John Newman Wins Cultural Award

John Newman, associate professor of art in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, has won the 2010 American Association of Blacks in Higher Education Distinguished Cultural Award, given to those individuals whose body of work has documented the Black American experience through exemplary creative or scholarly endeavors. The American Association of Blacks in Higher Education covers all aspects of higher education; while the association is interested in equal access and the academic success of Black Americans, it also recognizes and honors African and African American contributions to culture in society.

Saxena Reappointed Dean of College of Engineering

Ashok Saxena, dean of the College of Engineering

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – After an extensive review, involving stakeholders from inside and outside of the College of Engineering, Provost Sharon Gaber announced that Dean Ashok Saxena has been reappointed for a five-year term through June 30, 2015.

Stakeholders noted that Dean Saxena has been very successful in increasing sponsored research within the college; increasing student retention in Engineering — particularly by developing a Freshman Engineering program; increasing diversity among students through the Engineering Career Awareness Program and encouraging online/distance education opportunities.

Provost Gaber indicated that she values Saxena’s entrepreneurial interests and looks forward to the college’s continued growth in students, retention, research and opportunities. Chancellor G. David Gearhart congratulated Saxena on his successes and said he looks forward to Saxena’s continued leadership in moving the University of Arkansas College of Engineering to the next level.

Saxena was appointed dean of the College of Engineering in 2003, coming to the university from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he had been the Regents’ Professor and a former chair of the School of Materials Science and Engineering. Coming to the university, Saxena was the first faculty member to hold an endowed chair funded by the $300 million gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.

Saxena received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in materials science and metallurgical engineering from the University of Cincinnati.

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NIH Proposal Submission Changes Effective in January

All applications intended for due dates on or after Jan. 25, 2010 require the use of new forms and instructions. Major changes include restructured forms to align with review criteria and significantly shorter page limits.  Investigators will now be required to expand information regarding activities to ensure that project personnel receive on-going training in the responsible conduct of research.

These changes apply to all competing new, renewal, re-submission or revision applications. Contact RSSP for information and assistance.  Detailed information and assistance can be found also on the NIH Web site at http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov/restructured_applications.html 

New Professor Recognized for Work as Doctoral Student at Arizona State

William "Rex" Weeks, a new assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas, was recognized during Arizona State University's winter commencement. In a story about Weeks, Arizona State reported that he is the institution's first Native American to receive a doctoral degree with a specialization in archaeology.

Weeks joined the University of Arkansas faculty in August while finishing up his dissertation about the antiquity of the Grand Medicine Society of the Anishinaabeg. Along with numerous publications as a graduate student, Weeks was also awarded several prestigious fellowships, scholarships and grants, including ones from the Ford Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

Arizona State University reported that Weeks plans to do archaeological and ethnographic research in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and that he hopes to involve Cherokee students in professional archaeology.

Journalism Professor Publishes Article on Distribution Revolution Created by Social Networking

Bret Schulte, assistant professor of journalism in Fulbright College, has published "The Distribution Revolution" in the American Journalism Review. In the article, he traces how news organizations are intensifying their use of social networking venues like Twitter and Facebook to circulate their stories and connect with their communities.

"This focus on Facebook friends and Twitter followers and sowing stories and links across the Web is dramatically altering a side of the business that the newsroom never much thought about: distribution. What was once the province of doorsteps and homepages is now about the hustle of networking, the savvy application of technology and the dark art of promotion and marketing," writes Schulte. "And, increasingly, it's everyone's job. The imperative for newsrooms to push stories far and wide is redefining the work of reporters and editors and prompting even more questions about the future of audiences, news brands and that standard-bearer of online journalism: the good old homepage."

Read the article "The Distribution Revolution."

Math Professor Invited to Join Scientific Committee

John Ryan, professor of mathematics in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, has been invited to be a member of the Scientific Committee for the 18th International Conference on Finite and Infinite Dimensional Complex Analysis and Applications. The conference will take place in Macau, in August 2010.

Teaching Academy Inducts New Members, Recognizes 2009 Imhoff Award Winner

Professor Donald M. Johnson, recipient of the 2009 Imhoff Award for Outstanding Teaching and Student Mentorship

The University of Arkansas Teaching Academy recently inducted four new members into the Academy, and also recognized the 2009 recipient of the Dr. John and Mrs. Lois Imhoff Award for Outstanding Teaching and Student Mentorship.

