[{"id":94443,"date":"2026-07-20T14:16:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?p=94443"},"modified":"2026-07-20T14:16:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:16:29","slug":"ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"UA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World’s Top Artificial Intelligence Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"\nArtificial intelligence research from Prof. Nitin Agarwal at the University of Arkansas at Little
Rock has earned international recognition after a collaborative paper was published at the 39th Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), widely considered the world’s premier conference on artificial intelligence and machine learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The achievement places UA Little Rock alongside many of the world’s leading universities,
technology companies, and research laboratories, highlighting the university’s contributions to
cutting-edge AI research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The paper was co-authored by Agarwal, director of the Collaboratorium for Social
Media and Online Behavioral Studies (COSMOS) Research Center, Maulden-Entergy Chair, and
Donaghey Distinguished Professor of Information Science at UA Little Rock, along with
collaborators from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and the University of Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
COSMOS is an interdisciplinary research center that studies online behavior and develops data
analytics tools to better understand online communities and emerging cognitive threats in online information environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNeurIPS is where many of the most influential advances in AI are first introduced,\u201d said
Agarwal, whose research on cognitive security has been recognized by the U.S. Department of
War, NATO, the Five Eyes intelligence alliance (consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States), the World Health Organization, and other
organizations. \u201cHaving a paper accepted means the research has undergone an extremely
rigorous peer-review process and has been recognized by leading experts in the field as making a meaningful contribution to advancing AI.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As one of the world\u2019s most selective AI conferences, the acceptance process is highly
competitive, drawing thousands of submissions from top universities, research labs, and
technology companies across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAcceptance reflects both novelty and technical excellence,” said Agarwal, an Arkansas
Academy of Computing fellow, an Arkansas Research Alliance (ARA) fellow, and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Distinguished Visitor and Senior Member. \u201cFor COSMOS and UA Little Rock, it demonstrates that the research being conducted here is competing successfully on a global stage alongside some of the world’s leading AI institutions. It reinforces that impactful, internationally recognized AI research is being developed right here in Arkansas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Agarwal and his team\u2019s paper introduces MANGO: Multimodal Attention-based Normalizing
Flow Approach to Fusion Learning, a new framework designed to improve how AI systems learn from and combine multiple types of information, including images, text, and other data sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The research centers on multimodal AI, a type of artificial intelligence that learns from multiple
forms of information \u2014 such as text, images, or audio \u2014 simultaneously. While people naturally combine different sources of information to understand the world around them, AI systems often struggle to do so effectively because the data doesn’t always match up in obvious ways. MANGO is designed to help AI better understand and combine different types of data. Unlike many existing AI models that simply merge information together, MANGO identifies which sources are most relevant and how they relate to one another, allowing AI systems to make more accurate and reliable decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe real world is inherently multimodal, so if we want AI to better understand people and
complex environments, it needs to learn from multiple sources simultaneously rather than
treating each independently,\u201d Agarwal said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Research like this helps AI evolve to provide more context-aware analysis, enabling systems to
make more informed and trustworthy decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As AI becomes increasingly integrated into daily life and industry, MANGO could improve
applications across various fields. In healthcare, it could help physicians make more informed
decisions by analyzing medical images alongside patient records and clinical notes. In self-
driving vehicles, it could improve safety by allowing AI to better interpret data from cameras,
radar, and other sensors. The technology could also strengthen security by analyzing social
media to identify coordinated influence campaigns or emerging cognitive threats through the
combined analysis of text, images, videos, and patterns of online behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUltimately, research like this helps build AI systems that are more reliable, more explainable,
and better suited for solving complex real-world problems,\u201d Agarwal said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The publication also reinforces the COSMOS Research Center’s role as a hub for collaborative,
interdisciplinary AI research. By partnering with researchers at UA Fayetteville and UF, the
project demonstrates how UA Little Rock is contributing to advances at the highest levels of the international AI community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis publication further demonstrates that UA Little Rock is producing AI research that is
recognized at the highest international level,\u201d Agarwal said. \u201cIt enhances the university’s
visibility within the global AI community, strengthens our research collaborations, and creates
new opportunities for our students to work on cutting-edge problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking ahead, Agarwal and his collaborators plan to expand MANGO to work with additional
data types, larger AI foundation models, and real-time decision-making environments while
continuing to improve the transparency and reliability of AI systems. Their goal is to develop AI
systems that not only achieve high performance, but also operate reliably in complex applications where accuracy and trust are essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Disclaimer: This research was funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S.
Army Research Office (awards W911NF23S0001, W911NF2410078, and W911NF2510147), U.S. Office of Naval Research, U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Australian Department of Defense Strategic Policy Grants Program, Arkansas Research Alliance, the Jerry L. Maulden\/Entergy Endowment, and the Donaghey Foundation at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the funding organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Artificial intelligence research from Prof. Nitin Agarwal at the University of Arkansas at LittleRock has earned international recognition after a collaborative paper was published at the 39th Annual Conference on … UA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World’s Top Artificial Intelligence Conference<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2764,"featured_media":92312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1926,1922],"tags":[2837,25799,35325,35495,35323,2687,35322],"class_list":["post-94443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-research","tag-cosmos","tag-donaghey-college-of-stem","tag-economic-impact","tag-innovation","tag-leaders-in-the-classroom-and-communities","tag-nitin-agarwal","tag-program-excellence"],"yoast_head":"\nUA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World's Top Artificial Intelligence Conference - News - UA Little Rock<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World's Top Artificial Intelligence Conference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Artificial intelligence research from Prof. Nitin Agarwal at the University of Arkansas at LittleRock has earned international recognition after a collaborative paper was published at the 39th Annual Conference on ... UA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World’s Top Artificial Intelligence Conference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-20T19:16:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-20T19:16:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2025\/07\/Nitin-Agarwal.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Molly Coleman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Molly Coleman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Molly Coleman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b4c50280636b780e6a82d2a4f4d66223\"},\"headline\":\"UA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World’s Top Artificial Intelligence Conference\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-20T19:16:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-20T19:16:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":918,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/Nitin-Agarwal.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"COSMOS\",\"Donaghey College of STEM\",\"Economic Impact\",\"Innovation\",\"Leaders in the Classroom and Communities\",\"Nitin Agarwal\",\"Program Excellence\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"Research\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\\\/\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World's Top Artificial Intelligence Conference - News - UA Little Rock\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/Nitin-Agarwal.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-20T19:16:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-20T19:16:29+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/Nitin-Agarwal.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/Nitin-Agarwal.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628,\"caption\":\"Dr. Nitin Agarwal, professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, recently co-authored an Artificial Intelligence (AI) research paper that was published at what is considered the world's premier conference on AI and machine learning.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World’s Top Artificial Intelligence Conference\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/UALittleRock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ualrvideo\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/school\\\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ualr\\\/\"],\"description\":\"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.\",\"email\":\"ask@ualr.edu\",\"telephone\":\"501-916-3000\",\"legalName\":\"UA Little Rock\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b4c50280636b780e6a82d2a4f4d66223\",\"name\":\"Molly Coleman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/957d030cd74975ecef323bee4cc5c61b8ce91b52459d38d169b7115d03dfeaed?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/957d030cd74975ecef323bee4cc5c61b8ce91b52459d38d169b7115d03dfeaed?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/957d030cd74975ecef323bee4cc5c61b8ce91b52459d38d169b7115d03dfeaed?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Molly Coleman\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/mcoleman4\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World's Top Artificial Intelligence Conference - News - UA Little Rock","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World's Top Artificial Intelligence Conference","og_description":"Artificial intelligence research from Prof. Nitin Agarwal at the University of Arkansas at LittleRock has earned international recognition after a collaborative paper was published at the 39th Annual Conference on ... UA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World’s Top Artificial Intelligence Conference","og_url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/","og_site_name":"News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-20T19:16:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-20T19:16:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2025\/07\/Nitin-Agarwal.