Spring International Seeking Weekend Hosts for Scholars

Spring International Language Center is seeking people interested in hosting a visiting scholar in their home for a weekend.

Because these visiting students are only in Fayetteville for a month, the weekend in an American household is a very important way for them to see more of northwest Arkansas and realize that we are all more alike than we are different.

If you are interested in hosting for a particular weekend, please respond. You will then fill out a Host Application Form that allows you to tell Spring International a little more about you and your household so that we can match students with similar interests and values.

Spring International is still seeking hosts for the following weekends:

• July 3-5 — Student Leaders from Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
  If you have had the opportunity to host one of these students the previous two years, then you already know how wonderful this group is. These outstanding students were selected by the U.S. embassies in their respective countries for their leadership and performance. Their English is impeccable and they are a delight to get to know. These students are younger (20-25). There are 20 students in this group.
• July 10-12 — English Teachers from Mexico
  This is Spring International's ninth year to host this group. They are here to take part in a teacher-training program. They are curious, open and very warm. For many of them, this is their first visit to the U.S., despite having taught the language for years. They range in age from late 20s to late 40s. Spring International must find hosts for all 27 of them!

This is an invaluable way to make international friendships and create lasting bonds with another culture.

University of Arkansas Pair Wins Exemplary Course Award

Liz Stover, left, and Cheryl Murphy of the University of Arkansas recently won an Exemplary Course Award from Blackboard Inc.

Online course delivery is no longer the wave of the future – it’s here – and a University of Arkansas faculty-staff team is riding high on that wave.

Cheryl Murphy, associate professor of educational technology in the College of Education and Health Professions, and Liz Stover, an instructional designer with the Global Campus, recently won an Exemplary Course Award from Blackboard Inc. They will receive the award at Blackboard’s annual users’ conference in July in Washington, D.C.

Murphy teaches and serves as program coordinator of the Master of Education degree in educational technology. It’s a 33-hour non-thesis online master’s program that prepares students for professional positions as educational technologists of education, business, government and the health professions.

Blackboard is a global leader in enterprise technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students and learners around the world every day. The annual award recognizes faculty who develop exciting and innovative courses that represent the very best in e-learning, according to Blackboard officials. This year’s entries were evaluated in a rigorous peer-review process by a panel of more than 135 faculty judges from institutions around the world.

The award-winning course that Murphy and Stover designed and Murphy delivered is called Instructional Design Theories and Models. There were 18 students enrolled in the graduate-level course in the fall of 2008, the first time it was offered in the current format.

Murphy explained that there are several misconceptions about online courses, from the perspective of both faculty and students.

“From a student’s standpoint, they think an online course will be easier,” she said. “Every semester, I have students drop a class just for that reason. They say, ‘You’re asking us to do a lot.’ When this program was converted to an all-online degree, I literally took the face-to-face ETEC courses and put them online. I didn’t change the rigor. There are still large papers required, still deadlines, still group projects. There’s no compromise in quality.”

Students also think that they can work at their own pace, Murphy said, but the course follows a set schedule with an assignment due each week.

“We get together online every week,” she said. “Students must interact with each other and with me. They must be visible. They can’t disappear for two weeks and not have a point reduction. The same rules apply; they have to be present but it’s an online presence.”

It’s common for faculty to believe an online course is less work than teaching face-to-face, Murphy said.

“You don’t just throw stuff out there and become a grader,” she said. “You have to be very active and involved. I attend all the live sessions and I have online office hours.”

Murphy also regularly e-mails students and, if she gets a question from one that answering could help everyone, she sends both an e-mail to all students and posts a recorded answer on Blackboard.

“Students were having trouble posting to a wiki, so I recorded myself logging in and making a post and then posted that demo for the students,” she said. “It does take a large amount of time if you want to teach well in the classroom. The same is true for online courses. Classes can be terrible online and they can be terrible face-to-face. If faculty members are not responsive to students, that’s a missed opportunity.”

While online instruction is pedagogically sound, the challenge to instructors is finding the most effective tool for the task, Murphy said.

“There are different techniques you can use to take up papers,” she continued. “In a face-to-face class, it’s easy. It can be more difficult in an online setting. One reason we won this award is that we use a multitude of technologies. They liked the way we used the technologies – it was not just for technology’s sake. We had a clear purpose for each tool and they enhanced learning.”