The Imhoff Award winner is Donald M. Johnson of the department of agricultural and extension education. Johnson has taught the introductory course in his department 18 times in the past 17 years, achieving superior student evaluations throughout that time period. Since 1995 he has taught 77 sections of nine different courses. He has served as academic adviser to all students in his department, and also has served as the faculty adviser for two different student organizations. He also serves as mentor to all of the graduate students in his department. He has been recognized many times for his outstanding mentorship and teaching, receiving an award from the Office of Post Graduate Fellowships for outstanding mentorship, the Jack Justus award for teaching excellence in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, and the Arkansas Alumni Association Award for outstanding teaching and service.

Newly inducted into the Academy on the basis of their outstanding teaching:

• Vikas Anand is an associate professor of management in the Sam M. Walton College of Business. Anand teaches both undergraduate and master's students, and has developed a three-week India Study Abroad Program in which a number of students spent last winter break studying business in India. He is currently teaching a course which is being simultaneously offered to students in India as well as at the University of Arkansas. In past years he was well known for his outstanding teaching of Walton College honors students in the honors business strategy course. In 2008 Anand received the Arkansas Alumni Association Award for outstanding teaching.
• Casandra Cox, an instructor in the department of agricultural extension education in the Bumpers College, regularly has a extraordinarily high course load and receives outstanding evaluations in all courses. She advises numerous undergraduate and graduate students, and serves as an adviser to Farmhouse Fraternity. She has been recognized by the faculty within the Bumpers College for her excellence in teaching, in 2008 receiving the John W. White Outstanding Teacher Award. This was the first time that the award was presented to an individual at the instructor rank. She was also recognized by the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture with the Teaching Award of Merit in 2008.
• Alan Ellstrand is an associate professor of management in the Walton College. He is currently serving as director of the M.B.A. program, while continuing to teach both undergraduate and graduate students. He worked with Anand to develop the three-week India Study Abroad program, and joined him and the students in the trip this past winter. Ellstrand helped to develop the business strategy course, the capstone course in the Walton College core. He has also served as coordinator for the course. In 2008 Ellstrand received the Arkansas Alumni Association Award for outstanding teaching and service.
• Patrick Williams is an associate professor of history in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. Besides being well known as a gifted and driven teacher, Williams puts together the department newsletter and also serves as chief editor of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly, the state journal of Arkansas history. Williams is well known for his energy and creativity, and has been called the “energizer bunny of Old Main.” He is also generally regarded as the hardest working man in the history department. In 2005 Williams received the Fulbright College’s Master Teacher Award.

Established in 1988, the University of Arkansas Teaching Academy consists of faculty members who have established a record of outstanding teaching on the university campus. Approximately 80 current University of Arkansas faculty are members of the academy. Professor John Norwood of the Walton College is currently serving as president of the academy.

Professor Inducted Into Education Foundation's Wall of Fame

The Williamsville (N.Y.) Education Foundation recently inducted Christopher Lucas, University of Arkansas professor of higher education, into the 2009 Wall of Fame for distinguished alumni of the Williamsville Central School District.

The annual induction ceremony honors graduates of the district who have gone on to make significant contributions in their chosen careers and in service to others. The event also serves as an inspiration for the district's students and the community to learn about the high level of success so many of the graduates have achieved, according to a special supplement printed in the Amherst Bee.

Plaques honoring each inductee are displayed at their high school and in the district office. Lucas also spoke to students of his alma mater during his visit.

According to the newspaper supplement, Lucas' career in teacher preparation and in-service teacher development was inspired by his teachers at Williamsville High School. In high school, he was active in the art, French and drama clubs, worked on the school newspaper staff and was a member of the school's "Citizen Council."

A 1958 graduate of Williamsville High School, Lucas earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Syracuse University, a master's degree in English and education from Northwestern University and a doctorate in philosophy and education from Ohio State University. Before joining the faculty of the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas in 1993, Lucas was on the faculties of the University of Missouri-Columbia and Kent State University. He formerly served as head of the department of Educational Leadership, Counseling and Foundations at the University of Arkansas.

Lucas has written or co-written 12 books, including several on the history of higher education and a guidebook for new faculty, and nearly 150 journal articles, essays and research reports. He has also traveled extensively and published papers on education in China and the Middle East.

