The Department of Applied Communication hosts leadership lectures multiple times a year, highlighting research and work done by faculty and alumni in the areas of communication, management, and leadership. These lectures are free and open to the public.
The lectures for 2025-26 are scheduled for Tuesday, October 21, 2025, and Wednesday, February 11, 2026 (over Zoom). Nathan Jeffers was our speaker for Fall 2025, and Dr. Robert C. Mock was our speaker for Spring 2026. See information below on this year’s lectures.
“Applied Communication = Aspirational Careers”
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, 6:30-7:30 p.m., over Zoom – see video of lecture here
Dr. Robert C. Mock, Jr. will present on how his University of Arkansas Little Rock education helped shape, elevate, and impact his multi-faceted career. He will share how Applied Communication assisted him in multiple Higher Education leadership roles, professional consulting, his spiritual life, serving the community on non-profit boards, and as an officer in the Arkansas Army National Guard after 9/11.
Dr. Robert C. Mock, Jr., is currently President of Peru State College in Peru, Nebraska. Dr. Mock served the University of Maryland Eastern Shore from 2018-2025 as VP for strategic initiatives, chief of staff, VP for enrollment management & student experience, and interim athletic director. He has also served as President of Johnson & Wales University Charlotte Campus, VP for student affairs at the University of Kentucky, Associate VP for student affairs at UA Fayetteville, and Director of Recruitment & Retention, Associate Dean, and instructor at UA Little Rock. Dr. Mock earned a B.S. in Engineering from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, an M.A. in Interpersonal & Organizational Communication, and an Ed.D. from UA Little Rock. He served in the Arkansas Army National Guard from 2002-2010.
Information on the Fall lecture appears below, which you can now watch at this link.
“More Than a Message: Building Culture Through Brand and Ethics”
October 21, 2025 – 6:30-7:30 p.m. – over Zoom
Nathan Jeffers is the director of marketing and public relations for CARTI, a not-for-profit multidisciplinary cancer care provider with 18 locations across the state and Arkansas’ first cancer-focused surgery center. Before joining CARTI, he oversaw marketing and business development for a Central Arkansas-based specialty hospital.
2025-26 Leadership Lecture Series
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Read more about past lectures or view some of the previous lectures online.
The 2024-25 lectures recently concluded, and were led by two alumni of the department, Melissa Johnston (MA alum) and V.P. Parker (BA alum).
Johnston presented on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 on “The Crucial Role of Organizational Culture During Times of Crisis and Change,” and Parker presented on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, in a lecture entitled “What is Inclusive Leadership.” Both lectures were held over zoom from 6:30-7:30 p.m. CT.
More about the lectures:
Grounded in personal experience, organizational examples, and research-based findings, the Fall 2024 lecture focused on best practices and lessons learned for leveraging a strong organizational culture during times of crisis and change, with the understanding that the strength of an organization’s culture is tested when going through challenging times.
In the Spring 2025 leadership lecture, participants learned how Inclusive Leadership success is an incremental journey measured in increased cultural humility (identity work), building relationships and trust across diversity dimensions, improving the lives of team members, as well as addressing the practices, beliefs, and biases that impede a team member’s maximum contribution.
More about the 2024-2025 presenters:
Melissa Johnston holds a Master’s degree in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She is currently the Senior Director of Talent Development for First Orion, a local company specializing in call protection and call branding. Her past experience includes directing learning and development teams for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Acxiom as well as work as an independent communication consultant. She also served as an full-time instructor for the Department of Applied Communication for several years and currently serves as an adjunct instructor for the department. Melissa’s passions include leadership coaching and development, as well as fostering a strong organizational culture and organizational strategy.
V.P. Parker, Business Owner, Principal Consultant and Trainer, with VP Enterprises & Consulting, is filled with energy, laughter and direction any time he is a moderator, keynote presenter, facilitator or consultant. He is sure to move the conversation to the “next” level. For 30 years, Mr. Parker has been in the trenches as a DEI practitioner, trainer and consultant with fortune 500 companies across the nation. Most of that time has been as an Organizational Development consultant/business owner and the role of Master Trainer/Facilitator with Korn Ferry working with clients that include Proctor & Gamble, Caesars Entertainment, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Energizer to name a few. With a Bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication from UA Little Rock and a Master’s degree in Strategic Leadership from the University of Charleston, he consistently urges leaders and professionals to “raise the bar” on what Inclusive Leadership looks like and feels like. As a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and instructor/practitioner of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence methodology, he is no stranger to the nature of high-performance cultures and high-reliability organizations.
Recognized by the National Diversity Council as a Certified Diversity Professional, V.P. asserts moving the needle on DEI is an art and a science. The art of vision, strategy and leadership has to be coupled with the science and pragmatism of systematic, effective processes, analytics, attainable milestones and structured accountability.
Locally and nationally, his Inclusive Leadership message resonates across time and across a variety of audiences. For the young leaders at Arkansas Boys State, Mr. Parker has been a constant for almost 2 decades. A national example is his tenure (15 years) as the opening keynote/presenter for Howard University’s School of Business Annual Leadership Development Conference where the big five accounting firms send their emerging leaders to learn, grow and network. While clients and participants consistently share he is passionate and enthusiastic about leadership development and team member engagement, they are equally consistent in sharing “his use of humor engages the audience” and “his ability to make the content relevant to leaders is a skill.” He readily admits he is still on his journey toward increased self-awareness and Brene Brown’s definition of “Daring Leadership”. Because a leader’s own self-awareness is one of the first steps toward personal and professional development, V.P. often shares this quote: “The truest form of reflection…never involves a mirror.”