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Molly Coleman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Molly Coleman","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/"},"author":{"name":"Molly Coleman","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c50280636b780e6a82d2a4f4d66223"},"headline":"UA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World’s Top Artificial Intelligence Conference","datePublished":"2026-07-20T19:16:28+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-20T19:16:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/"},"wordCount":918,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2025\/07\/Nitin-Agarwal.jpg","keywords":["COSMOS","Donaghey College of STEM","Economic Impact","Innovation","Leaders in the Classroom and Communities","Nitin Agarwal","Program Excellence"],"articleSection":["Featured","Research"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/","name":"UA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World's Top Artificial Intelligence Conference - News - UA Little Rock","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2025\/07\/Nitin-Agarwal.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-20T19:16:28+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-20T19:16:29+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2025\/07\/Nitin-Agarwal.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2025\/07\/Nitin-Agarwal.jpg","width":1200,"height":628,"caption":"Dr. Nitin Agarwal, professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, recently co-authored an Artificial Intelligence (AI) research paper that was published at what is considered the world's premier conference on AI and machine learning."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rock-professor-nitin-agarwals-ai-research-published-at-worlds-top-artificial-intelligence-conference\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UA Little Rock Professor Nitin Agarwal\u2019s AI Research Published at World’s Top Artificial Intelligence Conference"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"UA Little Rock","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"UA Little Rock","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"UA Little Rock"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ualrvideo","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ualr\/"],"description":"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.","email":"ask@ualr.edu","telephone":"501-916-3000","legalName":"UA Little Rock"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c50280636b780e6a82d2a4f4d66223","name":"Molly Coleman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/957d030cd74975ecef323bee4cc5c61b8ce91b52459d38d169b7115d03dfeaed?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/957d030cd74975ecef323bee4cc5c61b8ce91b52459d38d169b7115d03dfeaed?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/957d030cd74975ecef323bee4cc5c61b8ce91b52459d38d169b7115d03dfeaed?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Molly Coleman"},"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/author\/mcoleman4\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2764"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94443"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94445,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94443\/revisions\/94445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":94437,"date":"2026-07-20T08:30:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T13:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?p=94437"},"modified":"2026-07-20T14:50:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:50:25","slug":"ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/","title":{"rendered":"UA Little Rock’s Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Carrie Phillips, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s chief communications and marketing officer, has been recognized by her peers in the field of educational advancement for her long and distinguished efforts in that arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) annual conference on Marketing and Branding June 22, Phillips — who chaired this year’s conference — received the CASE Crystal Apple Award, which\u00a0recognizes speakers who have earned outstanding evaluations at 10 distinct CASE\u00a0conferences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Phillips knew a Crystal Apple could eventually be in her future based on her contributions, she thought it was years away, so receiving it now “was a total surprise,” so much so that she was rendered speechless.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“I’m usually very good at speaking extemporaneously, but I didn’t know what to say,” said Phillips, who\u00a0concluded her term as chair of CASE District IV June 30 — a role she held since 2024 after serving as chair-elect beginning in 2022 — but she will continue to serve in an advisory role as past chair.\u00a0CASE was her first professional development conference, her first time as a speaker at a professional development conference, and her earliest volunteer service in the profession, so “CASE has been a through line in my career,” which made the recognition all the more special.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“This community has challenged me, encouraged me, introduced me to lifelong friends, and given me opportunities I never imagined” when she began attending CASE conferences nearly 20 years prior, added Phillips, whose CASE district conference scores put her over the top toward Crystal Apple recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Within our profession, the CASE Crystal Apple Award is synonymous with the very highest standards of excellence — it recognizes leaders who elevate not only their own institutions but the profession itself — Carrie embodies those qualities every day through her vision, her integrity, and her unwavering commitment to telling the story of UA Little Rock,” said\u00a0Christian O’Neal, UA Little Rock’s vice president of advancement.\u00a0“While this honor celebrates her individual achievements, it also reflects the remarkable team she has built and the culture of excellence she inspires.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CASE \u2014 the Council for Advancement and Support of Education \u2014 is a global professional organization composed of colleges, universities, independent schools, and nonprofit institutions. It supports professionals in fundraising, alumni relations, communications and marketing, and provides strategy and tools to strengthen enrollment, engagement and long-term sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“As a fellow CASE Crystal Apple recipient, I thank you for your dedication and the extraordinary talent you have given to CASE programs over the years,” Sue Cunningham, CASE president and CEO, wrote in a letter to Phillips. “Without teachers like you, who give time and expertise so willingly, CASE could not provide the high-quality education for which it is known throughout the world. For setting such high professional standards, and for giving of yourself in service to the profession, we are all in your debt.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phillips “is one of the most dynamic member practitioners in the entire community of over 88,000 professionals,” according to Chase Moore, CASE executive director. “Through her prolific writing and shared expertise through presentations, Carrie has inspired thousands of people. She has contributed to the professional knowledge that shapes educational advancement and (marketing-communications) best practice across the globe.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phillips spearheaded the revitalization of CASE District IV programming, driving engagement to 216% of goal and earning the opportunity to present before the international CASE Board of Trustees. Framework she helped design for District IV — which spans\u00a0Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas — has since been adopted by all seven other CASE districts.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That systems-focused leadership mirrors her work at UA Little Rock, a metropolitan research institution committed to expanding access to education and preparing career-ready graduates for the workforce. Through her involvement with CASE, Phillips has connected UA Little Rock with national best practices and peer institutions addressing similar priorities in enrollment, communications, and institutional positioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“CASE has been a great access point for us to align (UA Little Rock) with best-in-class” protocols, but “we’ve also been leading the way, (and UA Little Rock) has seen the value of CASE for our institution and our professionals here,” Phillips said. O’Neal and\u00a0Chancellor Christina S. Drale “have been very supportive of my involvement in CASE, recognizing the opportunities it creates for us at UA Little Rock — without that support, this wouldn’t have happened — and it speaks to a culture here of wanting to be the best version we can be for our students.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As O’Neal engages “with advancement and communications leaders across the country, I see firsthand the respect they have for the work being done at UA Little Rock and for Carrie’s leadership,” he said. “Under her direction, we’ve built a Communications and Marketing team within University Advancement that stands alongside the very best in higher education. Our colleagues recognize the creativity, strategy, and results our team consistently delivers, and they often point to the work happening at UA Little Rock as an example of excellence.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phillips remains active in the Public Relations Society of America\u2019s Counselors to Higher Education, presents regularly for the American Marketing Association, and mentors emerging professionals across the country. She’s also been\u00a0named an\u00a0<em>Arkansas Money and Politics<\/em>\u00a0Future Icon, a three-time\u00a0<em>Top 10 Higher Ed Marketer to Follow<\/em>, and a CASE Circle of Excellence Grand Gold Award recipient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Carrie is one of the most talented communications professionals I’ve had the privilege to work with, a trusted colleague, an exceptional leader, and someone who genuinely cares about the people and mission of UA Little Rock,” said O’Neal. “Every day, she challenges all of us to think more strategically about how we tell our story and how we connect with the audiences we serve.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carrie Phillips, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s chief communications and marketing officer, has been recognized by her peers in the field of educational advancement for her long and <a href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/\" class=\"more-link\">…<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> UA Little Rock’s Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3905,"featured_media":94441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1926],"tags":[32961,3203,35323],"class_list":["post-94437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-carrie-phillips","tag-communications-and-marketing","tag-leaders-in-the-classroom-and-communities"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UA Little Rock's Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service - News - UA Little Rock<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UA Little Rock's Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Carrie Phillips, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s chief communications and marketing officer, has been recognized by her peers in the field of educational advancement for her long and ... UA Little Rock’s Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-20T13:30:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-20T19:50:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Carrie-P-apple-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ryan Anderson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ryan Anderson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ryan Anderson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8f642c78068d68577d4b4539b8c2afe2\"},\"headline\":\"UA Little Rock’s Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-20T13:30:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-20T19:50:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":977,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Carrie-P-apple-2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Carrie Phillips\",\"Communications and Marketing\",\"Leaders in the Classroom and Communities\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\\\/\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock's Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service - News - UA Little Rock\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Carrie-P-apple-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-20T13:30:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-20T19:50:25+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Carrie-P-apple-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Carrie-P-apple-2.