Physics Department Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Doctoral Program

The physics department celebrated the 50th anniversary of its doctoral program on Oct. 16 by organizing a symposium and a banquet honoring emeritus and former faculty members. Among those honored on this occasion were Emeritus Professors Raymond Hughes, Otto Zinke, Arthur Hobson and Charles Richardson, and former professors Stephen Day and Richard Anderson.

Professor Raymond Hughes was the primary author of the successful proposal to start the Doctor of Philosophy program in physics and then oversaw and helped nurture it for more than 15 years. Other honorees who joined the department between 1959 and 1966 helped lay the foundations for the development of the department’s graduate program and continued growth of the undergraduate program.

Some former faculty members came from as far as the East and West Coasts to participate in these celebrations. The first Ph.D. in physics was granted to William Pendleton in 1964 under the direction of professor Hughes. Pendleton, now an emeritus professor of physics at Utah State University, traveled from Utah to join in the celebrations. Professors Pendleton, Hughes, Zinke, Day, Hobson, Richardson and Anderson gave talks reminiscing about the early days of their tenure during a two-hour symposium. Currently 40 students are enrolled in the Ph.D. program. The department offers more than 80 courses and conducts research in lasers, quantum and nonlinear optics, nanoscience and condensed matter physics, biophysics, astronomy and physics education. Research conducted in the department has appeared in prestigious journals such as Science, Nature and Physical Review Letters. In the past three years alone, faculty, students and postdocs have published more than 200 papers and books and accumulated more than 3,000 citations to their work.

The symposium was followed by a banquet in honor of the emeritus and former faculty, where they were individually recognized for their contributions to the department. Associate Dean Patricia Koski represented the Graduate School and Associate Dean Jeannine Durdik represented Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the banquet.

Resource Groups for Diversity Mapped Out; Members Sought

The Office of Diversity held an information session on Oct. 6 to discuss forming faculty and staff resource groups. Anyone interested in joining one or more of these groups should contact the Office of Diversity no later than Friday, Nov. 6. A resource group must consist of 10 active members to be viable.

As a result of the October meeting, employees showed interest in establishing resource groups for following cultural areas:

• Veteran/Armed Services
• American Indian/Alaskan Native
• GLBT
• Employees with Disabilities
• Multi-Racial/Ethnic
• Asian American
• Hispanic/Latino
• African American
• Free-Thinkers
• Women and Family Issues.

Interested parties will be working with the Office of Diversity to formally establish the groups.

Resource Groups are voluntary, employee-initiated groups of University of Arkansas faculty and staff who share common interests, issues, backgrounds, characteristics or pursuits. Resource Groups will enhance feelings of connectedness, provide opportunities for employees to seek and offer support to one another and create resources for intercultural understanding. Membership on any resource group is open to all faculty and staff at the University of Arkansas.

For more information about joining a resource group, contact Ella Lambey at 575-3338.

Miles Appointed State Director of Higher Education Programs for Council

Jennifer M. Miles, assistant professor of higher education in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, has been named Arkansas state director of Higher Education Programs for the Council for the Advancement of Higher Education Programs.

The council is part of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, the professional body that provides oversight, support and an outlet for research and discussion in the study of higher education. The position Miles assumes is new to the association, and Arkansas currently has five higher education graduate programs. Her duties will be to coordinate information and group efforts for the different programs.

Professor Les Goodchild at Santa Clara University in California and Dianne Wright at Florida Atlantic University appointed Miles to the post. Miles was nominated by her faculty colleagues, and her appointment was made from multiple nominees. Miles has held previous positions in the association, and she most recently served as national secretary for the council.

"I'm excited about the opportunity to get to know graduate faculty and programs in Arkansas better," Miles said. "I'm anxious to visit the other higher education programs in Arkansas, and to help build bridges that will advance all of the higher education community throughout the country."

Miles' term begins with the council's annual meeting in Vancouver, Canada, in November.

University of Arkansas Professor Named to National Validation Committee

Sandra Stotsky, holder of an endowed chair in teacher quality at the University of Arkansas, has been named to a national panel reviewing proposed English language arts and mathematics standards for U.S. schools.

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers formed the Validation Committee for the Common Core State Standards Initiative, according to a Sept. 23 news release from the National Governors Association. The committee’s task is to review and verify the standards development process and the resulting evidence-based college- and career-readiness standards, the release said. The standards are also intended to be reflective of rigorous content and skills and internationally benchmarked.

