“For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together.
For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.” – Edwin Teale
Above: A leaf tests it’s weight against the water of Coleman Creek
Above: Bright red leaves decorate the metered parking lot adjacent to the UALR Center for Performing Arts
Above: Students hurry to class near the UALR Fountain
Above: The zombie which emerged from the ground outside the Fine Arts building was a project designed and constructed by Mia Hall’s 3D Design class.
See more Fall photos of campus on our Flickr page.
This morning as I was getting dressed, I heard from the television news that Norris Church Mailer died over the weekend. She was 61, three years my senior.
Just seven months ago, she stopped by UALR on her book tour (A Ticket to the Circus) for an afternoon student book discussion and evening public discussion in Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall. It was my privilege to be the campus escort for her and her son with novelist Norman Mailer, John Buffalo.
Norris was so fragile that John decided to take time away from his schedule as an author/playwright/actor to accompany her. She had been battling gastrointestinal cancer for the past 11 years and lost Norman three years ago.
It hit me that this book and this tour were probably and sadly her swan song.
Her zest for life, however, was still strong. As we three grabbed a quick pizza and salad across the street at U.S. Pizza, she was the proud Mom talking about John’s role as Robby in the box office hit Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and she was still the artist from her first career, excited about afternoon plans to go to the bead shop in North Little Rock for her jewelry-making.
In the classroom and on stage that night, she was the Arkansan who married the famous author and the best-selling writer she became, sharing thrilling stories from her book and her life. It was truly a circus ticket for those of us in the audience who were privileged to be a part of her final performance.
May you enjoy the next chapter of your life, Barbara Davis Norris Church Mailer from Atkins, Arkansas. I look forward to reading about it.
The following is courtesy of guest contributor, Emily Bell Cox, student development specialist for the Office of Campus Life.
Thanksgiving is a tradition that all Americans have come to love and enjoy. On Wednesday, Nov. 18, Campus Life hosted more than 150 international students, faculty, staff, and community members for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
This event is meant to unite our campus and community for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, accompanied by friendly conversation.
Students from 30 different countries were in attendance and feasted on turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, corn, and cranberry sauce.
The event began in 2003 and has continued to grow in size. The Office of Campus Life thanks everyone who came and participated and made this event a success!
See more photos on Flickr. Want to contribute a feature to the blog? Tell us about it.
The Office of Campus Life is bringing the Love… and the funny. Stand-up comedian Loni Love will be in the house, specifically the DSC, this Thursday as the college circuit brings her through Arkansas.
Famous for her appearances on VH1’s “I Love the 70s/80s/90s,” you’ve probably seen her on Comedy Central or as a regular guest on E!’s late night show “Chelsea Lately.” Variety calls her “one of the top ten comics to watch.” As an actress, Love’s credits include UPN’s “Girlfriends” and the CBS sitcom “Worst Week.” Her one-hour special “America’s Sister” is now available on DVD.
You can get on the Love train Thursday at 7 p.m. in DSC Ledbetter B & C. It’s free and open to the public.
For more about Loni Love:
http://www.lonilove.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LoniLoveComedy
http://www.twitter.com/LoniLove
On Thursday, Nov. 11, we remembered UALR veterans at a special ceremony around the flag pole outside the Facilities Management building. And what a beautiful day it was for us to reflect and honor all who served.
After opening remarks by student veteran Sean Berryman and the invocation by VA Coordinator Curlee Robinson, the Posting of the Colors was performed by the UALR ROTC, commanded by Captain Nicholas Hoyt.
One of the most moving parts of the ceremony was the National Anthem sung by Director of Disability Resources Sharon Downs and Budget and Records Specialist Brittany Richards. I didn’t have a better camera with me, but realizing how beautiful it was, I started recording on my still camera (my apologies for the low quality). Nevertheless, I think it provides a sense of the moment.
Brigadier General Kendall Penn, a graduate of UALR, served as our guest speaker, reminding us of the price our service men and women pay for our freedoms. Afterward, Bugler Terry Lovelace, a current student, performed an inspiring rendition of Taps.
Thank you to all of our UALR veterans. We are truly grateful for your sacrifice.