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Carrie Phillips, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's chief communications and marketing officer, received the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Crystal Apple from CASE Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Terry Flannery during a national CASE conference June 22. Photo by Devin Purgason\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/20\\\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UA Little Rock’s Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/UALittleRock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ualrvideo\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/school\\\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ualr\\\/\"],\"description\":\"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.\",\"email\":\"ask@ualr.edu\",\"telephone\":\"501-916-3000\",\"legalName\":\"UA Little Rock\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8f642c78068d68577d4b4539b8c2afe2\",\"name\":\"Ryan Anderson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4ecdcfedb6cda11caa64f62a455980d8a1e4b7bb0cc6805819588986842da52e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4ecdcfedb6cda11caa64f62a455980d8a1e4b7bb0cc6805819588986842da52e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4ecdcfedb6cda11caa64f62a455980d8a1e4b7bb0cc6805819588986842da52e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ryan Anderson\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/randerson2\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UA Little Rock's Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service - News - UA Little Rock","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UA Little Rock's Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service","og_description":"Carrie Phillips, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s chief communications and marketing officer, has been recognized by her peers in the field of educational advancement for her long and ... UA Little Rock’s Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service","og_url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/","og_site_name":"News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-20T13:30:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-20T19:50:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Carrie-P-apple-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ryan Anderson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ryan Anderson","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/"},"author":{"name":"Ryan Anderson","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8f642c78068d68577d4b4539b8c2afe2"},"headline":"UA Little Rock’s Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service","datePublished":"2026-07-20T13:30:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-20T19:50:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/"},"wordCount":977,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Carrie-P-apple-2.jpg","keywords":["Carrie Phillips","Communications and Marketing","Leaders in the Classroom and Communities"],"articleSection":["Featured"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/","name":"UA Little Rock's Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service - News - UA Little Rock","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Carrie-P-apple-2.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-20T13:30:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-20T19:50:25+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Carrie-P-apple-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Carrie-P-apple-2.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Carrie Phillips, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's chief communications and marketing officer, received the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Crystal Apple from CASE Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Terry Flannery during a national CASE conference June 22. Photo by Devin Purgason"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/ua-little-rocks-carrie-phillips-receives-case-crystal-apple-award-for-years-of-outstanding-service\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UA Little Rock’s Carrie Phillips Receives CASE Crystal Apple Award for Years of Outstanding Service"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"UA Little Rock","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"UA Little Rock","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"UA Little Rock"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ualrvideo","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ualr\/"],"description":"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.","email":"ask@ualr.edu","telephone":"501-916-3000","legalName":"UA Little Rock"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8f642c78068d68577d4b4539b8c2afe2","name":"Ryan Anderson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ecdcfedb6cda11caa64f62a455980d8a1e4b7bb0cc6805819588986842da52e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ecdcfedb6cda11caa64f62a455980d8a1e4b7bb0cc6805819588986842da52e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ecdcfedb6cda11caa64f62a455980d8a1e4b7bb0cc6805819588986842da52e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ryan Anderson"},"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/author\/randerson2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3905"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94437"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94442,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94437\/revisions\/94442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":94424,"date":"2026-07-16T13:42:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T18:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?p=94424"},"modified":"2026-07-16T13:42:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T18:42:29","slug":"ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/","title":{"rendered":"UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As the University of Arkansas at Little Rock celebrates its 100th anniversary, newly dedicated custom street signs are leaving a lasting mark on campus while honoring the university\u2019s century of history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Campus and community members gathered Thursday, July 16, at the southeast corner of 28th Street and Campus Drive for the dedication ceremony. The event included remarks from UA Little Rock Chancellor Christina S. Drale and Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott, Jr., a graduate of the university, followed by the unveiling of the new signs. During the ceremony, Scott also presented a commemorative proclamation on behalf of the City of Little Rock recognizing UA Little Rock\u2019s centennial celebration.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“One hundred years, a centennial, higher education, economic development, the fabric of a capital city: that is the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, (and) I’m a proud graduate of this university,” Scott said. “On behalf of the City of Little Rock, I share my appreciation for this university and its 100 years of steadfast service, 100 years of sacrifice, and 100 years of success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The signs not only recognize\u00a0 the university\u2019s centennial but also its longstanding place in Arkansas and the city of Little Rock. While UA Little Rock has occupied three locations throughout its history, it has called its current campus home for over 75 years, growing alongside the city it has served for a century.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can’t go to any public square, any pulpit, any process of progress across this entire state and not meet a UA Little Rock graduate,” Scott said. “That\u2019s the type of impact they have.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The idea for custom signage originated with dedicated UA Little Rock alumnus and Board of Visitors member Larry Golden, who envisioned using the university’s signature maroon color and Trojan head logo to create a more recognizable campus identity and to highlight UA Little Rock’s presence in the surrounding community.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cStreet signs do more than direct traffic,\u201d Drale said. \u201cThey create a sense of place. They tell people they’ve arrived somewhere that matters. Beginning today, everyone who enters our campus will be welcomed by signs that proudly reflect this university.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The custom signs were made possible through a partnership with the City of Little Rock and the university’s facilities management team. In collaboration with the City of Little Rock and its Public Works Department, the university designed custom street signs and identified key campus intersections for the new signage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The street sign dedication is one of several centennial initiatives recognizing the people, places, and partnerships that have shaped UA Little Rock over the past century while looking ahead to its next 100 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“These signs now become part of that story,” Drale said. “They will welcome prospective students on their first campus visit, families celebrating graduation, alumni returning home, and countless others who will discover all that happens here.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the University of Arkansas at Little Rock celebrates its 100th anniversary, newly dedicated custom street signs are leaving a lasting mark on campus while honoring the university\u2019s century of <a href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/\" class=\"more-link\">…<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2906,"featured_media":94426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1925,1926],"tags":[33343,6730],"class_list":["post-94424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-featured","tag-centennial-campaign","tag-christina-drale"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration - News - UA Little Rock<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the University of Arkansas at Little Rock celebrates its 100th anniversary, newly dedicated custom street signs are leaving a lasting mark on campus while honoring the university\u2019s century of ... UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-16T18:42:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-16T18:42:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/BK_A0082.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Samantha Koros\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Samantha Koros\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Samantha Koros\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4d2d71db64fc5dad90eaff1ce9387967\"},\"headline\":\"UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-16T18:42:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-16T18:42:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":482,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/BK_A0082.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Centennial Campaign\",\"Christina Drale\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community\",\"Featured\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\\\/\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration - News - UA Little Rock\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/BK_A0082.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-16T18:42:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-16T18:42:29+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/BK_A0082.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/BK_A0082.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Frank Scott Jr., mayor of Little Rock and a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, helps unveil new custom street signs for UA Little Rock along with the university's Chancellor, Christina S. Drale, and others July 16. Photo by Sadie Rylander\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/16\\\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/UALittleRock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ualrvideo\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/school\\\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ualr\\\/\"],\"description\":\"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.