The UALR Department of Speech Communication has won the Minority Recruitment and Retention Award from the Southern States Communication Association.

The award honors institutions demonstrating noteworthy commitment to the recruitment and retention of minority students. It has only been awarded four times since it was founded in 2006. Interim Chair Dr. Carol Thompson accepted the award in Tampa, Fla., on Saturday, April 11.

The entire department faculty contributed materials for the award, according to Thompson, but Assistant Professor Ryan Fuller is credited with compiling the nomination package to showcase the department’s efforts to recruit and retain minority students.

“We are humbled by the SSCA committee’s selection of our department for the Minority Recruitment and Retention Award,” said Fuller.

“The award is very meaningful to our department in that it is recognition of the value that we place on creating an inclusive and supportive environment for all of our students in everything that we do,” he said.

UALR enrolls more African-American students than any other college in Arkansas, and over the past five years has led all institutions in graduate degrees awarded to African-American students.

“As a person of color, I have never felt more valued, appreciated, and supported as I did during my time at UALR’s Department of Communication,” said Dr. Robert Mock Jr., an alumnus and current vice president for student affairs at the University of Kentucky.