The Alliance has seen a busy month, student Zack Baker writes. Be sure to visit with the group at its faculty meet and greet Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 11 a.m. in the Leadership Lounge. Food will be provided. Continue reading “Celebrating being yourself”
The annual flu vaccine campaign is going on from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, in the lower concourse of the Donaghey Student Center. Continue reading “Flu vaccine: No pain here!”
Our guest post this week comes from Kim Tran, assistant director of academic advising. Continue reading “Rock for the Cure”
UALR alum Christian O’Neal is an associate vice chancellor and leads the Alumni Association.
Fall’s nearly here, and what better time to travel picaresque Arkansas to meet up with high school students and parents to spread the word about UALR?
We have teamed up with UALR’s stellar recruiters to talk up our programs, our campus, and our people. And speaking of people, we’ve met some pretty terrific ones along the way, including students from Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts (ASMSA); Hot Springs High School; Glen Rose High School; Lakeside High School; and Malvern High School.
At our most recent meet-and-greet event, we took a trip down to the Diamond Lakes area in Hot Springs. While many of the students came undecided, after a few quality conversations with the likes of Dr. Earl Ramsey of the Donaghey Scholars Program (the state’s best honors program) and Dr. Jim Winter (co-director of the University Science Scholars Program), I think it’s fairly safe to say their decision to attend UALR in Fall 2014 became clearer.
I remember in 1994 when the decision to attend UALR became apparent to me. It was largely because of a faculty member who visited Hot Springs High School to speak to a group of students. I was looking for an institution that could offer internships in my selected field of study. What I didn’t expect to uncover was that just 50 miles from home I could have access such a wonderfully intelligent and caring campus community.
The Hot Springs open house was the first effort of the newly formed Hot Springs chapter of the UALR Alumni Association.
A special thanks to the alums who made it possible: Sue and Bob Pine, Bennie Prince, Marcia Smith, and Judge Larry Williams. We couldn’t have done it without them – and they’re great role models for future college students.
Our next road trip is to Texarkana’s Northridge Country Club for an open house at 6 p.m. Oct. 29. We’ll leave the state the following week to meet prospective students and parents at 6 p.m. Nov. 5 at the Lichterman Nature Center in Memphis. This wouldn’t be possible without our alumni friends in these areas.
If you are a college-bound student living near Texarkana or Memphis, please join us at these fun-filled meet-and-greets. You’ll be impressed with the opportunities at UALR.
A brooch is more than a mere piece of jewelry for most collectors; it also happens to be a one-of-a-kind of way of saying “hello.”
Ida Umphers, a senior instructor for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, caught several students’ attention the first day of class, but not through her lesson plan.
Every day, professor Umphers wears a different brooch that matches her attire, spurring her students to think of what might be the inspiration for the brooch that day. From bulldogs prancing in a field of flowers and lizards roaming the yard as she cuts her grass to regal elephants and the ornate birds, the brooches greet students with new species all that time.
One thing her students have discovered is that if she wore the same brooch twice in a row it would not be professor Umphers. She has around 100 brooches. Also she says, “I started collecting them because I find necklaces and bracelets annoying, but wanted something in the jewelry line. Plus, they come in so many forms, shapes, colors that they are continually interesting.”
UALR junior Kari Payton enjoyed “working with her hands” in her dad’s construction business growing up in the tiny northeast Louisiana town of Bastrop. Continue reading “Future female engineer inspired by dad, professor, peers”
Fatih Sen, a Ph.D. student at UALR, spends his days (and many nights) doing the typical work of a doctoral student – research, data collection, writing, research, data collection, writing, research … you get the idea. He decided to inject a little levity into that process with a parody video.
http://youtu.be/v45oMhrrm6Y
How did you come up with the idea?
We were planning to shoot a short movie about our Ph.D. life, just for fun. We came across the Farmer Style video, which was one of the more famous Gangnam Style parody videos out there. I said, “We definitely need to shoot a Ph.D. version of that.” I shared the idea with my friend Debanjan, who is a Ph.D. student, too. He liked it and we made our decision.
We came up with an initial version of lyrics and ideas to shoot the video. Four people worked on the lyrics, which are based on the lifestyle of a Ph.D. student. I asked help from my friend Marcus Lowe, who is a Mass Communication student at UALR. He and his friend Craig Wynn helped us to shoot the video.What is the purpose of the video?
