pamela, siblings, best friend, and mentors will all join her at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock to celebrate this incredible milestone.

鈥淚 am very excited for graduation,鈥� Long said. 鈥淚 feel like I鈥檝e worked very hard for it, and it鈥檚 been a long time coming.鈥�

After finishing high school at 15, Long started college at National Park College and then transferred to 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock as an online student in the spring 2022 semester.

鈥淚 think what鈥檚 most memorable for me is how, as an online student, I have felt so included by my teachers and other students,鈥� Long said. 鈥淭he online atmosphere is really great.鈥�

Along the way, she鈥檚 gained valuable experience working at Legacy Law Group in Hot Springs. Long interned there during the spring semester and now works part-time at the law firm. It鈥檚 proven to be helpful as Long has already taken the LSAT and is planning to attend 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 William H. Bowen School of Law in the fall.

She鈥檚 thankful to her advisor, Dr. Joe Giammo, associate professor in the School of Public Affairs, for helping her navigate college.

鈥淚 am a first-generation college student, and I had a lot of questions since I didn鈥檛 always know what I was doing,鈥� Long said. 鈥淗e was always very supportive, and I鈥檝e been really lucky to have him.鈥�

As for graduating at 19, Long doesn鈥檛 find the experience to be unusual because 鈥渟o many of my friends are education- and goal-oriented. I think of myself as just like them.鈥�

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