Members of the validation committee were nominated by states and national organizations with a group of six governors and six chief state school officers in the participating states selecting the final committee membership.

Stotsky joined the faculty of the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas in 2007. She was senior associate commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Education from 1999 through 2003. She was also affiliated for many years with the Philosophy of Education Research Center at Harvard University, where she received her Doctor of Education degree in reading research and education, and directed summer institutes on civic education for history and government teachers for 20 years. In 2006, President Bush appointed Stotsky to the National Mathematics Advisory Panel that made recommendations last year to former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.

The 25 members of the validation committee:

• Bryan Albrecht, president, Gateway Technical College, Kenosha, Wisconsin
• Arthur Applebee, Distinguished Professor, Center on English Learning & Achievement, School of Education, University at Albany, SUNY
• Sarah Baird, 2009 Arizona Teacher of the Year, K-5 Math Coach, Kyrene School District
• Jere Confrey, Joseph D. Moore Distinguished University Professor, William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, College of Education, North Carolina State University
• David T. Conley, professor, College of Education, University of Oregon; CEO, Educational Policy Improvement Center
• Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University
• Alfinio Flores, Hollowell Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Delaware
• Brian Gong, executive director, Center for Assessment
• Kenji Hakuta, Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education, Stanford University
• Feng-Jui Hsieh, associate professor of the mathematics department, National Taiwan Normal University
• Jeremy Kilpatrick, Regents Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Georgia
• Barry McGaw, professor and director of Melbourne Education Research Institute, University of Melbourne; director for education, OECD
• James Milgram, professor emeritus, Stanford University
• David Pearson, professor and dean, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley
• Stanley Rabinowitz, senior program director, Assessment and Standards Development Services, WestEd
• Lauren Resnick, Distinguished University Professor, Psychology and Cognitive Science, Learning Sciences and Education Policy, University of Pittsburgh
• Andreas Schleicher, head, Indicators and Analysis Division of the OECD Directorate for Education
• William Schmidt, University Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University
• Catherine Snow, Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Christopher Steinhauser, superintendent of schools, Long Beach Unified School District
• Sandra Stotsky, professor of education reform, 21st Century Chair in Teacher Quality, University of Arkansas
• Dorothy Strickland, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Professor of Education, emerita, Distinguished Research Fellow, National Institute for Early Education Research, Rutgers, New Jersey
• Martha Thurlow, director, National Center on Educational Outcomes, University of Minnesota
• Norman Webb, senior research scientist, emeritus, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin
• Dylan William, deputy director, Institute of Education, University of London

After the committee reviews and validates the college- and career-readiness standards, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Offices will begin developing the K-12 standards, according to the news release. The Common Core State Standards Initiative provides more information on its Web site.

Professor Returns From Discussions on Cotton Virus in Pakistan

James McD. Stewart, a University Professor and holder of the Ben J. Altheimer Endowed Chair for Cotton Research and Development in the department of crop, soil and environmental sciences, recently returned from five days at the Cotton Research Station in Multan, Pakistan. While in Multan, he held discussions on cotton leaf curl virus with station personnel and training sessions on ways to hybridize G. arboreum (desi cotton, resistant to cotton leaf curl virus) with G. hirsutum (cotton, susceptible to cotton leaf curl virus), and how to double the chromosome number of the resulting hybrids. He also spent a day each in Fasialabad and Lahore, where he visited with the director of the Cotton Research Institute, and the Punjab minister of agriculture and executive director of the Punjab Agricultural Research Board, respectively.

Chancellor to Establish Commission on Women's Issues

Chancellor Dave Gearhart announces the creation of a commission to focus attention and efforts on women’s issues at the University of Arkansas campus. This commission will build on the work of an ad hoc task force of faculty and staff who looked at similar organizations at benchmark institutions. The new commission will serve in an advisory capacity to the chancellor addressing issues such as gender equity; work and family balance; and mentoring for academic success and administrative leadership.

The chancellor's intent is that the commission be made up of women who represent a wide range of roles and disciplines across campus. The group will begin its work in spring 2010.

To learn more about the commission, please notify Judy Schwab in the chancellor’s office by Oct. 19. She may be reached at 575-4149 or jschwab@uark.edu.

Brown Chair in English Literacy to Open Tutoring Centers in Springdale and Rogers

As part of its outreach and experiential-learning operation, the Brown Chair in English Literacy Initiative is opening two new literacy tutoring centers, one at J.O. Kelly Middle School in Springdale and one at the Nonprofit Center at St. Mary’s in Rogers.