The course includes an interactive session each week that Murphy called Thursday Night Live.

“We read a case study and one student guides us through the discussion,” she said. “We hash out what went wrong with the implementation, then the students write a reflective paper.

“We use a tool called Elluminate that allows students to log on and talk online. They can upload PowerPoint files and other files. As long as they can log onto the Internet and have a microphone on their computer, they can participate.”

For the Blackboard competition, the courses were evaluated on a rubric based on four categories: course design, interaction and collaboration, assessment, and learner support.

The reviewers want to see that the course site is easy for the user to navigate and the objectives are listed, that students can find resources easily to support the content presented, that any technical assistance an online student would need is available and that assessments accurately reflect whether learning is occurring, according to Murphy. Stover’s contribution to the course was essential, she said.

“As an instructional designer, Liz Stover helps faculty by providing a template that ensures all of these things are occurring,” Murphy said. “She also makes sure that all aspects of the course are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

Although her field is educational technology, Murphy said most faculty members are not familiar enough with online instruction to design a course on their own and still incorporate the industry’s best practices.

“The instructional design service provided by the Global Campus is vitally important in our effort to give students the highest quality instruction possible,” she said.

Stover said putting together the submission packet for the award will ultimately enable the Global Campus to encourage other faculty members to teach online.

“We’re pushing distance education, and this was a good course to model,” she said. “The rubric used by Blackboard provided an incentive for me to meet the highest standards for usability and accessibility. It also afforded me the opportunity to model best practices and engage faculty in meaningful dialogue concerning effective online instruction. As a result of this program, I was able to work with a faculty member to critically analyze the use of numerous online best practices within a single course. The course now serves as a model where best practices can be concretely demonstrated to other faculty during development and evaluation activities.”

Curriculum Continues Evolving; Alternative to Thesis Proposed

Genocide scholar Samuel Totten of the University of Arkansas is reporting this summer from Rwanda, where he is teaching the first course in genocide studies at the National University of Rwanda. Totten developed the curriculum for a master's degree in genocide studies as part of a Fulbright Fellowship. Read the eighth dispatch at http://coehp.uark.edu/rwanda.htm.

Murambi Survivor Tells His Story

Genocide scholar Samuel Totten of the University of Arkansas is reporting this summer from Rwanda, where he is teaching the first course in genocide studies at the National University of Rwanda. Totten developed the curriculum for a master's degree program in genocide studies as part of a Fulbright Fellowship. Read the seventh dispatch at http://coehp.uark.edu/rwanda.htm.

Mulvenon, Wolf Speak at Institute of Education Sciences Conference

Two University of Arkansas professors were invited to present information at panel discussions during the fourth annual Institute of Education Sciences Research Conference on June 7-9 in Washington.

The invitation-only conference is a major gathering of education researchers from across the country focused on better understanding what helps students learn. The keynote address was delivered by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Sean Mulvenon, University of Arkansas professor of educational statistics and research methods, sat on a panel called “Why the Research Community Should Take Notice of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems.” The purpose of the panel discussion was to familiarize education researchers with the role of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences and the National Center for Education Statistics in working with states to develop these data systems. The panel also provided information on how researchers are using data systems to make education decisions, and researchers were briefed about ongoing work to use this type of data to address education policy issues.

Mulvenon’s presentation was titled “How Are Researchers Using Data from Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems.” Mulvenon, who holds the George M. and Boyce Billingsley Chair for Educational Research and Policy Studies, directs the National Office for Research on Measurement and Evaluation Systems based in the College of Education and Health Professions. NORMES developed and operates an interactive educational data system for educators and administrators with “real time” features for delivery of student-level data, school reports and No Child Left Behind school assessments.

Mulvenon joined the faculty of the College of Education and Health Professions in 1995. He recently completed a 31-month appointment as a senior adviser to the U.S. deputy secretary of education working on growth models, longitudinal data systems and research on educational policy.

Patrick Wolf, professor of education reform, sat on a panel called “Reversion to the Mean, or Does Dosage Matter?” According to the conference program description, some intervention advocates urge sustaining a new training, curriculum, supplement or another type of school or classroom policy/practice for more than one year, arguing that teachers need this time to master new practices or that students need extended exposure to teaching practices. The session looked at four new, large-scale experimental studies that focused on more extended exposure to intervention treatments, raising caution about the previous assumptions.