\",\"email\":\"ask@ualr.edu\",\"telephone\":\"501-916-3000\",\"legalName\":\"UA Little Rock\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4d2d71db64fc5dad90eaff1ce9387967\",\"name\":\"Samantha Koros\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/43fc0575707bd2562cfafa14c6272ed1fb5a02915def80a826f51f931c5ed4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/43fc0575707bd2562cfafa14c6272ed1fb5a02915def80a826f51f931c5ed4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/43fc0575707bd2562cfafa14c6272ed1fb5a02915def80a826f51f931c5ed4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Samantha Koros\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/skoros1\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration - News - UA Little Rock","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration","og_description":"As the University of Arkansas at Little Rock celebrates its 100th anniversary, newly dedicated custom street signs are leaving a lasting mark on campus while honoring the university\u2019s century of ... UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration","og_url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/","og_site_name":"News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-16T18:42:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-16T18:42:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/BK_A0082.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Samantha Koros","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Samantha Koros","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/"},"author":{"name":"Samantha Koros","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d2d71db64fc5dad90eaff1ce9387967"},"headline":"UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration","datePublished":"2026-07-16T18:42:28+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-16T18:42:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/"},"wordCount":482,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/BK_A0082.jpg","keywords":["Centennial Campaign","Christina Drale"],"articleSection":["Community","Featured"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/","name":"UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration - News - UA Little Rock","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/BK_A0082.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-16T18:42:28+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-16T18:42:29+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/BK_A0082.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/BK_A0082.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Frank Scott Jr., mayor of Little Rock and a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, helps unveil new custom street signs for UA Little Rock along with the university's Chancellor, Christina S. Drale, and others July 16. Photo by Sadie Rylander"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/16\/ua-little-rock-unveils-custom-street-signs-for-centennial-celebration\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UA Little Rock Unveils Custom Street Signs for Centennial Celebration"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"UA Little Rock","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"UA Little Rock","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"UA Little Rock"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ualrvideo","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ualr\/"],"description":"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.","email":"ask@ualr.edu","telephone":"501-916-3000","legalName":"UA Little Rock"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d2d71db64fc5dad90eaff1ce9387967","name":"Samantha Koros","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43fc0575707bd2562cfafa14c6272ed1fb5a02915def80a826f51f931c5ed4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43fc0575707bd2562cfafa14c6272ed1fb5a02915def80a826f51f931c5ed4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43fc0575707bd2562cfafa14c6272ed1fb5a02915def80a826f51f931c5ed4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Samantha Koros"},"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/author\/skoros1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2906"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94425,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94424\/revisions\/94425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":94419,"date":"2026-07-15T13:12:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?p=94419"},"modified":"2026-07-17T16:23:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T21:23:48","slug":"new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/","title":{"rendered":"New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In \u201cThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer,\u201d Mark Twain observes (through his protagonist) that \u201cwork consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.\u201d That idea is at the heart of the latest exhibit at University of Arkansas at Little Rock Downtown, which explores the history of play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Play in Arkansas” examines how people have created joy through play, and how the history of play can contribute to understanding of both past and present, said Marta Cieslak, director of UA Little Rock Downtown. Research also illustrates both the “immense impact childhood play has on us,” as well as that play is “essential to our well-being — necessary for physical and mental health.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The exhibit, which opened July 10, remains on display through Dec. 15, and is free and open to the public Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. To schedule an individual or group visit to the exhibit, at 333 President Clinton Avenue, email\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:downtown@ualr.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">downtown@ualr.edu<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“It’s great that this is available — I love it — I’ll be bringing some folks down here” to see this exhibit while it’s on display, said Aaron Rhoades, a native of Central Arkansas who attended the exhibit’s opening night. “There’s something for everyone.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rhoades spent 13 years in Myrtle Beach, S.C., but moved back to Central Arkansas last year because he “missed the sense of community,” a sense that was embodied by this exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“I really appreciate this type of local history,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The memories section of the exhibit, where individuals were invited to share their personal reflections on childhood play, is a favorite of Cieslak’s, as it demonstrates how “the community collaborates with us, and contributes to what we do at the university,” she said. “We work across disciplines to connect with the community,” and community members could also loan toys for the exhibit in addition to sharing their childhood play memories for the display, gestures that both require “a lot of trust.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nader Afsordeh, who says Star Trek has “always had a special place in his heart,” contributed some of his childhood toys to the exhibit. On opening night, he explained he wanted to see them displayed alongside the rest of the exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“It’s interesting, the history of play, and it’s really cool to see” the cross-section of toys, along with their context and explanations, he said. “The older toys are very different than toys today — it was a very different world — I’ve enjoyed” the exhibit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Americans actually preferred handmade toys over mass-produced items until the second half of the 20th century, and “Play in Arkansas” has myriad examples of the former, including a pair of “handmade mountain dolls” from Arkansas, and even a handmade checkerboard from the Spencer Polk family that dates to the 1800s, said Cieslak, a historian and history professor. Another section of the exhibit, “Play in the Time of Hardship,” spotlights how toys aided individuals through trying circumstances, such as the handmade wooden snake crafted by a Russian prisoner of war in France during World War I.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>UA Little Rock Downtown collaborated with several partners on this exhibit, including: Arkansas State Archives (Julienne Crawford and Dr. David Ware), Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) Butler Center for Arkansas Studies (Danielle Afsrodeh and Brian Robertson), Old State House Museum (Samantha Ashley and Lark Buckingham), and the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture (Emily Summers Yarberry and Dr. Jess Porter), Cieslak said. “Although loaning items across institutions is a fairly standard practice, let me stress that we never take it for granted, (as) it does require a substantial amount of work from the loaning curators and teams,” but all four organizations “are absolutely terrific to work with.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carlie Cowgill, programming and administrative assistant at UA Little Rock Downtown — and a graduate of UA Little Rock’s Master of Arts Public History program — is the exhibit’s co-author, participating in every stage of this exhibit’s development, Cieslak noted. Additionally, Stacey Griggs Matchett, a summer intern for UA Little Rock Downtown, was also involved in researching and developing labels for a section of the exhibit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cieslak has heard from several individuals who have explored the exhibit, then experienced memories of their own childhood play rush back to their minds, which “makes this all worth it,” she said. “Hearing that brings such a smile to my face.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite closing in the 1940s, McLeod\u2019s Amusement Park — more commonly known as Happy Hollow — remains fresh in the memories of many Arkansans who have visited “Play in Arkansas,” which highlights the attraction along with other “Arkansas Classics” in Hot Springs, such as Oaklawn Park, the city’s historic bath houses, an alligator farm, and an ostrich farm, as well as non-Hot Springs sites like Eureka Springs and Crater of Diamonds State Park, she said. “I learned so much about Happy Hollow through this process, and it’s one of the classics in Arkansas.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Located in the historic River Market District, UA Little Rock Downtown is where university students, faculty, and staff meet with the public to discuss, exchange, and implement ideas that aim to make the world a more just and equitable place for all. It serves as a hub of learning, service, and collaborations across the lines of scholarly disciplines, fields of community activism, and individual backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following “Play in Arkansas” will be an exhibit — scheduled to debut in February 2027 — highlighting the history of UA Little Rock, as it celebrates its centennial year in 2026-27. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“We’re very excited to be part of the Centennial festivities and celebrate 100 years of UA Little Rock,” said Cieslak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In \u201cThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer,\u201d Mark Twain observes (through his protagonist) that \u201cwork consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that play consists of whatever a <a href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/\" class=\"more-link\">…<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3905,"featured_media":94423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1923,1925,1926],"tags":[36054,36053,36052,35495,12728],"class_list":["post-94419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-community","category-featured","tag-community","tag-education","tag-history-2","tag-innovation","tag-ua-little-rock-downtown"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play - News - UA Little Rock<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In \u201cThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer,\u201d Mark Twain observes (through his protagonist) that \u201cwork consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that play consists of whatever a ... New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T18:12:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T21:23:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Play-in-Arkansas-opening-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ryan Anderson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ryan Anderson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ryan Anderson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8f642c78068d68577d4b4539b8c2afe2\"},\"headline\":\"New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T18:12:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T21:23:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":980,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Play-in-Arkansas-opening-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Community\",\"Education\",\"History\",\"Innovation\",\"UA Little Rock Downtown\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Arts & Culture\",\"Community\",\"Featured\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\\\/\",\"name\":\"New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play - News - UA Little Rock\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Play-in-Arkansas-opening-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T18:12:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T21:23:48+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Play-in-Arkansas-opening-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Play-in-Arkansas-opening-1.jpg\",\"width\":320,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"Several individuals explore the \\\"Play in Arkansas\\\" exhibit at UA Little Rock Downtown July 10. Photo by UA Little Rock Downtown\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/UALittleRock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ualrvideo\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/school\\\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ualr\\\/\"],\"description\":\"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.\",\"email\":\"ask@ualr.edu\",\"telephone\":\"501-916-3000\",\"legalName\":\"UA Little Rock\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8f642c78068d68577d4b4539b8c2afe2\",\"name\":\"Ryan Anderson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4ecdcfedb6cda11caa64f62a455980d8a1e4b7bb0cc6805819588986842da52e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4ecdcfedb6cda11caa64f62a455980d8a1e4b7bb0cc6805819588986842da52e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4ecdcfedb6cda11caa64f62a455980d8a1e4b7bb0cc6805819588986842da52e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ryan Anderson\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/randerson2\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play - News - UA Little Rock","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play","og_description":"In \u201cThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer,\u201d Mark Twain observes (through his protagonist) that \u201cwork consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that play consists of whatever a ... New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play","og_url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/","og_site_name":"News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-15T18:12:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-17T21:23:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":320,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Play-in-Arkansas-opening-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ryan Anderson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ryan Anderson","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/"},"author":{"name":"Ryan Anderson","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8f642c78068d68577d4b4539b8c2afe2"},"headline":"New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play","datePublished":"2026-07-15T18:12:57+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T21:23:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/"},"wordCount":980,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Play-in-Arkansas-opening-1.jpg","keywords":["Community","Education","History","Innovation","UA Little Rock Downtown"],"articleSection":["Arts & Culture","Community","Featured"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/","name":"New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play - News - UA Little Rock","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Play-in-Arkansas-opening-1.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-15T18:12:57+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T21:23:48+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Play-in-Arkansas-opening-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Play-in-Arkansas-opening-1.jpg","width":320,"height":200,"caption":"Several individuals explore the \"Play in Arkansas\" exhibit at UA Little Rock Downtown July 10. Photo by UA Little Rock Downtown"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/new-ua-little-rock-downtown-exhibit-examines-history-of-play\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New UA Little Rock Downtown Exhibit Examines History of Play"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"UA Little Rock","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"UA Little Rock","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"UA Little Rock"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ualrvideo","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ualr\/"],"description":"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.","email":"ask@ualr.edu","telephone":"501-916-3000","legalName":"UA Little Rock"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8f642c78068d68577d4b4539b8c2afe2","name":"Ryan Anderson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ecdcfedb6cda11caa64f62a455980d8a1e4b7bb0cc6805819588986842da52e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ecdcfedb6cda11caa64f62a455980d8a1e4b7bb0cc6805819588986842da52e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ecdcfedb6cda11caa64f62a455980d8a1e4b7bb0cc6805819588986842da52e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ryan Anderson"},"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/author\/randerson2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3905"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94419"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94436,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94419\/revisions\/94436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":94414,"date":"2026-07-15T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?p=94414"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:39:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T15:39:18","slug":"ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A man who thought he would lose his job after gradually losing his vision learned braille at the encouragement of Anindya “Bapin” Bhattacharyya. By the time he completely lost his sight, he was prepared and able to keep working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bhattacharyya not only taught the man braille, but also how to adapt to his new world. Moments like that have defined Bhattacharyya’s career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The UA Little Rock alumnus serves as outreach director for the Helen Keller National Center\u2019s National Outreach Technology Development and Training Program. He travels across the United States helping deafblind individuals use adaptive technology to communicate, work, and live more independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bhattacharyya was born in Kolkata and raised in Telari, a small village about 25 miles away. When he was growing up, the village had no electricity, running water, or paved roads. As someone who was born deaf and gradually lost his vision, Bhattacharyya\u2019s access to communication and information was limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“I learned early to become resourceful and independent because many of the services and technology available today simply did not exist,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Helping others has become his life’s work. His journey took shape at UA Little Rock, where he found not only an education but the confidence to become a leader in accessibility, technology, and advocacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His father also impressed upon him the importance of becoming financially independent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“My father commanded that I needed to support myself financially because he would not be there forever to give me a hand,” Bhattacharyya said. “That message served as a guiding point in how I pursued all endeavors in life.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After attending Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, in 1992, Bhattacharyya transferred to UA Little Rock because of its commitment to accessibility. At the time, universities with comprehensive accommodations for deafblind students were rare. He eventually graduated from UA Little Rock in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in <a href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/publicaffairs\/politicalscience\/\">political science<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He learned that the university was willing to remove barriers instead of creating them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said UA Little Rock provided him with qualified interpreters, note-taking support, textbooks translated into electronic formats compatible with adaptive technology, orientation and mobility assistance, and faculty and staff committed to finding solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“The environment at UA Little Rock allowed me to focus on learning instead of constantly fighting for access,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bhattacharyya also became involved in improving accessibility for future students. Then-Chancellor Charles Hathaway invited students with disabilities to share ideas for making the campus more accessible, leading to the creation of an Americans with Disabilities Act committee. Bhattacharyya served on the committee, helping advocate for improvements such as ramps, elevators, accessible water fountains, and adaptive technology labs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“That experience became the foundation for my career in advocacy, accessibility, education without barriers, and technology,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although he earned degrees in political science and <a href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/rhetoric\/\">rhetoric and writing<\/a>, Bhattacharyya found a career that combined policy, communication, education, and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Political science taught me how laws, government, policies, and public systems affect people’s lives,” he said. “Rhetoric and writing taught me how to communicate ideas clearly and advocate effectively. Technology already was my deep passion, and it became the tool that makes independence with access to communication and information possible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, no two days are the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He conducts technology assessments, teaches people to use screen readers, refreshable braille displays, smartphones, and computers, evaluates emerging accessibility tools, troubleshoots technology, and trains professionals across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the course of his career, he has watched smartphones, artificial intelligence, optical character recognition, GPS navigation, and cloud-based communication tools dramatically expand opportunities for deafblind individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is particularly excited about artificial intelligence and its potential to improve image descriptions, navigation, access to printed information, and real-time communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“I’m especially excited about artificial intelligence becoming more integrated into accessibility,” he said. “These technologies have dramatically increased independence and access to information.