At J.O. Kelly Middle School, University of Arkansas undergraduate and graduate students will work in an after-school program, helping the middle-schoolers with any homework that involves reading and writing and leading them in creative writing and drama activities designed to improve the literacy abilities defined in the Arkansas curriculum frameworks.

At the Nonprofit Center at St. Mary’s, University of Arkansas students will be working with clients of two agencies housed in the center, the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter and Sources, an organization for adults with disabilities. With both populations, the University of Arkansas tutors will help clients understand and succeed in a range of “real-world” literacy tasks involving employment, education and citizenship opportunities. In addition, the university tutors will be available to assist clients with independent or group reading and writing projects for their personal enjoyment and enrichment.

The two new tutoring centers grow out of experiential-learning courses taught during fall 2009 by David Jolliffe, who holds the Brown Chair in English Literacy. 

“Courses like these provide an ideal opportunity for the university’s students both to understand the complex principles they are studying and to assist citizens who would like to read and write more fully and productively,” Jolliffe said.

Though the experiential-learning courses will not be offered in spring 2010, Jolliffe intends to keep the tutoring operations operating. Anyone interested in becoming a tutor and working in one of these settings is welcome to write Jolliffe at djollif@uark.edu or call him at 479-575-2289.

Penner-Williams Appointed to Interim Assistant Dean's Position

The College of Education and Health Professions announces the appointment of Janet Penner-Williams, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, as interim assistant dean for academic affairs.

Penner-Williams will focus her efforts on assessment and accreditation in the college. She has served previously as coordinator for accreditation of the teacher-preparation programs in the college. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) serves as the accrediting body for those programs. Six other programs in the college also are accredited by independent bodies and will be supported by her new position.

Penner-Williams has been at the university for four years in the curriculum and instruction department and was formerly an assistant superintendent for instruction of the Pearland (Texas) Independent School District.

Nitrogen Soil Test is Technology Breakthrough for Agriculture, Environment

A new soil test for nitrogen fertilization of rice may not sound like blockbuster technology, but it is, said Chuck Wilson, extension rice agronomist with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

The new technology is the first and only site-specific test of mineralizable soil nitrogen as a basis for nitrogen fertilizer recommendations in any crop. It will help farmers apply just the amount of nitrogen fertilizer needed to maximize yields with no excess to run off in surface water, Wilson said.

The new test, called “N-ST*R” (Nitrogen Soil Test for Rice), has been previewed at summer field days by Division of Agriculture soil scientist Richard Norman and his doctoral student, Trenton Roberts. Norman is a professor of crop, soil and environmental sciences.

A video of a field day presentation by Norman and Roberts can be viewed at http://aaes.uark.edu/NSTAR_video.html.

If validation studies in 2009 work as expected, verification studies will be implemented in fields of cooperating farmers in 2010, Wilson said.

“I’m extremely excited about it,” said Marvin Hare Jr., a Jackson County farmer and a member of the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board, which is funding the research along with the USA Rice Federation.

“It has the potential to be one of the most important research developments (for rice farmers) in a long time,” Hare said. “It will give us a tool to more accurately manage our nitrogen fertility.”

Hare said following the new test recommendations could reduce or eliminate nitrogen in surface water run-off from fields.

 “Anything we can do to enhance sustainability is a good thing, especially when it can increase yields and reduce input costs,” Hare said.

Greene County rice producer Terry Gray said the new test “has the potential to be revolutionary.” He said he will run his own trials by following the test guidelines in one or more strips of rice and comparing it “to what I have been doing” in adjacent strips.

Gray said it will take time for farmers to gain confidence in the test, because their instinct is to add nitrogen if plants in a field show visual symptoms of nitrogen deficiency such as yellowing of leaves. The color and size of plants in some test plots have the appearance of a slight nitrogen deficiency during late reproductive growth, but yields have not been affected when test guidelines were followed, Norman said.

Nitrogen fertilizer is one of the biggest expenses in rice production and its price is affected by the volatility in oil markets.

“You want to squeeze all the yield you can out of your nitrogen investment without leaving any on the table,” Gray said. “We’ve probably been putting too much on.” 

The N-ST*R method has been validated in field tests for the entire range of silt loam soil conditions in Arkansas, Norman said. Most Arkansas rice is grown on silt-loam soils. Research is continuing to develop a nitrogen fertilizer calibration curve for clay soils.

