The investment supports student learning and faculty research in the School of Physical Sciences while helping prepare students for careers in science and industry. The mass spectrometer, which was installed in the Department of Chemistry during the spring semester, is the first of its kind at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock and places the university among a small number of institutions in Arkansas with this advanced technology.

鈥淭his instrument gives our students hands-on experience with a sophisticated tool that鈥檚 used widely in industry,鈥� said Dr. Brian Walker, assistant professor of chemistry and principal investigator on the grant. 鈥淚t connects what students learn in the classroom to real-world applications and gives them a competitive edge in the job market.鈥�

Walker co-authored the grant with co-principal investigators Dr. Noureen Siraj, associate professor of chemistry, and Dr. Juliette Rivero Walker, instructor of chemistry. The purchase was also made possible through the support of the Graduate School and the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

Mass spectrometry is a critical tool in modern chemistry that allows researchers to analyze the chemical composition of substances by measuring the mass of molecules. The new instrument offers expanded capabilities, including multiple sampling methods and a broad mass detection range of up to 2,000 mass units, which far surpasses the university鈥檚 previous limitations.

鈥淭he versatility of this machine is what makes it especially valuable,鈥� Walker said. 鈥淚t can analyze samples directly from a crude reaction mixture, even from a TLC plate, without having to purify the compound first. That saves researchers significant time and opens the door for more exploratory work.鈥�

In addition to its research applications in small molecule synthesis, pharmaceutical analysis, and material identification, the mass spectrometer will be integrated into undergraduate teaching labs beginning this fall. Faculty plan to use it for exercises such as identifying medicine tablets by mass or analyzing trace compounds on common surfaces, such as testing dollar bills for chemical residues.

鈥淭his will give students the opportunity to run their own samples and immediately see the data generated,鈥� Walker said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to talk about a technique in a lecture; it鈥檚 another to use it yourself and interpret the results. That level of engagement deepens their learning.鈥�

The mass spectrometer will also be available for use by faculty across the School of Physical Sciences. Walker said students and researchers interested in using the machine will be required to complete a brief training with him, Siraj, or Rivero. Walker said the instrument also represents a strategic investment in workforce training.

鈥淣ot every student will go to graduate school,鈥� Walker said. 鈥淢any want to go straight into the workforce after graduating with their bachelor鈥檚 degree. Having experience with high-end instrumentation like this gives these students a real advantage when it comes to finding a job and lets faculty pivot toward building skills that are in high demand.鈥�

Walker expressed gratitude to the university for its support.

鈥淚 want to thank the university leadership for putting up the additional funding and making this purchase possible,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an investment in both our students and our faculty, and it shows 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 commitment to excellence in STEM education.鈥�

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A longtime faculty member and nationally recognized researcher, Karabacak brings more than two decades of leadership, teaching, and research experience to the role. He currently serves as director of the School of Physical Sciences, where he has played a pivotal role in fostering interdisciplinary research and growing the school into one of the university鈥檚 most research-active academic units.

鈥淒r. Karabacak鈥檚 dedication to student success, research excellence, and interdisciplinary innovation makes him the ideal person to lead DCSTEM into its next chapter,鈥� said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Ann Bain. 鈥淗e is widely respected across campus for his collaborative approach.鈥�

Karabacak succeeds Interim Dean Jeff Connelly who has served during the academic year after Dr. Lawrence Whitman left for a deanship at Kennesaw State University. 

鈥淚鈥檓 grateful for Jeff鈥檚 leadership during this transition,鈥� Bain said. 鈥淗is steady guidance helped maintain the college鈥檚 momentum and positioned it well for this next phase under Dr. Karabacak鈥檚 leadership.鈥�

Karabacak brings a strong record of strategic leadership and research success. As director, he guided the integration of the Chemistry, Earth Science, and Physics and Astronomy programs, uniting them under the School of Physical Sciences. Under his leadership, faculty have secured approximately $9 million in grant funding and expanded research collaborations across disciplines.

An Arkansas Research Alliance Fellow, Karabacak holds multiple U.S. patents and has received several university and national awards for his research in nanostructured materials and energy applications. His lab continues to mentor doctoral students while supporting research funded by agencies such as NASA, the Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation.

鈥淚 am truly honored to serve as the next dean of DCSTEM,鈥� Karabacak said. 鈥淥ur faculty and staff are committed to innovation, collaboration, and creating opportunities for students. I鈥檓 excited to build on the college鈥檚 momentum and strengthen our impact on the university, the state, and beyond.鈥�

Karabacak earned his Ph.D. in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and joined 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock in 2006. He has served in a wide range of academic leadership roles, including graduate coordinator, department chair, and director.

