University of Arkansas at Little Rock

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Sept. 22, 2011) – The UALR College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (AHSS) is hosting their third-annual VIP Day for scholarship-eligible high school students and their parents from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21, 2011 on the UALR campus. This all-day event will include special mini-classes for students and sessions regarding life at UALR for parents.

High school counselors and teachers are also invited to attend. 

“For VIP Scholarship Day, we are looking for scholarship-eligible students with ACT scores of 22 and higher,” said Keesha Johnson, assistant dean of student services. “If the students complete and return all academic paperwork by the deadline, we can offer them scholarships before they leave on VIP Day.” 

Documents due to the AHSS Dean’s office for students to be eligible for scholarships on VIP Day include official high school transcripts, the students’ highest ACT scores and completed online admission forms to UALR. There is a non-refundable fee required to submit with an application. Deadline for getting these materials in to the Dean’s office is Monday, Oct. 17 Wednesday, Oct. 19. Four-year scholarships to UALR range from $8,000 to $40,000. 

The VIP mini-classes have been the most popular segments of VIP Day. “This year’s cool classes will include ‘Songwriting,’ ‘Mini Lessons in French, German and Spanish,’ ‘Psychology and Cinema,” “Video to YouTube in a Day” and ‘Metal & Light: Two Approaches to Art Making’,” said Johnson. 

Parents’ sessions include information about housing, honors programs, financial aid as well as meeting UALR alumni. High school counselors are encouraged to attend both the mini-classes and the parents’ sessions. 

The UALR College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences houses 11 departments: art, English, history, international and second language studies, music, philosophy and liberal studies, political science, psychology, rhetoric and writing, sociology and anthropology and theatre arts and dance. 

For more information regarding VIP Day or to request a registration packet, call Johnson at (501) 569-3350 or email her at krjohnson@ualr.edu. You may also register online.                                       

The UALR Departments of English and Rhetoric and Writing are hosting a reading by Kevin Brockmeier, author of such novellas as The Illumination, The Brief History of the Dead, and The Truth about Celia. His other works include two novels for younger readers and two short story collections, Things that Fall from the Sky and The View from the Seventh Layer. Brockmeier has received rave reviews in such places as The New Yorker, Publisher’s Weekly, and The Times Literary Supplement.

He will be reading at Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall (in the Fine Arts Building) on Tuesday, September 20, at 6-7 pm. A book signing will follow in Gallery I.

This is an excellent opportunity to hear and to meet one of the best young writers in the country.

UALR’s Community Orchestra will present its annual spring concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 15 in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall of the UALR Fine Arts Building.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Conducted by Dr. Victor Ellsworth, the 50-member orchestra will open the concert with The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave) Overture Op. 26 by Felix Mendelssohn, edited by Stephen L. Rosenhaus.  The second piece is Rodeo by Aaron Copland’s and includes Buckaroo Holiday, Corral Nocturne, Saturday Night Waltz, and Hoe Down.  The program will continue with selections from The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber including The Phantom of the Opera, Think of Me, Angel of Music, The Music of the Night, Masquerade, and All I Ask of You.  Concluding the program will be a suite of Leroy Anderson favorites including Blue Tango, Belle of the Ball, The Syncopated Clock, and Serenata.

For more information, contact the music department at 569-3294.

Members of the UALR chapter of the international studies honor society Sigma Iota Rho and the university’s International Studies Program will present a panel discussion at noon Friday, May 6, on the death of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and how it will affect American foreign policy. The event will be in the Leadership Lounge in the Donaghey Student Center.

Panelists include Dr. Jacek Lubecki, director of UALR’s International Studies Program; Dr. Rebecca Glazier, assistant professor of political science with an expertise in American foreign policy, and Dr. Kamran Iqbal, professor of Systems Engineering and a native-born Pakistani.

Also on hand will be Pulaski Academy Social Science Department Chair Bill Topich, who visited Abbottabad, Pakistan, last summer near the compound where bin Laden was captured. Topich will be presenting his photos of the area.