Currently, farmers estimate nitrogen needs based on a blanket recommendation for each soil type, previous crop and their experience with past rice crops. Validation tests have shown that the standard recommendation is usually either too little or too much, Norman said.

“Eliminating over-fertilization is just as important as being sure you apply enough,” Norman said. “After the plant gets all the nitrogen it needs, the rest just feeds the fungi” that cause plant diseases such as sheath blight and blast. Too much nitrogen fertilizer can also lead to lodging and yield loss and can delay maturity and add plant residue that can slow combines as they harvest the grain, he said.

The potential savings to farmers in many cases will include lower nitrogen fertilizer bills and less fungicide to control diseases, Norman said. Fields where the standard nitrogen fertilizer rate was too little should see a yield increase.

Norman said the test predicts the amount of “mineralizable soil nitrogen,” which is the form that feeds plants. Until now, there was no such test because nitrogen exists in many organic forms in a constant state of change in the soil, he said. The amount actually available to plants has been hard to pin down.

Norman has worked on the problem periodically over the last 20 years as a Division of Agriculture soil scientist. He and his colleagues finally solved the chemistry puzzle by identifying measurable soil nitrogen fractions that reliably predict the amount of mineralizable soil nitrogen available to plants.

The solution worked great in laboratory and greenhouse tests, but not in field tests until they took a fresh look at how soil samples were collected in the field. The glitch proved to be the conventional practice of taking soil samples at a depth of four to six inches.

“When we took samples down to 18 inches, which is the effective rooting zone of the rice plant, our field test results matched our lab and greenhouse test results,” Norman said.

Solving the problem and designing an economical and reliable test protocol was a team effort, Norman said. The team included his former doctoral students and now Division of Agriculture professors, Chuck Wilson and Nathan Slaton, extension rice agronomist and director of the Soil Testing and Research Program, respectively.

Former graduate students Jeremy Ross, extension soybean agronomist, and Jacob Bushong, now with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, were assigned different aspects of the project for their graduate studies.

Norman’s current doctoral student, Trenton Roberts, designed and conducted the basic laboratory research to determine which organic nitrogen fractions in the soil at various depths are measured by the test. Roberts also gathered the vast amount of field data needed to prove that N-ST*R is able to predict the nitrogen fertilizer required to optimize rice yield on silt soils in Arkansas, Norman said. A recent addition to the team is Anthony Fulford, a doctoral student who will concentrate on developing N-ST*R for clay soils.

Cooperators in extending this new technology to other rice-producing states are university soil scientists Tim Walker, Mississippi State; Dustin Harrell, Louisiana State; and Gary McCauley at Texas A&M. The other states are a year or two behind Arkansas with field trials to document reliability of test protocols. 

This new technology will not be patented, Norman said. He decided to leave it in the public domain to simplify implementation by the Division of Agriculture’s soil testing program and soil testing programs in other states. Another reason was to enable his graduate students to publish their research results without the restrictions of a pending patent application, he said.

Recognition of Faculty Tenured or Promoted in 2009-10

Provost Sharon Gaber is pleased to announce and recognize the University of Arkansas faculty who have been promoted or received tenure during the 2009-10 year.

Appointment to University Professor

• College of Education and Health Professions
  Barbara Gartin, curriculum and instruction
• Sam M. Walton College of Business
  David E.R. Gay, economics
• J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
  Kimberly G. Smith, biological sciences

Promotion to Professor

• Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences
  Kristofor R. Brye, crop, soil and environmental sciences
  Danielle Julie Carrier, biological and agricultural engineering
  Pengyin Chen, crop, soil and environmental sciences
  Daniel J. Donoghue, poultry science
  Michael R. Evans, horticulture
  Kenneth L. Korth, plant pathology
  Marty D. Matlock, biological and agricultural engineering
  Fred W. Pohlman, animal science
  Nathan A. Slaton, crop, soil and environmental sciences
  Ya Jane Wang, food science
• J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
  Myria W. Allen, communication
  Douglas A. Behrend, psychology
  Lynn Jacobs, art
• Sam M. Walton College of Business
  John Norwood, accounting
• College of Engineering
  Matthew H. Gordon, mechanical engineering