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His advocacy has extended beyond individual training. Bhattacharyya helped support national efforts that led to the creation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.icanconnect.org\/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21172793217&gbraid=0AAAAAoX983cgXvTt14XDVevULYRbARYjz&gclid=CjwKCAjwmdLSBhANEiwAkREMN28by3JRlcawg3_7kWO5hJU03iS1daoLnf_s3zJ_WtG_yu0HVcwqkhoCHEEQAvD_BwE\">iCanConnect<\/a>, a federally-funded program that provides eligible deafblind individuals with free communication technology and training. Today, he manages that program in Florida and Iowa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the national scope of his work, Bhattacharyya says success is measured one person at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“What means the most to me is hearing someone say, ‘I can do this on my own now,'” he said. “Those words are more meaningful than any award or title. The most rewarding part is seeing someone realize they can do something independently that they never thought was possible. Whether it’s sending their first email, shopping online, communicating with family, applying for a job, or returning to school, those moments remind me why this work is so meaningful.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For families and friends of someone who is deafblind, Bhattacharyya encourages people to begin with a simple question, rather than assumptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Ask the individual how they prefer to communicate,” he said. “There is no single approach that works for everyone.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also hopes people remember that deafblindness does not define a person’s abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Never assume that deafblindness limits what someone can achieve,” he said. “With proper training, accessible technology, skilled support professionals, and high expectations, deafblind individuals can pursue education, careers, travel, raise families, and contribute to their communities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bhattacharyya credits UA Little Rock with helping transform the trajectory of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“(That) was a turning point in my life,” he said. “It gave me access to the education, accommodations, mentors, and opportunities that helped me realize my potential.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“The university didn’t simply provide me with a degree,” he said. “It gave me the confidence to become a leader and dedicate my career to helping others succeed.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A man who thought he would lose his job after gradually losing his vision learned braille at the encouragement of Anindya “Bapin” Bhattacharyya. By the time he completely lost his <a href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/\" class=\"more-link\">…<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2036,"featured_media":94415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1925,1926],"tags":[35323,83,170,2218],"class_list":["post-94414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-featured","tag-leaders-in-the-classroom-and-communities","tag-political-science","tag-rhetoric-and-writing","tag-student-success"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology - News - UA Little Rock<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A man who thought he would lose his job after gradually losing his vision learned braille at the encouragement of Anindya “Bapin” Bhattacharyya. By the time he completely lost his ... UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T17:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Bapin.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Bates\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Bates\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Justin Bates\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a8336890d544505fbdbb0f0e689814a7\"},\"headline\":\"UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T17:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":946,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Bapin.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Leaders in the Classroom and Communities\",\"Political Science Program\",\"Rhetoric and Writing\",\"Student Success\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community\",\"Featured\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\\\/\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology - News - UA Little Rock\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Bapin.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T17:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Bapin.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Bapin.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock alumnus Anindya \\\"Bapin\\\" Bhattacharyya serves as outreach director for the Helen Keller National Center\u2019s National Outreach Technology Development and Training Program. He travels across the United States helping deafblind individuals use adaptive technology to communicate, work, and live more independently. Submitted photo\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/UALittleRock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ualrvideo\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/school\\\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ualr\\\/\"],\"description\":\"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.\",\"email\":\"ask@ualr.edu\",\"telephone\":\"501-916-3000\",\"legalName\":\"UA Little Rock\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a8336890d544505fbdbb0f0e689814a7\",\"name\":\"Justin Bates\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d1ae18e4596879813b7bcda36c3c7c197e4a693e0950660e96dff254ebb9ec1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d1ae18e4596879813b7bcda36c3c7c197e4a693e0950660e96dff254ebb9ec1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d1ae18e4596879813b7bcda36c3c7c197e4a693e0950660e96dff254ebb9ec1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Justin Bates\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/jbates\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology - News - UA Little Rock","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology","og_description":"A man who thought he would lose his job after gradually losing his vision learned braille at the encouragement of Anindya “Bapin” Bhattacharyya. By the time he completely lost his ... UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology","og_url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/","og_site_name":"News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-15T17:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Bapin.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Justin Bates","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Justin Bates","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/"},"author":{"name":"Justin Bates","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a8336890d544505fbdbb0f0e689814a7"},"headline":"UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology","datePublished":"2026-07-15T17:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/"},"wordCount":946,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Bapin.png","keywords":["Leaders in the Classroom and Communities","Political Science Program","Rhetoric and Writing","Student Success"],"articleSection":["Community","Featured"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/","name":"UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology - News - UA Little Rock","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Bapin.png","datePublished":"2026-07-15T17:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Bapin.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Bapin.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"UA Little Rock alumnus Anindya \"Bapin\" Bhattacharyya serves as outreach director for the Helen Keller National Center\u2019s National Outreach Technology Development and Training Program. He travels across the United States helping deafblind individuals use adaptive technology to communicate, work, and live more independently. Submitted photo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/15\/ua-little-rock-alumnus-helps-others-find-independence-through-technology\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UA Little Rock Alumnus Helps Others Find Independence Through Technology"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"UA Little Rock","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"UA Little Rock","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"UA Little Rock"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ualrvideo","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ualr\/"],"description":"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.","email":"ask@ualr.edu","telephone":"501-916-3000","legalName":"UA Little Rock"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a8336890d544505fbdbb0f0e689814a7","name":"Justin Bates","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d1ae18e4596879813b7bcda36c3c7c197e4a693e0950660e96dff254ebb9ec1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d1ae18e4596879813b7bcda36c3c7c197e4a693e0950660e96dff254ebb9ec1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d1ae18e4596879813b7bcda36c3c7c197e4a693e0950660e96dff254ebb9ec1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Justin Bates"},"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/author\/jbates\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2036"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94416,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94414\/revisions\/94416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":94409,"date":"2026-07-14T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?p=94409"},"modified":"2026-07-13T12:02:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:02:46","slug":"ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/","title":{"rendered":"UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Ouida Newton recalls a time when a group of students walked into her classroom convinced they simply weren’t good at math. They walked out believing in themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Helping students gain confidence in their own abilities defined Newton’s 38-year career in education. Recently, the UA Little Rock alumna was recognized with the 2026 Lifetime Educator Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“It was such a special day, and I was deeply honored by the recognition,” Newton said. “There are so many outstanding teachers across our state who have dedicated their lives to serving their communities and their students. I wish every one of them could experience the feeling of being appreciated the way I did that day.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During her career, Newton served as a teacher, library media specialist, curriculum coordinator, adjunct professor, and mentor. She also led professional development for educators across Arkansas, served on the Arkansas State Board of Education, and was named Arkansas Teacher of the Year in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the moments she remembers most happened during interaction with her students inside her classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Some of my favorite moments were watching students who believed they ‘weren’t good at math’ leave my class confident in their abilities,” Newton said. “Seeing that transformation was incredibly rewarding.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She also cherishes reconnecting with former students years later and hearing about the lives they built after graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“I meet them as adults, and they proudly tell me about their families, their careers, and how they are contributing to their communities,” Newton said. “Every student’s journey is different, and celebrating those journeys has been one of the greatest blessings of my career.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Newton’s love for teaching started early. Her mother was a teacher and also her first-grade teacher. Other educators helped shape her path as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“My high school math teacher, Mrs. Pat Heard, showed me that math wasn’t just a subject. It was something you could truly enjoy,” Newton said. “My high school librarian, Mrs. Sudie Lamb, introduced me to a love of reading and opened the door to so many different genres.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Newton said her education at UA Little Rock gave her the knowledge and confidence to begin her career as a K-12 library media specialist and provided a foundation she relied on throughout her career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“We are so proud to call Mrs. Ouida Newton a UA Little Rock alumna,” said Dr. Rachel Eells, director of the School of Education at UA Little Rock. “She represents excellence and dedication to teaching, and has positively influenced the lives of countless Arkansas children in her schools, and our teacher candidates are fortunate to have her as a role model.”