A leading academic journal has published the research of UALR’s Dr. Rolf Wigand proposing a Common Information Model for electronic documents and mapping software in the European Union.
Wigand and several colleagues from other universities say the goal is to improve taxation and customs systems across EU nations.
Their article stems from a $7.5 million European Union-funded research project of more than four years called “Information Technology for Adoption and Intelligent Design for E-Government.”
The model requires new public-private partnerships between government and private businesses that enhance security and controls. The model employs intelligent software tools to reduce administrative loads, according to Wigand.
“One of the great challenges for European governments is solving the paradox of increasing the security of international trade, while simultaneously reducing overhead for commercial as well as public administrations,” Wigand said.
Finding the right balance between control and cost of information gathering is the key to increase competitiveness of European businesses locally, nationally and internationally, he added.
“To encourage the adoption of these redesigned procedures, a truly collaborative co-design process that creates win-win benefits for all stakeholders, is essential,” Wigand concluded.
Wigand wrote “Understanding transnational information systems with supranational governance: A multi-level conflict management perspective” with co-authors Boriana Rukanova, Eveline van Stijn, and Yao-Hua Tan.
The article is published in the journal “Government Information Quarterly,” freely available from the publisher until June 15.
Wigand is the Maulden-Entergy Chair and Distinguished Professor Emeritus for the Departments of Information Science and Business Information Systems at UALR.
With a target date to open in fall 2017, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s newest building will be among the finest higher education facilities in the country for visual arts education. Continue reading “UALR announces new visual arts building: Second largest gift in university history”
UALR Information Technology Services employee and volunteer firefighter, Jason Rogers, was recently honored 
by the Arkansas House of Representatives for his efforts as a first responder during an April 2014 tornado that left a swath of destruction beginning in Roger’s neighborhood in Ferndale and continuing to the cities of Mayflower and Vilonia.
Rogers has been volunteering his time as a battalion chief and emergency medical technician for the West Pulaski Fire Department for the past 14 years. He commands one of the five fire stations in his district that serves a 160-square mile area of Pulaski, Saline, and Perry Counties.
“My involvement at ground zero during the rescue event and subsequent recovery efforts has afforded me some unique opportunities to represent my fire department, fellow firefighters, and community,” Rogers said.
The session recently approved a resolution to recognize responders and those that contributed to the recovery of the April 27, 2014, tornado.
The work of UALR art students set to receive their Bachelor in Fine Arts degrees is on exhibit until May 8 in Gallery I of the Fine Arts Building. All exhibitions are free and open to the public.
Gallery I hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. Sunday 2 p.m. until 5 p.m.
Hard-working seniors that have put a multitude of hours into their senior projects are:
- Shae House – Painting
- Toni Reavis – Painting
- Kelsey Fehlberg – Graphic Design
- Jacqueline McGrath – Painting
- Savannah Johnson – Photography
- Badi Galinkin – Graphic Design
- Paige Mason – Illustration
- Kyndal Rose – Graphic Design
- Britiany Floyd – Applied Design/Furniture
- Dixon Lunsford – Graphic Design
- Amanda Hubbard – Painting
- Kelsey McCall – Painting
- Mesilla Smith – Painting
- Chelsye Garrett – Furniture
- Jessica Kelly – Sculpture
- Shaun Koehn – Graphic Design
- Catherine Kim – Printmaking
- Joshua Summitt – Photography
The BFA in Art offers three tracks: fine art (studio art), applied design, and art education.
The fine art track offers specialization or emphasis areas in drawing, painting, graphic design, illustration, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.
The applied design track offers emphasis areas in furniture design, metals and ceramics.
The art education track prepares students for licensure to teach art at the kindergarten through secondary school level as well as allowing these students to develop a BFA studio or applied design emphasis.
For more information, contact Brad Cushman, gallery director and curator at becushman@ualr.edu or 501.569.8977.
Six seniors enrolled in UALR’s Civil and Construction Engineering Program presented an engineering project for the American Red Cross headquarters designed to increase the likelihood of remaining operational following an earthquake. Continue reading “Presentation proposes ‘seismic shift’ for American Red Cross”
The UALR-UAMS Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology will commemorate Better Hearing and Speech Month at the sixth annual Jazz and Juleps benefit Thursday, May 28.
The event will take place from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion, 1800 Center St., Little Rock. Patrons will enjoy live music, hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, and a live auction with KTHV’s Craig O’Neill.
Tickets are $50 and are available through the UALR Office of Development.
Proceeds from the event support the UALR-UAMS Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology and the Cathy and Jeff Shaneyfelt Student Scholarship fund.
The Shaneyfelts’ close connection to the department began nearly 30 years when their son was treated through the Preschool Language Enrichment Program at the clinic as a 3 year old.
