Good afternoon everyone!
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the Trojan Way Dedication Ceremony. Thank you all for being here.
Today we celebrate a significant addition to our campus—a pathway and central plaza that represent our commitment to enhancing the student experience, fostering campus engagement, and embracing the future of our university.
Before we begin, I’d like to make sure we recognize a few of our special guests:
Would members of the George W. Donaghey Foundation Board please wave so we can recognize you?
Would any members of the UA Board of Trustees wave so we can recognize you?
Would any members of the UA Little Rock Board of Visitors wave so we can recognize you?
And finally, would any members of the UA Little Rock Centennial Campaign Cabinet please wave so we can recognize you?
Thank you all for your support of this project.
I would also like to thank President and Mrs. Bobbitt for being here today. I deeply appreciate your support of this institution and its mission.
Thank you to Congressman French Hill for being here, and thank you for your support of UA Little Rock.
And I would like to recognize Chancellor Emeritus Joel Anderson, on whose shoulders I stand. Thank you for being here Joel, it means the world to me.
And a heartfelt thanks to all of you for joining us today in our celebration.
The idea for this project emerged four years ago, one year into my tenure as chancellor. I asked our then-facilities director to give me a grounds tour so I could see what needed to be done. When we finished the tour and I had my long list of things to address, we returned to our starting point, the Library Plaza. As I looked around at the empty expanse, I wondered aloud what we might do to make the plaza more user friendly. I noted that this spot should be the heart of the campus with the student center on one side and the library on the other. But the plaza was nearly always empty, no one seemed to want to linger there. Dave asked me what I had in mind. And there the seed was planted.
I knew that if we could make the plaza a more inviting and comfortable place for students to hang out and meet with one another, it could really make a difference in how students perceive the campus. We had done a lot over the years to improve internal space with new residence halls, new classroom buildings, and we were starting work on a new learning commons on the first floor of the library. Yet the outdoor space was definitely in need of some TLC.
We started with a scope of work that just included the library plaza and I knew I’d need to seek outside funding. The Donaghey Foundation had never done anything like this before, but I took a chance on convincing them of the transformational impact a project like this could have. I introduced them to the concept of the living and learning environment of a university. I explained that improvements in the living and learning environment are important because they have the potential to create engaging spaces that support student wellbeing, that enhance high-impact learning, and that provide a strong sense of Trojan community. Through these efforts, our spaces not only become more functional, but also more welcoming, secure, and attractive.
The Donaghey Board liked the idea. In fact, they liked it so much, they invited me to think bigger and expand the project. So, I went back to the design team and asked, “what would it take to redesign the entire north-south promenade of the campus from 28th Street to University Drive, integrating it with the plaza and other adjacent areas?” We went to work on that plan, took it back to the Donaghey Board in October of 2021, and here we are today about to see the results of what Greg Flesher would call a big hairy audacious goal.
The version of the campus promenade that you see on these screens was the result of many years of piecemeal development that did not have the benefit of a comprehensive plan with a substantial investment at one point in time. This is not uncommon for any institution that’s been around for a hundred years. The previous promenade was made of different materials—brick and cement mostly—it was bumpy and uneven, it was different widths at different places, some sections had a divided path, and the place where we’re standing right now, was a parking lot.
It would be hard to overstate the impact of this opportunity to create a unifying experience on this campus. Through the generosity and vision of the Donaghey Foundation as well as others who have stepped up to contribute to this effort, we have been able to turn a walkway into a destination.
I want to thank Shawn Luther with DCI for his work in creating a beautiful destination design that will take us into our next 100 years.
Thank you to WER and Nabholtz Construction for taking on what turned out to be a very challenging project with lots of buried surprises, and seeing it through to the end.
I want to thank our Facilities Director, Leslie Hutchins and her team, for their tenacious attention to detail and for putting up with my incessant questions for the last three years.
And of course, I want express my deepest appreciation to the Donaghey Foundation for inviting me to dream big, for supporting our vision, and, for graciously providing the funding to make this project possible.
It is now my honor to invite Greg Flesher, President of the Donaghey Foundation Board to come forward and say a few words.