Why did you shoot it?
The main purpose of shooting the video was to add some fun to our day-to-day research life. Ph.D. life can sometimes become monotonous. It is always good to break that monotony and refresh oneself. The Ph.D. style video was just that.
Any future video plans?
We do have many funny video ideas regarding the lives of Ph.D. students, but you need to put in lots of effort and it takes so much time. So we prefer to focus on our studies for now.We would like to give our special thanks to Dr. Rolf Wigand, Dr. Abhijit Bhattacharya, Rachel Hoskins (UALR), Utsav Chatterjee (UALR), Jyoti Sharma (IITD), Payton Sullivan (UALR), Meaghan Milliorn (Digital Strategy), UALR School of Mass Communication, and the fine folks at the EIT building, and to all those who provided encouragement.
Our guest post this week is from Jacob Ellerbee, executive editor at The UALR Forum.
My name is Jacob Ellerbee and I’m the Executive Editor of The UALR Forum, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s student newspaper. I am a senior student majoring in mass communication with a minor in psychology. Continue reading “Extra! Extra! An inside look at The Forum”
If you’ve started college here, no doubt you have met Kim Tran, assistant director of Academic Advising. She was once an undergrad and works with students every day, so she knows first-hand about the freshman experience. She’s shared some tips for surviving your first year:
Getting an education now is more important than ever. According to a multi-year study of 10,000 people, BLS economist Chuck Pierret discovered that members of that group held, on average, 10.8 jobs between the ages of 18 and 42. If this is the case for today’s generation, that means you will need to make sure you continually evolve your self to remain employable.
First though, it is important for students to get a strong start in college.
- Make sure you come with your books. Books are an investment. When you go to class, you should not only go to class and read only what is required, but use this as an opportunity to learn as much as you can about what you are studying. You should especially do this if you are a full-time student. You are here and if you truly value your time, you will want to make the best out of this great opportunity that you have. In short, it is up to you to make the most of your educational experience. Consider this a long-term investment in your SELF.
- Balance. The biggest thing that students struggle with is workload versus academic load. so although some students start off as a traditional student, they often find jobs and start working (sometimes even taking on full-time work loads!). This makes it extremely hard to have a healthy work-life balance. Some students assume that financial aid is only possible carrying 12 hours of college credit or more, but financial aid is possible even at only six hours of credit. This is something that you can discuss with your academic advisor.
- This is your fresh start. Many students also forget that college provides a clean slate and allow themselves to be defined by past success – or even failure. What you need to know is that now that you are in college, your performance here (for that semester) is what will matter. When I was working towards my undergrad degree at Arkansas State, I had a colleague who I attended the same high school as I had. When she was in high school, she was an average student and did OK; at that time, her goal was just to be social. But when she went to college, she decided that she wanted to get into optometry school. And she did. No one would have guessed based on how she performed in high school, but she studied very hard and graduated with almost a 4.0 in Biology. So, even though you may not have had a good start in high school, I remind all of my students that this is their time and that they need to use this as an opportunity to make the most out of their education at UALR.
- Act short-term, but think long-term. True, you may be thinking just about getting off the ground this semester, but it is very important that you spend some time understanding your options. Your first and second semester (at the max) is when you should consider taking some academic risk. Ideally, you should have your options narrowed down to two or three majors and any exploratory courses you take should be used to help you further narrow down your options.
- Get involved. In your first year, you will learn many things. How to manage your time, how to study, and even some things you may not have realized about yourself. That said, one thing you should also do is to get involved. There are many opportunities on campus. We have the Service Learning Fair in the Upper Concourse of the DSC on Sept. 1 from 9 a.m. -1 p.m, we have many academic clubs that you can join, intramural sports for those who like being active, and for those who like to lead – consider starting an initiative if there isn’t already something like that. This is your time and you should make something of it. You will carry this with you for life.
- Be proud. It was not easy for you to get here, so you should be proud of getting this far! In addition to your family and friends, we – the UALR Community – are also proud of you!
- Don’t forget to ask for help. If you encounter any problems with your courses or even need help with the content, reach out to your course instructor. We have a lot of intellectual assets at UALR, and, as always, your advisor is here to help as well.
- Use your initiative. Make the most of this experience and have a great start to the semester!