Promotion to Professor with Tenure

• College of Engineering
  Roy A. McCann, electrical engineering

Promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure

• Fay Jones School of Architecture
  Michael Hughes, architecture
  Tahar Messadi, architecture
• J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
  Geoffrey A. Brock, English
  Nophachai Cholthitchanta, music
  Andrew J. Dowdle, political science
  Matthew T. Feldner, psychology
  Benjamin J. Pierce, music
  Richard J. Rulli, music
  Kathryn A. Sloan, history
  Barry M. Ward, philosophy
• Sam M. Walton College of Business
  Javier Reyes, economics
• College of Engineering
  Justin Chimka, Industrial Engineering
  Jia Di, computer science and computer engineering
  Mahendra Kavdia, biomedical engineering
  Kaiming Ye, biomedical engineering

Promotion to Associate Professor/Associate Librarian with Tenure

• School of Law
  Jason R. Springman, law library
  Colleen C. Williams, law library

Promotion to Associate Professor of Law without Tenure

• School of Law
  Sharon E. Foster, law
  Ned T. Snow, law

Tenure Awarded

• J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
  Rodney L. Engen, sociology and criminal justice
  John Gaber, sociology and criminal justice
  Sharon L. Gaber, sociology and criminal justice
• College of Engineering
  Ed Pohl, industrial engineering
• School of Law
  Monika Szakasits, law

Be A Friendship Family Host

The University of Arkansas Friendship Family Program is looking for host families in Northwest Arkansas. The program has been bringing people together for friendships from around the world for close to 30 years! This program connects international students, families, exchange students, and visiting students and scholars with American singles and families in the Northwest Arkansas area.

Hosts and students get together at least once a month over the school year. Hosts should invite students to cultural events such as birthday parties, sports events, holidays, etc. Hosts should see themselves as "cultural coaches" helping internationals navigate their new culture. The internationals should see themselves as ambassadors of their countries, teaching their hosts about their country.

To be a Friendship Family Host:

1. Attend an orientation
2. Fill out a Friendship Family Application

If you are interested in an application, please e-mail ifriend@uark.edu.

Friendship Family Host Orientations: If you are interested, but unable to attend one of the following orientations, let the program know. Please send in your application and the program will try to schedule other orientations.

August:

• Tuesday, Aug. 18, 6-7:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, Aug. 19, 10:30-noon
• Thursday, Aug. 20, 6-7:30 p.m.
• Friday. Aug. 21, 6-7:30 p.m.

RSVP for an orientation session at ifriend@uark.edu or leave a message at 479-575-6665.

Be a Friendship Family Host

The University of Arkansas Friendship Family Program is looking for host families in Northwest Arkansas. The program has been bringing people together for friendships from around the world for close to 30 years. This program connects international students, families, exchange students, and visiting students and scholars with American singles and families in the northwest Arkansas area.

Hosts and students get together at least once a month over the school year. Hosts should invite students to cultural events such as birthday parties, sports events, holidays, etc. Hosts should see themselves as "cultural coaches" helping internationals navigate their new culture. The internationals should see themselves as ambassadors of their countries, teaching their hosts about their country.

To be a Friendship Family Host:

1. Attend an orientation
2. Fill out a Friendship Family Application

If you are interested in this program please contact Casie Shreve, Friendship Family Program coordinator, 479-575-6665, ifriend@uark.edu.

Engineering Professor Receives Bernard R. Sarchet Award

Kim LaScola Needy, department head of the industrial engineering department at the University of Arkansas, is the recipient of the American Society for Engineering Education Engineering Management Division's 2009 Bernard R. Sarchet Award.

This is the highest award of the Engineering Management Division for recognizing a lifetime achievement in engineering management education. This award, named after one of the founding fathers of the academic discipline of engineering management, is awarded annually to an individual who has made significant contributions over an extended period of time to the discipline and the division and who exemplifies the highest standards of the professorate in engineering management.

University of Arkansas Helps Guardsmen Prepare to Teach Poultry Basics to Afghan Farmers

Dr. Dustan Clark, interim associate center director of extension and extension veterinarian at the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, identifies for Major Doug Christerson various organs in a chicken during a necropsy session. Christerson's National Guard unit was learning to identify several causes of disease in poultry.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Poultry scientists in the University of Arkansas System’s Division of Agriculture recently taught poultry production basics to a National Guard agricultural development team headed to Afghanistan.