Wolf, who holds the Twenty-First Century Endowed Chair in School Choice, presented “Evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Fund: Impacts After Three Years.” Wolf leads a team of researchers performing an evaluation of the school voucher program for the Institute of Education Sciences. Westat Inc. is the prime contractor for the study. In April, a report released on the evaluation found that, after three years, the program improved reading achievement for students by 3.7 months of instruction if they used an Opportunity Scholarship voucher to transfer to any of 52 participating private schools in the District of Columbia. Math achievement was not significantly affected by the program.

Wolf testified before Congress last month during its deliberations about reauthorizing the federal voucher program. He joined the faculty of the College of Education and Health Professions in 2006.

Education Workshop on Supercomputing Slated for Aug. 2-9

The SC09 Education Workshop, an introduction to computational thinking, will be held Aug. 2-9 at the University of Arkansas.

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce participants to and inspire them with new techniques, teaching materials and applications to use computational models in the undergraduate curriculum. By bringing faculty from different disciplines together so that they can learn how to incorporate computational models into their classrooms and research projects, it will advance the use of computing in undergraduate science education. Organizers desire to have participants from a broad range of disciplines, including computer science, mathematics and the natural sciences.

This workshop is one of a sequence of SC09 Education Workshops. Workshop participants must apply to participate, but most expenses associated with the workshop are covered for all participants. Register online via the SC09 Education Web page at http://sc09.sc-education.org/workshops/.

More information about this workshop and the Arkansas High Performance Computing Center can be found at http://hpc.uark.edu/.

Nursing Professor Receives Award While Finishing Doctorate at UAMS

Bill Buron

Bill Buron, University of Arkansas assistant professor of nursing, recently received the Outstanding Future Nurse Leader Award from the College of Nursing at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

Buron completed his doctoral degree in nursing at UAMS and graduated in May. He joined the faculty of the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing at the University of Arkansas in 2001 as an instructor and was hired last year in a tenure-track position. Buron specializes in geriatrics as a family nurse practitioner and advance practice nurse. He also holds medical-surgical certification in nursing.

The award Buron received during the UAMS ceremony is presented “in recognition of exceptional potential for outstanding future contributions to the profession as a nurse leader, as demonstrated by excellence in scholastic achievement and professional service.” Graduate faculty chose Buron for the award.

“Bill has worked very hard in balancing his academic work and pursuit of his doctoral degree,” said Nan Smith-Blair, interim head of the nursing school, which is part of the College of Education and Health Professions. “The faculty at the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing is very proud to have him as part of our team and look forward to his blossoming research career. His research in gerontology will significantly impact care to patients with dementia. Our faculty is dedicated to helping our instructors pursue their terminal degrees as we ‘grow our own’ tenured faculty.”

Buron was awarded a predoctoral scholarship in 2006 from the John A. Hartford Foundation of New York and the American Academy of Nursing. The award of about $80,000 over two years assisted Buron in conducting gerontological research and completing his dissertation, which focused on interventions to promote personhood during the treatment of dementia. The philosophy of personhood, a principal developed by dementia researcher Dr. Thomas Kitwood, mandates that the medical professional honor the individual person at all stages of the disease process.

Johns Hopkins to Use University of Arkansas ArcGIS Tutorials for Defense Department

Stephen R. Riese of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab asked for and obtained permission from the University of Arkansas Libraries' Maps and Geographic Information Systems Program to post six ArcGIS tutorials in PDF format on the Department of Defense network.

ArcGIS is an integrated collection of GIS software products that provides a standards-based platform for spatial analysis, data management, and mapping. The tutorials were created by Stephan Pollard, who holds a master's degree in geography and a doctoral degree in environmental dynamics, both from University of Arkansas; and Sohayla Hamon, who also has a master's degree in geography from the University of Arkansas. Both are former graduate assistants in the University Libraries who worked under the direction of Jan Dixon.

The tutorials, as GIS training, are part of the University Libraries' Maps and Geographic Information Systems Web site: http://libinfo.uark.edu/GIS/default.asp. Riese, who conducts geospatial research for the Department of Defense, posted these PDF tutorials for soldiers who do not have reliable access to the Internet.