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鈥淚 am truly excited and energized by this opportunity,” Karabacak said. “I look forward to collaborating with our talented faculty and staff to achieve great things for our students and the school.”

As director, Karabacak leads the School of Physical Sciences in the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). It was established in 2022 and houses the undergraduate and graduate programs in chemistry, physics, and geology. The school is home to about 25 faculty and staff and 125 students at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock.

鈥淲e are excited to officially welcome Dr. Karabacak as director of the School of Physical Sciences,鈥� said Jeff Connelly, interim dean of the Donaghey College of STEM. 鈥淎s a proven leader who has successfully served as interim director of the school and a previous department chair, Dr. Karabacak has demonstrated a deep commitment to both faculty mentorship and student success. His collaborative spirit and innovative vision make him the perfect fit to lead the School of Physical Sciences into its next chapter of growth and excellence.鈥�

The School of Physical Sciences led the university鈥檚 solar eclipse celebration in April, which resulted in bringing more than 4,000 visitors to campus and generated 3.5 billion media impressions.

Karabacak鈥檚 goals for the School of Physical Sciences include expanding research opportunities for students and faculty members.

“There are exciting research opportunities in topics such as advanced materials, alternative energy, and environmental science,” Karabacak said. “I look forward to having our geology, physics, and chemistry experts collaborate with industry, government, and research centers to lead in these fields. My goal is to make the School of Physical Sciences the epicenter of research in these exciting fields in Central Arkansas while also aligning our curriculum and research with industry needs.”

Karabacak joined 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock as an assistant professor of physics in 2006. In his nearly 20 years at the university, he has served as graduate coordinator of the applied sciences doctoral program, chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and interim director of the School of Physical Sciences.

Karabacak has a bachelor鈥檚 degree in physics from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, as well as a master鈥檚 degree in physics and Ph.D. in physics in the field of growth dynamics of thin film coatings and glancing angle deposited (GLAD) nanostructures, both from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His research has involved the applications of GLAD nanostructures and physical vapor deposited thin films as well as alternative energy technologies including solar cells, fuel cells, and batteries.

Karabacak and his wife Muberra have three children and live in Little Rock. He is a fellow of the Arkansas Research Alliance and received the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Faculty Excellence in Research Award in 2017. He is also a member of the Materials Research Society, American Vacuum Society, American Physical Society, and Academic Chairpersons Conference.

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糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock is excited to welcome the public and campus community to experience this rare and breathtaking event on campus. This day of science and observation for the whole family will take place from 10 a.m. 鈥� 4 p.m. Monday, April 8, with activities taking place both inside and outside the Jack Stephens Center.

鈥淚f we don鈥檛 observe the Total Solar Eclipse on April 8, we won鈥檛 have another chance in Arkansas for the next 21 years,鈥� said Dr. Gregory Guisbiers, associate professor of physics and astronomy at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. 鈥淭hat is why I encourage everyone to see the eclipse in April. For many of us, it鈥檚 a once-in-a-lifetime event.鈥�

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun. Much of Arkansas lies within the path of totality with Little Rock expected to have two minutes and 29 seconds of totality. The partial eclipse will take place from 12:33-3:11 p.m. with the main event, the total solar eclipse, taking place between 1:51-1:54 p.m. in Little Rock.

The university’s School of Physical Sciences is organizing guided observation sessions equipped with solar telescopes from Celestron, allowing attendees to witness the eclipse with breathtaking detail as it is transmitted on large screens for all to enjoy. Additionally, 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock will have 50 telescopes featuring Solar Safe filter technology for children to safely observe the eclipse. 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock will also have 50 phone adapters, making it easy and safe for people to take a picture with their phone, and thousands of eclipse glasses for the crowd.

“The eclipse event at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock is a prime example of how different academic fields can come together to explore and learn,鈥� Provost Ann Bain said. 鈥淲e’re grateful to everyone participating in this event, as their unique academic perspectives enrich the learning experience for all. We’re excited to offer this unique learning opportunity for our students and the wider community.”

Additionally, 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock will have an inflatable planetarium, a Foucault鈥檚 pendulum, meteorites on display, and a variety of demonstrations representing areas from the humanities to healthcare taking place throughout the day inside the Jack Stephens Center. Food trucks and children鈥檚 activities, such as manufacturing pinhole viewing boxes and face painting, will also be available to make sure all family members enjoy their entire day at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock.

