The former sheriff of Pulaski County and his wife have donated $25,000 to create an endowed scholarship for criminal justice students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Continue reading “Former Pulaski County sheriff endows criminal justice scholarship at UALR”
The first day of school tends to bring a roller coaster of emotions, from excitement and anxiety to anticipation. As UALR students said their final goodbyes to summer, they turned their focus to their long-term goals and sought to make their dreams come true. Continue reading “Students say goodbye to summer, hello to fall semester”
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Criminal Justice has entered into a seven-year contract worth more than half a million dollars with the Arkansas Department of Human Services Division of Youth Services to assess disproportionate minority contact within the criminal justice system.
Continue reading “UALR earns 525k contract to study minority contact in the criminal justice system”
For Jermaine Ruttley, the chance to play basketball at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock meant a way out from his poverty-stricken hometown in Kentucky. Continue reading “UALR graduates 1,000 students in 2016 spring commencement”
While proudly donning her graduate cap and gown, Henrietta Smothers excitedly walked across the stage during UALR’s 2005 spring commencement to receive her hard-earned master’s degree in criminal justice.
Continue reading “UALR grad student completes 14-year journey”
For Dominque Thomas, his mother was his everything.
Continue reading “Criminal Justice student earns degree in honor of mother”
When Micah Parker started at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, he dreamed of going into state government.
Continue reading “UALR student lands Secret Service internship”
The UALR community is mourning Professor Emeritus Dr. Charles Chastain, who died Tuesday, June 2, following a cancer diagnosis.
“All of us who knew Charles Chastain feel impoverished by the loss of his friendship and his intelligence, wit, and wisdom,” said UALR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson.
“Although he did not do it alone, he had a bigger hand than anyone else in making the UALR Department of Criminal Justice the very successful and influential department it has become—starting with the associate degree and today offering the Ph.D.,” Anderson said.
Dr. Chastain was known as an excellent teacher who carried strong convictions that the liberal arts should be part of the criminal justice curriculum. Countless students, faculty, and staff expressed positive messages about him, saying what a profound impact he had made on them and UALR.
Anderson was Dr. Chastain’s colleague in the UALR Department of Political Science when the seeds of a criminal justice program were just being sown in the early 1970s. With Chastain a guiding force, the seeds of the program were nurtured and developed into a full-blown department of its own.
The department eventually dominated the field in Arkansas, graduating students who in time filled many leadership positions in law enforcement, corrections, and other fields of criminal justice.
From 1975 to 1997, he served as either coordinator or chair of Criminal Justice at UALR. In addition, he served on the state Parole Board from 1993 to 2003, and had served on the Board of the Law Enforcement Training Academy, and the Gov. Bill Clinton’s Task Force on Crime and Justice.
He also served on the Board of the Substance Abuse Treatment Clinic of UAMS, the Arkansas Assisted Housing Network, and the Inmate Council of the Department of Correction Pine Bluff Unit. Chastain developed a reentry into society program for inmates at the Wrightsville Unit of the Department of Correction.
For more than a decade, a favorite project of Dr. Chastain’s involved the coordinating of book donations from UALR faculty, staff, and friends to the Arkansas Department of Correction libraries. The project eventually received widespread media attention.
Born in Ventura, Calif., Chastain earned a B.A. degree in sociology and a minor in political science from Arkansas Tech University.
He received an M.A. degree in political science and sociology from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and earned a Ph.D. in political science and the administration of justice from Southern Illinois University.
Funeral arrangements include a viewing, which will be held from 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, June 5, at Roller-Chenal Funeral Home, 13801 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock.
The funeral service will be at 2 p.m., Saturday, June 6, at First United Methodist Church, 723 Center Street, Little Rock, with a reception to follow at the church.
Memorials may be made to Charles D. Chastain Founding Chair Scholarship, UALR Development Office, 2801 South University, Little Rock, 72204.
A UALR graduate was recently promoted to assistant chief of police for the Little Rock Police Department, making her the first woman to hold that position in the department’s 149-year history.
UALR alumna Alice Fulk was promoted by LRPD Police Chief Kenton Buckner.
Fulk is a 23-year veteran of the department, having been an administrator in the major-crimes division. Fulk said she believed she had “pushed through that glass ceiling,” in a recent Democrat-Gazette news article about her promotion.
“First and foremost, I’m looking at it like I have a job to do. … Chief Buckner had the confidence in me to do it, whether a male or female,” Fulk said, in the article. “But I do hope it opens the door for females in the future to move up the rank.”
Buckner named Fulk, the most senior captain eligible for the promotion by eight years, as “the best person” for the job.
Fulk holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from UALR and a master’s in human resources management.
Dr. Jeffrey Walker, chair of the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, is among the panelist to serve during a free Safety Seminar open to real estate agents from across the state. Continue reading “Free seminar focused on realtor safety scheduled Oct. 27”