See more photos from the event on Flickr.
What kind of jobs are out there in an uncertain economy for marketing grads? What do employers look for?
Marketing and advertising faculty went beyond the classroom and textbook to take juniors and seniors to the source. About 50 recently toured three companies, two of which are large and regularly recruit from UALR, on a “Magic Bus Tour.”
Thoma Thoma, a 10-person branding agency located in the River Market District, Principal Martin Thoma, a UALR alumnus, encouraged students to get internships. He likes to hire well-mentored grads and won’t even consider hiring someone unless they have a degree and have had two internships. A degree shows persistence, Thoma said. “You learn how to learn. In this business, you have to be eager to continually learn,” citing examples of social media.
He likes for interns at Thoma Thoma to do real work ─ “not make copies and coffee” ─ to include graphic design, public relations, and account services. Because of that real-world experience, his recent interns have gone on to get jobs at Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts, Walmart (work on branding), and other ad agencies.
Thoma looks to hire people with drive and capability. He hired someone because he was impressed by their blog. “It shows they are well rounded and well grounded.”
Thoma, who has written a book, “Branding Like the Big Boys,” explained his agency’s mantra, “Live Your Brand,” is to set the example for brand development clients that are primarily local and within the state such as PR clients Metroplan and Philander Smith College. The recession has been tough for the industry. “When the economy is down, marketing is generally the first cut. It should be the last,” said Thoma. This was likely not news to the students who may be apprehensive about hitting the job market, but they heard the reality of how it affected this local business.
The next stop was around the corner at Acxiom, a nearly $1.2 billion, 41 year-old company headquartered in Little Rock that works with large business-to-consumer companies primarily in retail, automotive, and telecom industries — particularly Fortune 100 companies.
Allison Nicholas, shown on the far left, is a regular visitor to the College of Business recruiting and mentoring in the Professional Edge Series.
On the rooftop are basketball goals and tables for lunch. It overlooks a park with a walking trail that Acxiom owns. One perk is that employees get a good spot to view fireworks.
Balance is important to Acxiom, which provides a wellness center with fitness equipment and has a flex-work schedule. The company offers benefits by country, and they are divided by account teams ─ they live where clients are.
UALR alumna Charli Noble (shown below), who graduated from UALR in 2007, was hired straight from college. She started out in inside sales then went through a rotating sales training program to learn different areas of the organization and was promoted a few times up to her current sales position. Her hard work having worked her way through high school and college and through her entry-level career is paying off. Nicholas said Noble is a “high performer for us.”
She likely learned a few tips from Mark Fortune (below), vice president of sales support, who is a graduate of UALR’s executive MBA program and taught some marketing classes at UALR. Fortune talked to the students about how marketing has changed with opportunities to narrowcast. They target a lot of messages to specific audiences.
Fortune also enforced internships and said, “Acxiom wants to build from the ground up. We want you to know the business.” Shannon Freeman, who graduates from UALR in December, is interning there now and helped with the Acxiom tour.
At Hewlett-Packard (HP) in Conway, a building that opened in December 2009, was the final “Magic Bus Tour” stop. This HP location has the largest sales force of any of its sites and also serves as a call center. The modern decor includes rooms and sections named after Arkansas cities, rivers, and other places. HP collectively employs 300,000; it was 170,000 before acquiring EDS. Tour participants heard that the company is first or second in virtually every market, customer segment, and region.
Tristan Robinson (shown below), a 2009 UALR graduate with a B.B.A. degree in marketing and a minor in professional sales, was my tour guide. He is now an account manager and inside sales rep at HP, where he is responsible for managing customer relationships for public sector accounts to include meeting a $26 million quota semi-annually by selling servers, software, services, and networking. He provides support to all field representatives, which include account managers and converged infrastructure specialists, analyzing client business needs and requirements and developing high-end information technology solutions.
Paying his way through school, Tristan worked as a casualty claims representative for Shelter Insurance, as a store manager for Tuxedo Junction in Little Rock, and as a financial services representative at Alltel Communications ─ while being involved with a number of volunteer, church, and school activities.