, author of 鈥淣etworking for Nerds,鈥� will be giving a guest lecture at 10 a.m. in the Jack Stephens Center. For more than 20 years, Levine has been helping emerging and established leaders build meaningful careers. After the lecture, Levine will meet with 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock students, faculty, and staff to give them advice on how to boost their careers.

The event is funded by the Donaghey Foundation, , and the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

For more information on the solar eclipse event, visit .

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Lytle, associate professor of criminal justice and criminology, won the Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching, sponsored by the Bailey Family. Glazier, professor in the School of Public Affairs, has won the Faculty Excellence Award in Research and Creative Endeavors, sponsored by Dr. Jaafer Golzar and family, while Grace, associate professor of biology, received the Faculty Excellence Award in Public Service.

With the addition of two new awards this year, 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock also honored Dr. Mark Baillie, assistant professor of chemistry, as the inaugural recipient of the Rising Faculty Excellence Award, sponsored by the Bowen Family, as well as Dr. John Kirk, George W. Donaghey distinguished professor of history, as the recipient of the Faculty Excellence Award in Social Justice, sponsored by Just Communities of Arkansas.

鈥淥ur winners鈥� dedication to scholarship, teaching, research, public service, and social justice has made a profound impact on our institution and the broader academic community,鈥� Provost Ann Bain said. 鈥淭hey have demonstrated a commitment to excellence that inspires us all and sets a high standard for future generations of educators. On behalf of the university, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all of the award recipients and thank you for embodying the spirit of excellence that defines our institution.鈥�

糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock annually celebrates the achievements of the top professors of the year who are making a difference in the community through their contributions in teaching, research and creative works, public service, and social justice. This is the highest honor 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock awards its faculty members. Each winning faculty winner will receive a $5,000 prize.

Created in 1989, the Faculty Excellence Awards has provided a way to recognize the great work of 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock faculty for the past 34 years and is made possible through the valued contributions of the Office of the Chancellor, the Office of the Provost, the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Chancellor鈥檚 Circle, and the Bailey Foundation.

The 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Board of Visitors selected the university-wide winners from the 19 faculty members who were selected as the top faculty members for the 2022-23 academic year in each of the five categories in their respective colleges and the William H. Bowen School of Law.

Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching

Dr. Robert 鈥淏ob鈥� Lytle is an associate professor of criminal justice and criminology, as well as the graduate coordinator for the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology. Lytle has been praised by students and colleagues for his dedication to students and his passion in the classroom.

There are several examples of Lytle鈥檚 excellence in teaching. One of those in particular can be found in his instruction of doctoral level statistics courses in the criminal justice and criminology Ph.D. program. Students often find these courses to be daunting and difficult, but students and colleagues alike have praised Lytle for his ability to teach these courses and teach them well.

One student in particular said Lytle transformed a terrifying advanced statistics course into one that was manageable and even enjoyable. Fellow colleagues and students also highlight the labeled binders he creates for each of his statistics students. These binders include everything from the syllabus and extra credit assignments to 125 pages of content written by Lytle concerning material used in the statistics classes and even a statistics refresher. The binder can be used in both upper-level criminal justice and criminology statistics courses, and the binders are built in such a way that they can be reorganized and added to as the student sees fit.

Lytle has also served in several different roles in his seven years at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. He is also the graduate coordinator for his school and has also served as the school assessment coordinator for over five years. Lytle has chaired thesis committees for five students and served as reader on six additional thesis projects while at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. He is currently serving as chair on six dissertation committees and as a reader on 14 additional dissertations.

Since 2016, Lytle has published 14 peer reviewed articles, with four of these articles being written in conjunction with students. This shows his dedication in teaching, but also mentoring students in their own research. To culminate, Lytle is currently the co-principal investigator on four external grants and contracts totaling over $1 million. This provides undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to actively engage in research projects that would not be available without Lytle鈥檚 dedication to teaching and student success through classroom instruction and research outside the classroom.

Faculty Excellence Award for Research and Creative Endeavors

Dr. Rebecca Glazier is a professor in the School of Public Affairs. She is known for her research on religion and politics, as well as pedagogical research in higher education.

Glazier is noted and praised for the Little Rock Congregations Study (LRCS) she founded 11 years ago. The LRCS is a longitudinal study of religion with goals of improving the understanding of the impacts of faith-based community engagement, getting students out of the classroom and into the community to learn and give back, and providing relevant and meaningful findings to the community. She has received over $30,000 in grants from community groups related to this study, and two of her peer-reviewed articles have been co-authored with students she mentored through the study.