Said Riese, "We frequently work with soldiers and analysts who deploy not expecting to use ArcGIS, but who later find out that they really do need it. These tutorials will certainly help overcome the recognized steep learning curve associated with ArcGIS."

Students Enrolled in Genocide Studies Class Include Rwandan Government Officials

Genocide scholar Samuel Totten of the University of Arkansas is reporting this summer from ‎Rwanda, where he is teaching the first course in genocide studies at the National University of ‎Rwanda. Totten developed the curriculum for a master’s degree program in genocide studies at ‎the National University of Rwanda as part of a Fulbright Fellowship. Nearly 50 students are ‎enrolled in the program, and Totten's two assistants are survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. ‎Read the third dispatch at http://coehp.uark.edu/rwanda.htm. ‎

Former ARS national program leader to head UA department

A. Rick Bennett, formerly a national program leader in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has joined the department of plant pathology at the University of Arkansas as a professor and department head.

The department is a unit of the University of Arkansas System's Division of Agriculture and Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences on the Fayetteville campus. Bennett started March 30 in the position held by Sung Lim for 17 years until he retired in August 2008.

Bennett was national program leader for plant health in the Agricultural Research Service of the USDA. He was based at Beltsville, Md., and led a national ARS plant health program of more than 65 research projects and 147 scientists.

Previous assignments during his 21 years with USDA-ARS included international program leader, director of the office of international programs, international program coordinator, plant health advisor for USAID, and research associate for the Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit.

The move to an academic position "is an opportunity to do something I've always wanted to do," Bennett said. "It gives me great satisfaction mentoring young faculty, students and researchers. Being in an academic department gives me the opportunity to help others in teaching, research or extension efforts."

"We're in a period for some major scientific breakthroughs," Bennett said. "The department is positioned well thanks to Dr. Lim and we need to be ready to take advantage of opportunities. We have a great blend of young and senior faculty with new skill sets in applied and basic sciences.

"My goal is to build a diverse, leading-edge program in interdisciplinary fields of plant pathology, plant ecology, plant disease resistance, biological and cultural strategies for sustainable disease management, cellular/molecular pathology, and pathogen-vector relationships."

Bennett grew up on a small farm in western Maryland. He has a bachelor's degree in biology from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, a master's degree in forest pathology from Colorado State University, and a doctorate in plant pathology from West Virginia University.

Tyson endows UA chair in Food Policy Economics

Research on economic factors related to nutrition, obesity, health and other consumer and food policy issues is the focus of a new faculty chair endowed by Tyson Foods at the University of Arkansas.

Lalit Verma, interim dean of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, and Mark Cochran, associate vice president for research in the U of A System's Division of Agriculture, recently announced that Rodolfo "Rudy" M. Nayga Jr. was appointed to the Tyson Endowed Chair in Food Policy Economics.

As a professor and chair holder in the department of agricultural economics and agribusiness, Nayga's appointment is for research in the statewide Division of Agriculture and teaching in Bumpers College.

A $2 million endowment for the chair includes $1 million donated by Tyson Foods and matching funds from the university's matching fund program. Interest from the endowment will help support Nayga's research.

Nayga is widely recognized for his research over the past 15 years at Texas A & M University and at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

"The economics of food demand and nutrient consumption and demand are highly relevant to consumer concerns and public policy on obesity, genetically modified crops, nutritional labeling, product health claims, food safety and other issues," Nayga said.

Nayga has a doctorate in agricultural economics from Texas A & M, an M.S. degree from the University of Delaware and a B.S. degree from the University of The Philippines.

Spring International Seeking Conversation Partners

Students from Spring International Language Center

Spring International Language Center is looking for Americans to serve as cross-cultural conversation partners for its new international students. The center has students from more than 30 different countries who speak 18 different languages, so no matter the applicant's interests or area of study, Spring International has an international student who could share their culture and language. It's an excellent service opportunity and a great resume builder. Anyone interested should e-mail silc@uark.edu or call 479-575-7600 to receive an application.

Bowles Elected to Foreign Language Teachers Association Executive Board

Freddie Bowles

Freddie Bowles, University of Arkansas assistant professor of foreign language education, was elected to the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association executive board at the group’s state meeting on April 22.