The event is free and open to the public. The Leadership Lounge is located upstairs from the bookstore, at the top of the steps, across the hall from the Office of Campus Life, through the glass doors, and to the right. For more information, contact Joshua Thomsen at
501.682.7028.

UALR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson will brief members of the University History Institute on the new Institute on Race and Ethnicity at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, during the University History Institute’s annual reception.

The reception – featuring heavy hors d’oeuves, wine, and soft drinks – will be at the Arkansas Studies Institute, 401 President Clinton Ave.

For reservations or for more information about the University History Institute, contact Katie Wolford or Dr. Carl Moneyhon at 501-569-3235.

In honor of the new Race and Ethnicity organization, the History Institute’s “Evenings with History” will present three themed talks next fall focused on the history of the African American freedom struggle in Arkansas.

The University History Institute, a nonprofit Arkansas corporation, is an organization of private citizens interested in history and in community support for UALR.

UALR’s Department of Music will present a recital featuring the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Brass Trio at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 9 in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall of UALR’s Fine Arts Building.

Richard Jorgensen on trumpet, Michael Underwood on trombone, and David Renfro on horn form the ASO Brass Trio. Jorgensen and Underwood are faculty members at UALR.

The program will include “Three Pieces for Brass Trio,” by Underwood, along with Arthur Frackenpohl’s “Brass Trio.”

Admission is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact the music department at 501.569.8992.

UALR’s Department of Music presents a faculty recital featuring Susan Antonetti on flute at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 12 in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall of the Fine Arts Building.

Various guest artists featured in the program include Trudy Kincaid on harpsichord, Rafael Leon on cello, Dr. Ann Rye on piano, Michael Carenbauer on guitar, and Kristin Grant on flute.

The program will begin with J.S. Bach’s “Sonata No. 5 in E minor,” followed with “Poem” by Charles T. Griffes. The recital continues with Wil Offermans’ “Honami for Solo Flute” and Manuel de Falla’s “La Vida Breve, Dance No. 1,” and concludes with Francois Doppler’s “Andante et Rondo Pour Deux Flutes et Piano.”

Admission is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact the Department of Music at 501.569.8992.

Harold and Syble Gwatney, parents of the late state senator and Democratic Party chair Bill Gwatney, have presented UALR with an additional gift of $50,000 to increase the endowment of a political science scholarship in their son’s memory.

The Bill Gwatney Memorial Endowed Scholarship was established shortly after the younger Gwatney was shot and killed in the state Democratic Party headquarters in 2008. His parents made a gift of $100,000 in December 2008 to endow the scholarship.

The additional gift will provide more scholarships for deserving political science students at UALR. Mr. and Mrs. Gwatney said that they decided to increase the endowment after reading letters from UALR political science students who had received Gwatney Memorial Scholarships.

“Harold said he wanted more scholarships awarded and that he hoped his gift could serve that purpose,” said Dr. Art English, professor of political science.

“He had received personal letters of thanks written by students awarded Gwatney scholarships, and those letters inspired him to want to help more students each year. Together, he and Syble decided to make a gift that would ensure additional scholarships awarded each year.”

Harold Gwatney, chair of the Gwatney Companies, began his career in the automobile sales industry in 1947 and 10 years later was awarded a Chevrolet dealership, which launched a series of business ventures.

Gwatney also rose through the ranks of the Arkansas National Guard, retiring in 1989 as a major general. He also was active in his community, serving two terms on the North Little Rock City Council – public service that his son emulated.

Prior to being named state chair of the Arkansas Democratic Party, Bill Gwatney served 10 years in the state senate representing Jacksonville, Ark. He also was the financial chair of then-candidate Mike Beebe’s campaign for governor in 2006 prior to becoming state party chair.

The younger Gwatney was a fixture at all UALR home basketball games. The Athletic Department posthumously inducted Gwatney into their Hall of Fame during a ceremony prior to the tip-off of the men’s basketball game against New Orleans on Feb. 26, 2009.