Dr. Simon Hawkins, Director
Dating back to his honors program in anthropology at Swarthmore College, Dr. Simon Hawkins has been dedicated to education and the liberal arts. In 1988, his interests in other cultures led him to Tunisia as a Peace Corps volunteer, an experience that eventually became the center of his professional research. Upon returning from the Peace Corps he pursued an MA in secondary education at the George Washington University and briefly taught high school social studies before joining the National Center for Improving Science Education where he conducted research on national and international education.
Rather than pursuing further graduate studies in education, he returned to anthropology at the University of Chicago. As a Fulbright Scholar, he pursued his doctoral research on language learning and national identity in Tunisia. Over the years he has taught at the University of Tunis, the University of Chicago, Vassar College, Montana State University, and Franklin and Marshall College.
His anthropological research in Tunisia has tackled a range of topics, including: national identity, schooling and language learning, relations with Europe, gender and modernity, and state construction of religion. He is an award winning teacher with particular skills in social theory and qualitative research methods. In addition to his academic work, he is a graduate of Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Clown College.
Dr. Jessica R. Scott, Associate Director
Prior to completing her Ph.D. in environmental dynamics from the University of Arkansas, Dr. Jessica Scott worked for the Walt Disney Company and Neiman Marcus, gaining an appreciation for their high level of service and attention to detail. After returning to graduate school, she had the opportunity to teach in the Fulbright Honors College, an experience that revealed her passion for teaching and mentoring students. Since starting with the Donaghey Scholars Honors Program, Dr. Scott has been able to use all of these experiences to create a challenging and supportive environment for Donaghey Scholars. In addition to her work as associate director, she also teaches the Science and Society I & II and Colloquium II core courses for the program, as well as a variety of classes for the School of Human Inquiry.
While her academic interests are varied, nearly all revolve around dietary ecology and the reconstruction of ancient climate. Her primary research uses tooth wear to reconstruct the diets and habitats of early human ancestors, but she has also studied the teeth of ancient Egyptians from the cemeteries at Amarna, Egypt. She has analyzed the teeth of dozens of fossil and living animals, including antelope, aardvarks, lions, hyenas, sabre-toothed cats, lemurs, monkeys, and apes.
Her work led her to conduct field research in Kenya, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Egypt, and The Great Divide Basin in Wyoming, as well as curatorial research with museums in London, Paris, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Brussels, Chicago, New York, and Washington D.C. She has published articles in The American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Mammalia, The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, The Journal of Human Evolution, The American Journal of Primatology, PLOS ONE, and Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, as well as a chapter in the edited volume, Technique and Application in Dental Anthropology.
Dr. Scott lives in Little Rock with her husband and her 11 year old daughter. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling as often as possible, is deeply engaged in the Little Rock community, and serves as a member of the Arkansas Zoological Foundation Board.
Kathryn Roset, Administrative Analyst
Kathryn Roset earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from UA Little Rock in Marketing and her Juris Doctorate from the Bowen School of Law. She practiced as a judicial law clerk in the Pulaski County Circuit Court system for a few years, but then chose to focus on raising her family. Kathryn has a husband who is from Norway, and is the proud mother of five grown sons, the oldest of whom is a Donaghey Scholars Program graduate and the youngest who is a current UALR student. She is also the proud Far Mor (“father’s mother” in Norwegian) of an almost two-year old grandson.
After losing one of her sons in an accident several years ago, Kathryn recently made the decision to return to school again, this time pursuing a master’s degree in mental health counseling. Her goal upon completing the program is to specialize in grief therapy in hopes of helping others who have suffered loss and the resulting grief. Along with attending school full-time, Kathryn is also now working full-time for the Donaghey Scholars Honors Program, a position she is very excited about.
In her free time, Kathryn enjoys helping her husband in the garden which includes a burgeoning orchard consisting of a variety of fruits trees and berries. They also raise chickens and are currently working with Vorwerk and Spitzhauben flocks. They also have a few dogs that are always right there with them. There is never a dull moment in the Roset household.
Dr. Earl Ramsey, Director Emeritus
Dr. Earl Ramsey earned his B.A. in History and M.A. in English from Rice University and his Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida. He began teaching as a graduate student at community colleges in Texas and in Florida, but his full-time career began at Yale, then at Bryn Mawr, one of the historic Seven Sisters women’s colleges on the east coast.
Now retired following 25 years as director of UA Little Rock’s top honors program, Dr. Ramsey has made a lasting mark on its development by stressing an interdisciplinary approach. A literary critic and theorist, Ramsey has taught a wide variety of courses throughout his career – from 18th century literature to the writings of Michel de Montaigne, William Shakespeare, William Faulkner and Virginia Wolfe. He also taught History of Ideas in the Donaghey curriculum.
He joined UA Little Rock in 1973 as an associate professor and earned full professor status in 1977. The Student Government Association named him Faculty Member of the Year in 1999, and he received the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences’ Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching in 2005.
Current Donaghey Faculty
- Dr. Edward Anson, Department of History
- Dr. Earnest Cox, Department of Rhetoric & Writing
- Dr. Paul Crutcher, Department of English
- Dr. Rolf Groesbeck, Department of Music
- Dr. Linda Holzer, Department of Music
- Dr. Floyd Martin, School of Art and Design
- Dr. Kris McAbee, Department of English
- Dr. Jana McAuliffe, Department of Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies
- Dr. Michael Norton, Department Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies
- Dr. Bailey Oliver, Department of Applied Communications
- Dr. Keith Robinson, Department of Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies
- Dr. René Shroat Lewis, Department of Geology
- Dr. Lawrence D. Smith, Department of Theatre Arts