Bowles, who joined the College of Education and Health Professions faculty in 2007, previously served as president of District III of the association. She will serve as recording secretary for the executive board.

Fulbright Scholar Program Grants Available

More than 800 Fulbright Scholar Program grants are available to faculty in all disciplines and in all ranks, including emeritus faculty.  August 1 is the application deadline for traditional awards during the 2010-11 cycle.  See www.CIES.org for more information.

Professor Farah Interviewed About Saudi Educational Issues, Speaks at Iraqi Conference

Mounir Farah

Mounir Farah, professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Arkansas, was interviewed last weekend by Channel 2 in Saudi Arabia. The 45-minute interview conducted by phone concerned curriculum development in Saudi Arabia and options for students at various levels of performance and abilities.

Farah, who began educational consulting in the Middle East in 1993, has directed a World Bank project writing history, geography and civics textbooks and teachers’ guides for the Jordanian Ministry of Education and has also done extensive research on education in Saudi Arabia and Syria. He has authored and edited several textbooks, teachers’ guides and reference materials on world civilizations, world cultures and economics.

A senior Fulbright Scholar in the Middle East in 2004-05, Farah also recently was an invited speaker and panelist at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, where he spoke at the “Iraqi Academic Conference to Help Improve and Sustain Higher Education in Iraq.” He talked about how to help in reforming curriculum and teaching methodologies at Iraqi universities and about the importance of coordination between the institutions of higher education, the ministry of education and teachers in the field. More than 300 professionals from the United States and Iraq attended the conference.

Farah joined the University of Arkansas and College of Education and Health Professions faculty in 1995.

Seven University of Arkansas Professors Receive Faculty Gold Medal Awards

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Seven faculty members from the University of Arkansas have been awarded 2009 Faculty Gold Medals. Faculty Gold Medals are awarded to members of the university faculty who demonstrate a commitment to investing their expertise and intellectual vigor in their students’ scholastic ambitions and goals. The faculty members mentored students who won state and nationally competitive honors in the past academic year, including scholarships, fellowships, competitions and research grants.

Kameri Christy-McMullin is an associate professor in the School of Social Work in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. She teaches undergraduate and graduate-level students and mentors them in the areas of research and scholarship. She has included students on conference presentations at the regional, national and international level. She will take students to work on service learning projects in Belize for the third summer this year.

Jamie Hestekin is an assistant professor in the Ralph E. Martin department of chemical engineering in the College of Engineering. He works with students on research projects focusing on more efficient utilization of biomass.

Scott Mason is an associate professor in the department of industrial engineering in the College of Engineering. He supervises student research in areas such as scheduling and large-scale systems modeling, optimization and algorithms with emphasis on semiconductor manufacturing and transportation logistics.

Jennie H. Popp is an associate professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness in Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. She teaches and conducts research in agricultural production risk management, environmental risk management and agricultural and environmental policy. She is a faculty adviser for a five-year service learning program in Belize being conducted by teams of student and faculty volunteers.

Carol Reeves is an associate professor of management and holder of the Cecil and Gwendolyn Cupp Applied Professorship in Entrepreneurship in the Sam M. Walton College of Business. Five of the student teams she mentored this year won or were finalists in national business plan competitions, including the Arkansas Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Competition. She helped found and continues to sponsor the student-run business, S.A.K.E., (Students Acquiring Knowledge through Enterprise) in the Walton College.

Charles Riggs is a professor of kinesiology in the College of Education and Health Professions. He and his undergraduate and graduate students are studying the interactive effects of exercise and inherited metabolic disorders. He mentors honors students and has served on the college’s honors council.

Richard J. Rulli is an associate professor of music in the Fulbright College department of music, where he teaches trumpet and brass chamber music and conducts the trumpet ensemble. 

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Steve Voorhies, manager, media relations
University Relations
479-575-3583, voorhies@uark.edu

Faculty Recognized for their Work

The Arkansas Gerontological Society honored three Arkansas gerontological practitioners at their annual meeting in Little Rock April 2-3. University of Arkansas Professor Emeritus John King was recognized for his 37 years of academic teaching, research and service. Many of his more than 700 professional workshops have focused on social work practice with the elderly. He developed the introductory course in gerontology – SCWK 4183 – The Elderly Citizen, which has been a popular elective for more than 30 years. John also helped develop the interdisciplinary certificate program in erontology. He currently serves as a consultant for long-term care and medical social work.