Their perspective has given them the respect and understanding of the need for exemplary professionals to deliver exceptional treatment and care. They have served over the past five years on the Development Council and chaired last year’s Jazz and Juleps event.
Jeff Shaneyfelt is a UALR alumnus and managing partner of Little, Shaneyfelt, Marshall & Co. in Little Rock. Cathy Shaneyfelt also received two years of nursing education at UALR and finished training as a nurse at UAMS.
“Jeff and Cathy understand the value of UALR, the programs offered, and the institution’s impact,” said UALR Vice Chancellor for Advancement Bob Denman.
“A scholarship in their name is a fitting way to mark their continued support while assisting students in the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology,” he added.
Fellow Development Council member and long-time supporter Beth Eaton stated that honoring the Shaneyfelts gives an opportunity to “recognize a family, who through courage, perseverance and determination, have given a voice to not only their son, but to all individuals with communication challenges.”
Eaton added that “everyone could use a Jeff and Cathy in our lives, and we are privileged they have allowed us to honor them in this way.”
The Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology is a joint program between UALR and UAMS. For tickets or additional information contact Leah Thorvilson at 501.683.7501 or lmthorvilson@ualr.edu.
The moment Charliss Russ lost her father in January 2013, it crystallized for her the urgency of doing something she had set out to do some time ago.
“I always had in the back of my mind what I would set aside financially and where it was going to go,” Russ said.
Contemplating her own eventual passing, Russ said there were several places she had considered leaving her own estate. Then it occurred to her she might meet the greatest needs by looking no further than her own former backyard.
“UALR was my childhood playground,” said Russ, explaining the home of her youth was located at the corner of 29th and Taylor Streets, near the UALR campus.
Eventually, UALR represented not just a “playground,” but a place for learning. Professors at what was then called Little Rock Junior College taught the nursing students at St. Vincent Infirmary.
“My mother was a nursing student at the St. Vincent Infirmary School of Nursing, Class of 1951,” said Russ.
And Russ herself became a first-generation, non-traditional student at UALR who worked her way through an undergraduate and graduate degree while simultaneously working at St. Vincent.
She says she wanted to honor her parents’ memory and also the valuable education she received at UALR. Leaving the entirety of her estate to the university, she has endowed no fewer than six scholarships (two named for her father, two for her mother, and two in her own name).
With an endowment of $15,000 each, the first Russ scholarships will be awarded in fall semester 2015. The newly endowed scholarships are:
- The Francis Alan “Pete” Russ Greatest Need Endowment for the benefit of Management
- The Francis Alan “Pete” Russ Management Scholarship
- Hazel Kriegbaum Russ Greatest Need Endowment for the benefit of Nursing
- Hazel Kriegbaum Russ Nursing Scholarship
- Charliss Russ Greatest Need Endowment for the benefit of Marketing and Advertising
- Charliss Russ Marketing and Advertising Scholarship
“Before she passed away, I talked it over with mom, and she was so pleased,” said Russ. “I knew I had made the right decision to honor my parents with a variety of scholarships, each reflecting their lives and their passion.”
Find information about how to establish a planned gift at UALR.
More about the Russ family
Francis Alan (Pete) Russ
Feb. 4, 1925 – Jan. 7, 2013
Francis Alan (Pete) Russ dropped out of high school to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II. His ship, the USS Goss, was a member of the fleet in Tokyo Bay when Japan surrendered to General Douglas MacArthur. After completing his military service, Russ earned his GED and began his vocation as a sheet metal worker. On Dec. 8, 1951, he married Hazel Louise Kriegbaum, and in 1954, they purchased a home on the southeast corner of 29th and Taylor streets (when Taylor Street was the western boundary of the Little Rock city limits). There they raised their two children, Charliss Marie Russ and Louis Alan Russ. He retired from Alcoa after 30 years.
Hazel Louise Kriegbaum Russ
March 23, 1931 – Aug. 18, 2013
Hazel Louise Kriegbaum Russ was a 1948 graduate of Bryant High School and a 1951 graduate of St. Vincent Infirmary, where professors from Little Rock Junior College taught the nursing students. During her professional career, she served as an office, staff, and surgical nurse, and she retired in 1989 after 38 years of devoted service to the profession she loved.
Charliss Marie Russ
Dec. 9, 1952 –
Charliss Marie Russ is a 1970 graduate of Little Rock Central High and, as a first-generation college student, attended UALR for a few semesters after high school. While working full-time at St. Vincent Infirmary, she returned to UALR as a part-time student to earn a bachelor of business administration degree in marketing in 1997 and an MBA degree in 2000. In addition to 25 years with St. Vincent, she has worked for Heifer International and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Breonna Coleman, a marketing major from Pine Bluff, was recently declared winner of the second annual Elevator Pitch Competition.
The competition was presented by Federated Insurance in the atrium of the UALR Donald W. Reynolds College of
Business on April 28.