Kevin Hemphill, a senior manager at HP, is shown below with other managers and said of Robinson, “tremendous young man ─ polished, well spoken, tons of initiative. Tristan has impressed me with his hard work and willingness to learn. Tristan is well thought out in his sales motion and is effective in driving solutions that serve the client ─ very sales oriented with a great balance of business acumen and common sense.
“Tristan faced a number of challenges in his early years. Both his parents passed, and Tristan was forced to step up and be big brother, as well as, a father figure to his sibling. Tristan has worked extremely hard not be a burden to family ─ always earning his own way, never bitter, never acting entitled,” Hemphill continued.
“Tristan volunteers in his church and community sharing his perspective on life, based on his experiences. Tristan is a new influencer!”
It was good to go see Robinson’s persistence paying off with a good job that he obviously enjoys talking about — and that he was recently married. He is one of 36 UALR alumni at HP in Conway who came with all kinds of degrees because they rely on in-depth training.
Other familiar faces I had seen around the business college included MBA grads Chris Moore and Drew Jensen (pictured below). Jessie Leopard (on the right) was a speech communication major and a Marine who served in Iraq. She is now working in inside sales at HP and was telling current students what a great place HP is to work and that they need to apply.
The question may not be just what are employers looking for. What does a student or graduate look for when job hunting? If you have to work, you might as well work where the returns are more than pay. Quality-of-life balance will factor in at some point. These students got an inside look into a small creative environment and other scenarios that may have cubicle space but offer more opportunities for promotion.
Take-away for new grads: Opportunities are out there but not for the underachiever.
UALR students are generally familiar with Fribourgh Hall, many having taken a science course there, or happened to pass by and notice its recent renovations.
Most of us, however, are not familiar with the man behind the name: Dr. James H. Fribourgh, legendary teacher, researcher, and administrator.
A personal experience from Dr. Fribourgh taken from UALR’s 1972 yearbook provides a comical glimpse into his first day on campus:
Dr. James H. Fribourgh, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, came to Little Rock Junior College in 1949, after having received his Ph.D. at the State University of Iowa. This was the college’s first year on it’s present campus, when the city limits ended with Fair Park Boulevard and there was only pasture and farm land west of University Avenue, then a dirt road.
“This was my first job and I was a long way from home in Iowa. I had never been down to the school – at that time you just negotiated over the telephone and didn’t come in for a visit and all the formalities as done now.
I remember I got in late at night and spent the night in the Lafayette Hotel. The next morning I went to take a cab out to Little Rock Junior College and the cab driver had no idea where the junior college was. He called the cab company office on the car radio and they didn’t know.
By this time I was beginning to wonder “What have I gotten into, no one knows where this place exists!’ Finally after 15 or 20 minutes they figured out, ‘Oh, that must be the place out there the other side of Fair Park,’ and sure enough it was.”
Read the rest of Dr Fribourgh’s interview..
To offer a glimpse of how the UALR neighborhood must have appeared to Dr. Fribourgh in his first 1949 encounter, the top photo of University Avenue in the series below was taken in 1952.
image source: 25 Years of Arkansas Gazette Photography: 1950 – 1975
See Also:
Leadership Award to Honor UALR’s Fribourgh
“A former provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, Fribourgh, 84, retired from administration and returned to his first love, teaching. As a retirement gift, his colleagues endowed a scholarship in his name.”
Maybe you don’t know Tyson Wooters by name, but you just might recognize him in costume as the Oregon Ducks mascot.
For four years in college, Tyson romped around the field at University of Oregon games getting the crowd fired up. Now, he’s got something to say that will encourage you to fully participate in the various communities to which you belong— to develop commitments that foster teamwork and experience the greater good that comes from our collective actions.
He’s funny, entertaining, and engaging. You’ll come away from this talk with a renewed sense of purpose and an obligation to serve. And you might even find out what that sweaty duck suit must have smelled like.
You can meet Tyson and be inspired at noon Nov. 2 in the DSC Ledbetter Room A, and if you get there early enough, there’s a free lunch involved.
It brought back quite a few political campaigning memories last week attending a political forum on campus after being active in election cycles as a teen, college student, and 20-something.