<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another mentor, her high school English teacher, Mrs. Ruby Riggan, taught Newton a lesson she never forgot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“She taught me that teaching isn’t just about delivering content,” Newton said. “It’s about knowing your students, caring about them as individuals, and letting them know every day that they matter.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That lesson shaped the way Newton approached teaching and mentoring throughout her career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“I hope they remember that they don’t simply teach content. They teach children,” Newton said. “Content is important, but the needs of the child must always come first. When students know they are valued and cared for, learning becomes possible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Serving as Arkansas Teacher of the Year and later on the Arkansas State Board of Education gave Newton a broader view of education across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“I had the privilege of meeting dedicated educators from every corner of Arkansas,” Newton said. “While we often had different ideas and approaches, we all shared the same goal of providing every child with the best education and opportunities possible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After nearly four decades in education, Newton believes one thing has never changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“The teacher is still the most important part of any classroom,” she said. “A teacher who believes in a child can change that child’s life forever.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When she looks back on her career, Newton hopes people remember something much simpler than the awards she received or the positions she held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“More than anything, I hope people remember that I loved their children with all my heart and always wanted what was best for them,” Newton said. “If they remember that, then I will consider my career a success.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ouida Newton recalls a time when a group of students walked into her classroom convinced they simply weren’t good at math. They walked out believing in themselves. Helping students gain <a href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/\" class=\"more-link\">…<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2036,"featured_media":94410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1925,1926],"tags":[35323,2218],"class_list":["post-94409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-featured","tag-leaders-in-the-classroom-and-communities","tag-student-success"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award - News - UA Little Rock<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ouida Newton recalls a time when a group of students walked into her classroom convinced they simply weren’t good at math. They walked out believing in themselves. Helping students gain ... UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-14T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Ouida-Newton.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Bates\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Bates\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Justin Bates\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a8336890d544505fbdbb0f0e689814a7\"},\"headline\":\"UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T13:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":714,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Ouida-Newton.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Leaders in the Classroom and Communities\",\"Student Success\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community\",\"Featured\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\\\/\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award - News - UA Little Rock\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Ouida-Newton.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T13:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Ouida-Newton.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Ouida-Newton.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock alumna Ouida Newton was recently recognized with the 2026 Lifetime Educator Award. Submitted photo\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/UALittleRock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ualrvideo\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/school\\\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ualr\\\/\"],\"description\":\"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.\",\"email\":\"ask@ualr.edu\",\"telephone\":\"501-916-3000\",\"legalName\":\"UA Little Rock\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a8336890d544505fbdbb0f0e689814a7\",\"name\":\"Justin Bates\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d1ae18e4596879813b7bcda36c3c7c197e4a693e0950660e96dff254ebb9ec1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d1ae18e4596879813b7bcda36c3c7c197e4a693e0950660e96dff254ebb9ec1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d1ae18e4596879813b7bcda36c3c7c197e4a693e0950660e96dff254ebb9ec1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Justin Bates\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/jbates\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award - News - UA Little Rock","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award","og_description":"Ouida Newton recalls a time when a group of students walked into her classroom convinced they simply weren’t good at math. They walked out believing in themselves. Helping students gain ... UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award","og_url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/","og_site_name":"News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-14T13:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Ouida-Newton.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Justin Bates","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Justin Bates","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/"},"author":{"name":"Justin Bates","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a8336890d544505fbdbb0f0e689814a7"},"headline":"UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award","datePublished":"2026-07-14T13:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/"},"wordCount":714,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Ouida-Newton.png","keywords":["Leaders in the Classroom and Communities","Student Success"],"articleSection":["Community","Featured"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/","name":"UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award - News - UA Little Rock","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Ouida-Newton.png","datePublished":"2026-07-14T13:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Ouida-Newton.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Ouida-Newton.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"UA Little Rock alumna Ouida Newton was recently recognized with the 2026 Lifetime Educator Award. Submitted photo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/14\/ua-little-rock-alumna-honored-with-lifetime-educator-award\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UA Little Rock Alumna Honored with Lifetime Educator Award"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"UA Little Rock","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"UA Little Rock","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"UA Little Rock"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ualrvideo","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ualr\/"],"description":"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.","email":"ask@ualr.edu","telephone":"501-916-3000","legalName":"UA Little Rock"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a8336890d544505fbdbb0f0e689814a7","name":"Justin Bates","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d1ae18e4596879813b7bcda36c3c7c197e4a693e0950660e96dff254ebb9ec1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d1ae18e4596879813b7bcda36c3c7c197e4a693e0950660e96dff254ebb9ec1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d1ae18e4596879813b7bcda36c3c7c197e4a693e0950660e96dff254ebb9ec1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Justin Bates"},"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/author\/jbates\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2036"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94409"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94413,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94409\/revisions\/94413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":94398,"date":"2026-07-13T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?p=94398"},"modified":"2026-07-13T09:06:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:06:24","slug":"new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will launch a new graduate certificate in health informatics this fall, equipping students with the skills needed to improve healthcare delivery through data, technology, and analytics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The interdisciplinary program prepares professionals to meet growing workforce demand for using data and information systems to improve patient outcomes, efficiency, and decision-making across healthcare organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Students gain hands-on experience using EHR Go, a leading educational electronic health record platform. They apply informatics concepts in simulated healthcare environments that mirror real-world scenarios.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“The launch of the Health Informatics Certificate Program reflects the increasing need for professionals who can connect healthcare and technology in meaningful ways,” said Dr. Ahmed A. Halimeh, interim director of the School of Computer and Information Sciences and interim director of the Emerging Analytics Center at UA Little Rock. “This program is designed to give students practical experience alongside a strong academic foundation, ensuring they are ready to step into roles that improve patient care, strengthen data systems, and drive efficiency across healthcare organizations.”<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The graduate certificate provides a foundation in healthcare data systems, analytics, and informatics while emphasizing programming, database management, ethics, and project management. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Students will explore how healthcare data is collected, analyzed, and applied to improve both clinical and operational outcomes.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Health informatics continues to grow as healthcare systems increasingly rely on data and technology to improve quality, reduce costs, and support patient care. The program is designed to attract students from a range of backgrounds, including health professions, computer science, data analytics, engineering, and related fields.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Graduates will be prepared for careers in healthcare data analytics, clinical informatics, health information management, and related fields.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information about the new program, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/informationscience\/graduate-cert-health-informatics\/\">https:\/\/ualr.edu\/informationscience\/graduate-cert-health-informatics\/<\/a>.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will launch a new graduate certificate in health informatics this fall, equipping students with the skills needed to improve healthcare delivery through data, <a href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/\" class=\"more-link\">…<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1925,1926],"tags":[25799,122,35323,2218],"class_list":["post-94398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-featured","tag-donaghey-college-of-stem","tag-graduate-school","tag-leaders-in-the-classroom-and-communities","tag-student-success"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall - News - UA Little Rock<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will launch a new graduate certificate in health informatics this fall, equipping students with the skills needed to improve healthcare delivery through data, ... New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-13T14:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2025\/03\/Nursing-Walker-scholars-2024_106.