For each “pitch,” students acted out the role of a marketing representative for Federated Insurance having just stepped onto an elevator with John Riggs, owner of Riggs CAT, who was present for the competition.
The goal of the pitch was to get an appointment with Riggs to discuss the insurance needs of his company.
Coleman won the event and was also chosen as crowd favorite. Holly Benbrook, an accounting major, placed second and Brandi Glover, a marketing major with an emphasis in advertising and public relations, placed third.
Thirty finalists elected from audio entries advanced to the video portion of the competition. In March, the video entries were judged to narrow down the top ten finalists competing April 28.
The panel of three judges included Michael Singleton, assistant director of the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, Ben Peterson, marketing manager for Federated Insurance, and Luke Castin, regional director for State Farm Insurance.
Sponsored by the UALR Center for Professional Selling, the Elevator Pitch was open to all students with prizes awarded to the top three finishers and crowd favorite.
Commissioner Johnny Key of the Arkansas Department of Education will deliver a talk to hundreds of high-scoring seventh graders during a special ceremony at UALR at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 7.
Key will visit campus as part of the annual Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) in which 457 Arkansas seventh graders will be recognized for their exceptional scores on the ACT or SAT tests typically given to older college-bound students.
UALR has been the site of the Duke TIP Awards Recognition Day since Arkansas joined the Duke Talent Search in the 1980s.
There will be two separate “Draping of Medals” ceremonies at the University Theatre on May 7, one at 10 a.m., featuring Key, and one at 2:30 p.m. featuring Alice Mahony of the Arkansas State Board of Education.
Dr. Ann Robinson, director of UALR’s Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education, said the award ceremony is a joint effort between UALR and Duke University, supported by the UALR Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost.
A reception hosted by the Mahony Center will follow in the University Theatre Lobby for students and families.
At least one state recognition ceremony is held in each of the states with the largest Talent Search enrollments. Over 64,400 seventh graders nationwide took the ACT or SAT through Duke TIP during the 2014-2015 school year.
New this year
Girls in the Middle, a new grant awarded to the Mahony Center for Gifted Education, is to encourage girls into science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines. All girls invited to the 2015 Duke TIP recognition ceremony were invited to apply.
The grant is funded through AGATE, Arkansans for Gifted and Talented Education.
To participate in the program, applicants attend any of the STEM content sessions before either one of the recognition ceremonies and also attend the Oct. 19 Reconnect Day at the Museum of Discovery.
The museum is collaborating with the Mahony Center for a STEM Scavenger Hunt to explore exhibits, an experience intended to prepare girls to design their own unique, interactive exhibits that will be a differentiated student product showcased the afternoon of Oct. 19 at UALR.
More about the event
In 2007, the Mahony Center established UALR’s Talent Search Scholars Day to showcase UALR faculty and programs to a college-bound cohort of students and their families.
Held in conjunction with the ceremony honoring Duke scholars, the event is a UALR program organized and administered through the Mahony Center, which invites UALR faculty from high-profile programs that appeal to up-and-coming scholars.
While on campus, TIPsters have the opportunity to learn about the arts, as well as programs featuring science, technology, engineering, and math.
“We ask faculty to prepare a day of engaging activities for the students,” Robinson said. “As director of the Mahony Center, I offer simultaneous sessions for parents who often have lots of questions about developing their child’s interests, talents, and motivation.”
For more about the variety of programs offered through UALR’s Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education, contact giftedcenter@ualr.edu or 501.569.3410.
Two UALR students earned a second-place award during the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Region 5 Annual Conference in New Orleans April 17-18.
Out of 22 teams, the UALR team of John Kline and John McNeill of the UALR Department of Engineering Technology placed second in the circuit design competition.
The day-long contest required integration of knowledge from various areas of electronics.
Kline and McNeill were given a blind engineering challenge requiring them to design on paper a project they then had to build, write a report on, and later deliver a presentation for judges.
This year’s project involved designing a communication system with digital processing. The UALR team finished second only to University of Missouri, Kansas City.
They received a cash award of $250 for their effort.
UALR students have the highest record of winning in design contests in Region 5, according to Professor and Advisor Hirak Patangia. He said the high ranking is a testament to the strong emphasis of the UALR program on both design and practical implementation.
Kline is a traditional student from Conway with a knack for electronics since grade school.
“He is a student who
would build circuitry at home to explore concepts taught in class not covered in the lab,” said Patangia.
Kline has accepted an offer with an engineering firm upon graduation in May.
McNeil is a non-traditional, full-time student with a family and a full-time job with Kohler company in Sheridan.
“He was honored to represent UALR at the conference, even though he works the night shift and the van to New Orleans had to pick him up in Sheridan,” said Patangia.
A total of 12 students, half from systems engineering and the other half from electronics and computer engineering technology, joined Patangia for the trip to New Orleans.