Dr. Kameri Christy-McMullin was recently selected to receive a Fulbright College Master Teacher Award for the 2008/09 academic year. This is an important recognition of her commitment to excellence in teaching. Christy-McMullin was presented with this award presented at the Fulbright College Faculty Meeting on April 2, 2009. 

The Office of Post-Graduate Fellowships hosted a reception on Monday, April 27, to recognize students who have received state and national awards as well as their faculty mentors. Christy-McMullin and six other faculty members received a Faculty Gold Medal to recognize their tireless support of students in research and advising.

Professor Melody Greer was recognized at the UA International Culture Team (ICT) Annual Awards Banquet in appreciation of her partnership in “Bringing the World to the Campus and Community”. The ICT acknowledged Greer as an honorary member of their team at the Awards Banquet April 23.

Not-So-New Faculty Lunch & Discussion

The April “Not-So-New Faculty Lunch & Discussion” will be held Thursday, April 23 and Friday, April 24.  This luncheon series is for faculty who have been at the University of Arkansas for at least three years.  The luncheon will be held at noon in the Donald W. Reynolds Center, seminar room A.  The topic will be “Trading Syllabus Secrets.”  It is required that all attendees to share one blurb form a course syllabus. Send these in with your RSVP and they will be collected and presented to the group at lunch.  There will be food from Noodles Italian Kitchen for lunch.  Select either Thursday, April 23, or Friday, April 24.  Please RSVP by noon Friday, April 17, to Lori at the Cordes Teaching Center, 5-3222 or tfsc@uark.edu.  Please let Lori know which day you would like to come and if you prefer a vegetarian meal.

Communications Professor Wins Journalism Award

The American Journalism Historians Association has awarded Stephanie Ricker Schulte in the department of communication of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences with an Honorable Mention Award in the 2009 Margaret A. Blanchard Doctoral Dissertation Prize competition. The jury noted the originality of her argument, the thoroughness of her research, and the clarity of her writing in her dissertation, "State Technology to State of Being: The Making of the Internet in Global Popular Culture." The Margaret A. Blanchard Doctoral Dissertation Prize, established in 1997 and named in 2003, is awarded annually for the best doctoral dissertation on media history. Named in honor of the late Professor Margaret A. Blanchard of the University of  North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the prize is accompanied by an honorarium of $500. A $200 honorarium is awarded to each honorable mention.

Spring Campus Faculty Meeting April 14

The spring 2009 Campus Faculty Meeting will be held at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, in Giffels Auditorium, Old Main.  The main speaker for this meeting is Representative Robbie Wills.  The title of his presentation is “Looking Back at the 87th General Assembly.”  

Representative Wills has served in the Arkansas House of Representatives since January, 2005, and is in his third and final term.  He is from Conway, representing House District 46 - a part of Faulkner County.

Wills is the Speaker of the House for the 87th General Assembly, which convened January 12, in regular session in Little Rock.  Speaker Wills also serves as a member of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee and the House Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee.  As Speaker, he also holds seats on the Arkansas Legislative Council, the Joint Budget Committee and the House Management Committee.

Wills is an attorney and businessman.  He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Arkansas and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law.  Before his election to the House in 2004, Wills served as a Faulkner County Justice of the Peace.

Any questions regarding this event should be directed to Neil Allison, department of chemistry and biochemistry (nallison@uark.edu).

Holt Updates Guidebook to School Bond Success

Carleton R. Holt

When he recently updated his book, School Bond Success: A Strategy for Building America’s Schools, for its third edition, Carleton R. Holt included three case studies using the second edition of his guidebook for planning a building project and bond campaign.

Holt is an associate professor of educational leadership at the University of Arkansas. The case studies in the new edition of his book describe how the information in it was used to turn bond failures into successes. Published this month by Rowman and Littlefield, the book also includes a forward written by Anne L. Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association.

Bryant will include the book in a recommended list to be displayed at the annual conference of the National School Boards Association in San Diego in April.

Holt updates the status of school facilities in the United States and provides information on the relationship between school climate and student achievement. The book also includes a discussion of the importance of technology in school bond issues and construction.

Several reviews of the book cite the practical assistance offered by the book.