Soldiers from the 1-45 Agricultural Development Team of the Oklahoma National Guard attended a Poultry Production Short Course July 29. The guardsmen will be deployed to Afghanistan in October and will train Afghan farmers on raising poultry as a food source.  

The unit, led by Major Doug Christerson, attended the 8-hour short course to learn a variety of information and techniques regarding the basic anatomy of the chicken, the recognition, treatment and prevention of common diseases, bird nutrition, breeder management, and managing small flocks.

“This team will face many challenges in their mission,” said Dustan Clark, interim associate center director of extension and extension veterinarian at the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, as well as organizer of the short course.  “It is a religious taboo for men to teach women in Afghanistan and women are the ones who care for livestock and poultry. This unit has four women and they will do the actual training.”    

Other challenges the unit may face include illiteracy among those they are training, language barriers, rudimentary equipment (at best) and security for the farmers.  

“The country is still at war and is suffering from a 12-year drought, in addition to over 40 years of war and unrest,” said Clark.  

The training of the locals will take place at a university as well as in villages in the surrounding areas.   Those trained at the University will return to their homes and pass what they learned about basic poultry production to others in their area and so on.

Lectures and demonstrations were conducted by Division of Agriculture faculty members Susan Watkins, extension poultry specialist; Keith Bramwell, extension reproductive physiologist; Dustan Clark, interim associate center director of extension and extension veterinarian; Nick Anthony, professor of poultry breeding and genetics, and Anne Fanatico, research associate with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit. Josh Payne, area animal waste management specialist for the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service – Oklahoma State University, also lectured on the value of litter as a fertilizer.

The poultry science department and the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science include a complex of teaching, research and extension facilities at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center and the John W. Tyson Poultry Science Building on campus. The department provides the curriculum for B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degree programs.

Photos are available online at http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/392.htm.

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Dr. Dustan Clark, interim associate center director of extension and extension veterinarian
Center of Excellence for Poultry Science
479-575-4375, fdclark@uark.edu

Sara Landis, communications
Center of Excellence for Poultry Science
479-575-3192, slandis@uark.edu

Search on to Fund Genocide Studies Program

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 10th and final dispatch at http://coehp.uark.edu/rwanda.htm.

FindLaw Publishes Column by University Professor About Recent Court Ruling

Steve Sheppard

A University of Arkansas School of Law professor’s first guest column on FindLaw.com, one of the Internet’s most visited law-related sites, has been published. Steve Sheppard, the William H. Enfield Professor of Law, joins legal experts such as former White House Counsel John Dean and constitutional law scholars Akil Amar and Michael Dorf as a FindLaw.com columnist.

Link to Professor Sheppard’s column: http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20090629_sheppard.html.

His column takes up a recent Supreme Court decision regarding whether a judge who receives large campaign contributions from a company will be perceived as being unbiased if a lawsuit involving that company comes before the court. The Suprement Court split on that question.

Nursing Faculty Member, Students Attend Leadership Training Institute of America

Lepaine Sharp-McHenry

Lepaine Sharp-McHenry, assistant director of the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing at the University of Arkansas, participated as staff of the Leadership Training Institute of America in Washington on June 13-20.

Sharp-McHenry is a clinical instructor of nursing. Maggie Albertson, Rebecca Bowden and Christina Custer, students majoring in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, participated in the program this year.

The Leadership Institute of America is a cultural think tank providing training and opportunity in leadership development and cultural dynamics. It was organized in 1996 and expanded into a national organization in 1999. The institute conducts weekend seminars across the nation and an annual one-week program in the nation’s capital.

With headquarters in Fayetteville, this organization’s mission is to change the world and shape the future by encouraging and equipping leaders:

• To study world view conflicts and strategies.
• To develop critical thinking skills.
• To network with outstanding leaders.
• To participate in societal leadership roles.
• To excel in leadership skills.

Its mission has been accomplished in working with more than 800 students since its inception in 1996.

“These students represent future leaders in government, education, media and business,” Sharp-McHenry said. “They will be the backbone of our nation and vital in sustaining its position as a world leader.”

The Leadership Training Institute of America has received national commendation before the U.S. Senate and been listed in the Congressional Record five times.

“The students are encouraged to apply and excel in leadership, critical thinking skills, scientific knowledge, historical facts, and world view conflicts and strategies,” Sharp-McHenry said. “They are exposed to the major philosophies, views, and issues of our world today and are encouraged to pursue careers in influential sectors of society.”

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.

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.

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