It was good to see the number of young adults — and others — engaged in organizing and attending the forum in which nine candidates and campaign representatives participated. Iota Mu, UALR’s political science honor society, hosted the forum Oct. 21, in the EIT auditorium. Cory Liebhardt, president of the organization that has won six national awards — four in a row, served as moderator.
Retired Col. Mike Rose (left) represented Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s campaign and spoke of the tax incentives and grants she has helped bring to Arkansas, such as the Recovery Project that supported the EIT building. Zac Wright (right) represented Gov. Mike Beebe’s campaign. Wright told students, “You are the future of our state. You have more at stake in the race for new jobs created.” He asked how many attended public school and talked about the importance of strong K-12 education. Wright also touted Beebe’s grocery cut tax by two-thirds.
Rep. Jeremy Hutchinson (left), District 31, is running for state senate District 22. He responded to a question on the health care bill under President Obama with concerns that the bill didn’t address financing, such as its mandate on state costs. John Brady (right) is running for U.S. Senate and is concerned about manufacturing jobs going to other countries. He would also like to get back to Thomas Jefferson’s idea of a free education.
Carolyn Ann Smith is running for House District 34. She says she’s a new breed of a politician who wants to get the men in her district who have been incarcerated into a trade.
Rep. Mark Martin, District 87, is running for secretary of state and wants to incorporate his information technology skills to the office to make it more efficient.
Dr. Art English, professor of political science, and Cory Liebhardt thank students for coming — even if they got class credit.
Rep. Dawn Creekmore, District 27, is running for state senate District 22. She took a question about being a conservative Democrat. She replied that she does support tax cuts but feels she differs in that she sees more of a need for programs to assist — not enable — people in need. Her focus is on getting more college graduates.
John Walker (left) is running for state house District 34 and is concerned about who is funding the lottery and who is receiving the scholarship and the amount of remediation needed with college students and the poorer towns in Arkansas.
David Sanders (right), who is running for the state house District 31, represented the Jim Keet for governor campaign. Sanders is concerned about the amount of taxes Arkansans pay and the relationship taxes play in recruiting companies to the state. Sanders asked how many in the room had at least part-time jobs. It seemed all hands were raised. He told students that they are probably working harder now than they will have to in their professional lives. He would like to see college students be able to pay the same tuition level when they are finishing as when they started.
With mid-term elections now just under a week away, the forum provided an opportunity for the campus community to think about current issues and ask candidates about their views. I just wish we would have gotten to more of the students’ questions, which were good ones. But we know when politicians get an opportunity at a mic, they know how to use it.
The Iota Mus learned another lesson in event planning: get good food. They got Dynamite Donuts in Searcy to provide fall cookies, American flag cupcakes, and other lures to attract college students.
I think I got a little burnt out of the laborious door-to-door campaigning, making phone calls when no one wants to hear from you, attending numerous rallies, and sending direct mail that no goes straight to the trash. It’s encouraging to see young people who have the enthusiasm and energy to do that thankless work for causes and candidates they believe in. The youth who came by our house sharing the values — that are also important to my household — may have more influence on my vote than he realized, particularly when other guys his age were playing video games.
Don’t forget to vote Tuesday — if not before.
The UALR Catholic Campus Ministry was recently profiled in Arkansas Catholic, the official newspaper of the Little Rock Diocese.
The group is one of a handful of church-based organizations on campus that lends support in the spiritual journey that often coincides with young adulthood. The CCM offers a fellowship lunch once a week in Room E of the DSC to everyone, regardless of faith.
“We want our members to have a safe place, a place they can share with others the things that are going on in their lives,” said Jennifer Cordell, CCM vice president. “I think the thing that surprises people most about us is how we have such a good time doing it. There are a number of situations which are just funny and even though we sometimes discuss serious questions, it’s a very lively, very social kind of thing.”
While topics of faith and religion aren’t necessarily the first things that occupy the minds of young people in college this is, of course, an important time in the development of their spiritual lives. Members don’t pretend to be perfect or advertise themselves as having all the answers, although for many who attend the gatherings, questions abound. Through discussion and shared experience, answers are incubated communally.
Read the whole story and find out more about the CCM at UALR.