Steve Jenkins, associate professor of educational leadership at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, calls the book a must-read for every school board member, superintendent and aspiring district leader.

“I have used every edition of the text in our superintendent program, and it has become the superintendent bible for successfully passing and managing school bond issues,” Jenkins said. “It is an imperative resource for everyone involved in school finance and 21st century leadership.”

Holt earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of South Dakota and has his advanced superintendent certificate from Iowa State University. He served as a band director, coach, and school administrator in the public schools in Iowa and South Dakota for more than 30 years. He joined the faculty of the College of Education and Health Professions in 1999.

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Revises Protocol Forms

New protocol forms have been adopted by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. These forms are for immediate use. After May 1, 2009, new protocols and protocol modifications submitted on the old forms will be returned to the investigator for correction and resubmission.

Assistant Kinesiology Professor Nominated for Pew Scholars Program

Heidi Kluess, assistant professor of kinesiology

Heidi Kluess, an assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Arkansas, is the university’s nominee for the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences.

The highly competitive national award carries a grant of $70,000 per year for four years. The funding is provided by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The program is designed to support young investigators of outstanding promise in the basic and clinical sciences relevant to the advancement of human health. Candidates must hold the rank of assistant professor on Nov. 1, 2008, and must not have held this appointment for more than three years as of July 1, 2009.

According to the Web site of the Pew Scholars Program, the award is intended to provide assured support, during their earlier years, for junior members of the faculty as they establish their laboratories. It is hoped that the assurance provided through the program will encourage successful applicants to be more venturesome in their research and future applications for support than would otherwise be likely.

One nomination was invited from each of 149 institutions selected on the basis of the scope of their work in biomedical research.

Kluess, who earned her doctoral degree from Louisiana State University, joined the faculty of the College of Education and Health Professions in 2007. She recently received a grant from the National Institute on Aging to study how the sympathetic nervous system controls blood flow and blood pressure in women as they age. The National Institute on Aging is a part of the National Institutes of Health.

According to Dennis Brewer, associate vice provost for research, “Competitiveness for the Pew Scholars Program requires a productive postdoctoral experience, which Dr. Kluess had at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She came to the University of Arkansas with the credentials to secure a grant from the NIH early in her tenure-track career.”

House Wisely Rejected $700 Billion Wall Street Bailout, Say UA Experts

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The U.S. House of Representative’s rejection of the Troubled Assets Relief Program, the proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout, was a prudent decision, say two University of Arkansas researchers who are closely monitoring the U.S. financial crisis.

“The necessity of passing this particular bill was unclear,” said Tim Yeager, associate professor of finance in the Sam M. Walton College of Business and former economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. “Instead of purchasing mortgages directly at unknown prices, the government would be better off purchasing preferred shares of large financial institutions in crisis. If Wall Street lending truly freezes up over the next several days or months, this bill or another one can be passed by Congress to help alleviate the crisis. So at this point, the rejection of the Wall Street bailout bill is a good thing.”

Craig Rennie, associate professor of finance in the Walton College, agreed that passage of the bill in its current form would not have been in the country’s best interest.

“The initial intent was good,” Rennie said, “but the bill was too broad and all-encompassing. It left something to be desired, notwithstanding short-term negative market reaction.”

As an academic researcher, Yeager conducted the first empirical study of the effect of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which removed barriers separating commercial banking from investment banking, merchant banking and insurance underwriting. More recently, his research has focused on government-sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He has also investigated the trend toward universal banking – the mixing of investment and commercial banking.

Rennie’s work focuses investment portfolios, securities pricing and financial markets and institutions. He has conducted several studies on CEO compensation and its relationship to equity portfolio incentives, shareholder values and layoff decisions.

Editor's Note: Both researchers are available to discuss the impact of the House’s decision with the media. Please see contact information below.

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Tim Yeager, associate professor; Arkansas Bankers Association Chair in Banking
Department of Finance
Sam M. Walton College of Business
479-575-2992, tyeager@walton.uark.edu

Craig Rennie, associate professor; Clete & Tammy Brewer Professorship
Department of Finance
Sam M. Walton College of Business
479-575-7496, crennie@walton.uark.edu

Matt McGowan, science and research communications officer
University Relations
479-575-4246, dmcgowa@uark.edu