Glazier is also highly committed to the scholarship of teaching and to learning how to improve teaching from students. She has published seven peer-reviewed articles and three book chapters on building rapport in the classroom, along with the book 鈥淐onnecting in the Online Classroom: Building Rapport between Teachers and Students鈥� with Johns Hopkins University Press (2021). This has made her very influential in the pedagogical circles in higher education. Over the last five years, Glazier has published 20 peer-reviewed articles, three book chapters, and one-solo authored book with several additional pieces of work on the way.

Faculty Excellence Award for Public Service

Dr. Stephen Grace is an associate professor of biology at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. Grace is a plant physiologist specializing in plant biochemistry and is a founding director of the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Campus Garden.

The 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Campus Garden was founded in 2013 with the intent to bring together students, staff, faculty, and community members who share an interest in sustainability and gardening. The primary mission of the garden is to create a viable urban farm that provides fresh local food to organizations and individuals and to create an educational facility on urban land use, food studies, and sustainable agriculture for students, faculty, staff, and community members.

As director, Grace oversees service, teaching, and outreach activities, coordinates food delivery to food banks and other organizations, and serves as faculty advisor for the Campus Garden Alliance. The success of the garden has also created several partnerships with internal and external organizations, such as the Trojan Food Pantry, Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, Arkansas Interfaith Power and Light, University District, Full Circle FarmsCorps, as well as several local businesses, such as the Root Cafe, River Valley Horticultural Products, and Arkansas Grown.

Over the past six years, the garden has received grants and funding worth more than $60,000. External funding and grants have been provided by the Pulaski County Conservation District, L鈥橭real, 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Alumni Association, and the AHRA Emergency Relief grant. Grace鈥檚 work with the garden exemplifies the university鈥檚 role within the broader community.

Faculty Excellence Award for Rising Faculty

Dr. Mark Baillie is an assistant professor of chemistry in the School of Physical Sciences at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. Baillie has been praised for teaching, service, and research and scholarship.

Baillie has focused much of his career on the science of teaching. There are numerous examples of his efforts, but one example is the drastic reduction of DFW rates, the percentage of students in a course or program who receive a D or F grade or who withdraw, in his general chemistry class. His class has less than half the DFW rate observed in traditional classes, but students perform at the same level on the nationally normed standardized exams in the class. This shows there has not been a reduction in class standards.

Baillie brought expertise from the National Institute on Scientific Teaching and with this expertise has provided Mobile Institutes on Scientific Teaching (MoSI) workshops to 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock faculty and graduate students. Over the past four years, he has trained 87 faculty members and 18 graduate students. The focus of these workshops is fostering a more engaging learning environment for students through the use of evidence-based practices and active learning. Baillie also co-founded the university鈥檚 first Learning Assistant (LA) program in the Chemistry department with the School of Physical Sciences. This program uses students to serve as peer mentors and active learning collaborators. It has also been replicated in other units across campus.

Baillie鈥檚 primary scholarship has been on teaching and learning. He led an interdisciplinary team that was awarded a prestigious $2 million NSF grant to promote active learning in STEM classrooms at the university.

Faculty Excellence Award for Social Justice

Dr. John Kirk is the George W. Donaghey distinguished professor of history in the Department of History at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. He is an internationally recognized scholar of the civil rights movement, and he has worked continually over the years to help the public and students understand the struggle for social justice.

Kirk has taught several courses related to racial justice including the classes Introduction to Race and Ethnicity and Civil Rights Movement since 1954. He also played a key role in establishing the minor in race and ethnicity at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. Students have praised his courses as transformative, and he has aided students with their own publications on social justice.

Outside the classroom, Kirk is a noted civil rights scholar and advocate for social justice. His scholarship is extensive and includes 鈥淭he Civil Rights Movement: A Documentary Reader,鈥� a consultancy for a Netflix series on schools and race, a CNN podcast on the 1959 fire at the Arkansas Negro Boys Industrial School, and an AETN documentary on Little Rock鈥檚 West 9th Street.

Kirk has produced more than 400 鈥淎rkansas Moments鈥� radio segments, published his work in newspapers and magazines, conducted numerous media interviews, generated racial attitudes reports, and organized several community conferences. On top of this extensive work, he developed the award-winning Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail, which was adopted as part of the national US Civil Rights Trail in 2018.

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