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UA Little Rock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UA Little Rock\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/13\\\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/13\\\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/841beab92c4de6b8988cb3708c29b192\"},\"headline\":\"New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-13T14:30:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/13\\\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":298,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/13\\\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Nursing-Walker-scholars-2024_106.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Donaghey College of STEM\",\"Graduate School\",\"Leaders in the Classroom and Communities\",\"Student Success\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community\",\"Featured\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/13\\\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/13\\\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\\\/\",\"name\":\"New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall - News - UA Little Rock\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/13\\\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/13\\\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Nursing-Walker-scholars-2024_106.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-13T14:30:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/13\\\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/13\\\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/13\\\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Nursing-Walker-scholars-2024_106.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/Nursing-Walker-scholars-2024_106.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Nursing students learn more about patient care by practicing with robotic SIM Lab mannequins. With the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's new graduate certificate in health informatics, launching this fall, students will explore how healthcare data is collected, analyzed, and applied to improve both clinical and operational outcomes. Photo by Benjamin Krain\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/13\\\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/UALittleRock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ualrvideo\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/school\\\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ualr\\\/\"],\"description\":\"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.\",\"email\":\"ask@ualr.edu\",\"telephone\":\"501-916-3000\",\"legalName\":\"UA Little Rock\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/841beab92c4de6b8988cb3708c29b192\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/ualr\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall - News - UA Little Rock","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall","og_description":"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will launch a new graduate certificate in health informatics this fall, equipping students with the skills needed to improve healthcare delivery through data, ... New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall","og_url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/","og_site_name":"News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-13T14:30:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2025\/03\/Nursing-Walker-scholars-2024_106.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"UA Little Rock","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"UA Little Rock","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/"},"author":{"name":"UA Little Rock","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/841beab92c4de6b8988cb3708c29b192"},"headline":"New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall","datePublished":"2026-07-13T14:30:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/"},"wordCount":298,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2025\/03\/Nursing-Walker-scholars-2024_106.jpg","keywords":["Donaghey College of STEM","Graduate School","Leaders in the Classroom and Communities","Student Success"],"articleSection":["Community","Featured"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/","name":"New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall - News - UA Little Rock","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2025\/03\/Nursing-Walker-scholars-2024_106.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-13T14:30:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2025\/03\/Nursing-Walker-scholars-2024_106.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2025\/03\/Nursing-Walker-scholars-2024_106.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Nursing students learn more about patient care by practicing with robotic SIM Lab mannequins. With the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's new graduate certificate in health informatics, launching this fall, students will explore how healthcare data is collected, analyzed, and applied to improve both clinical and operational outcomes. Photo by Benjamin Krain"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/13\/new-graduate-certificate-program-in-health-informatics-launches-this-fall\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Graduate Certificate Program in Health Informatics Launches This Fall"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"UA Little Rock","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"UA Little Rock","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"UA Little Rock"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ualrvideo","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ualr\/"],"description":"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.","email":"ask@ualr.edu","telephone":"501-916-3000","legalName":"UA Little Rock"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/841beab92c4de6b8988cb3708c29b192","name":"UA Little Rock","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"UA Little Rock"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/ualr.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/author\/ualr\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94398"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94408,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94398\/revisions\/94408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":94404,"date":"2026-07-10T08:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T13:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?p=94404"},"modified":"2026-07-13T10:25:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:25:46","slug":"ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Cyberspace Operations Research and Education (CORE) Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will now reach more Arkansas communities through the Cyber Learning Network (CLN).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By expanding the CORE Cybersecurity Clinic through the CLN, UA Little Rock is creating new opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience while meeting needs in communities across the state, bringing together students and faculty from 11 colleges and universities. The CLN extends cybersecurity services to more communities than any one institution could alone, while fostering collaboration, shared expertise, and experiential learning. Through this network, the CORE Cybersecurity Clinic is expanding to Ouachita Baptist University, the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope-Texarkana, and North Arkansas College of the University of Arkansas this fall.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Every partner site is another place where our students get to apply what they\u2019re learning to a real problem with real stakes,” said Dr. Sandra Leiterman, director of cybersecurity education and outreach. “That kind of experience is hard to replicate in a classroom, and it\u2019s what makes our graduates ready to contribute on day one.”<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The CORE Cybersecurity Clinic\u2019s goal is to make cybersecurity expertise available to organizations such as small nonprofits, school districts, health clinics, rural utilities, and small businesses that provide essential services but lack their own cybersecurity staff. These organizations face increasing cyber threats and lack access to costly risk assessments or enterprise security programs.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CORE Center teams, made up of students and faculty experts, work directly with organizations to evaluate their systems, identify vulnerabilities, and deliver actionable recommendations. The clinic identifies the most likely ways hackers could attempt to gain access, then provides prioritized recommendations and safeguarding strategies to help organizations anticipate the top threats and proactively strengthen their defenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Nathan Thomason, a student researcher at the CORE Center, those experiences helped launch his career.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“UA Little Rock’s CORE Center provided me with a foundation of excellence to rely on throughout my studies as an undergraduate student and at the beginning of my cybersecurity career,” Thomason said.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said working directly with Arkansas organizations and emerging cybersecurity technologies gave his education a deeper sense of purpose.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“The opportunities to engage with my local community and pursue bleeding-edge cybersecurity technologies that I was presented with as a researcher allowed my studies to have a measurable impact on my community,” he said.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The clinic\u2019s work is also shaped by ongoing research at the CORE Center, where faculty and students are developing new approaches to cybersecurity defense. Rather than remaining in the research phase, many of these ideas are tested and refined through the clinic\u2019s work, allowing researchers and students to evaluate new methods while providing clients with recommendations informed by the latest cybersecurity research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the center\u2019s newest research projects explores how artificial intelligence can help organizations identify the most likely paths a cyberattack could take through their systems and prioritize the security improvements that will have the greatest impact. The CORE Center is also collaborating with the Institute for AI Policy and Strategy, a national nonpartisan AI policy think tank, on initiatives that support cybersecurity policy and the protection of the nation\u2019s critical infrastructure, helping connect the center\u2019s applied research with broader national conversations about emerging cyber threats.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The clinic also provides students with valuable, real-world experience beyond the classroom. Working with organizations across Arkansas, they learn not only how to identify cybersecurity risks but also how to explain technical concepts in ways that help non-technical leaders make informed decisions. Those communication skills are just as critical as technical expertise in preparing students for careers in cybersecurity.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Working at the CORE Center has been wonderful because it’s given me real-world experience in my field,” said Divija Vijay, a sophomore double majoring in computer science and cybersecurity. “On the projects I get to work on, I’m always learning new concepts and technical skills. It’s a really supportive environment that genuinely cares about our growth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through the CLN, the CORE Center is helping schools, nonprofits, utilities, and businesses better understand their cybersecurity risks while giving students opportunities to gain practical experience addressing the challenges organizations face every day.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Arkansas has cracked the code for making these partnerships work,” said Dr. Philip Huff, director of the CORE Center and assistant professor of computer science. “Communities across the state need practical help defending against cyberattacks, and our students are ready and able to meet that need. Now our job is to clear the path so these partnerships can thrive and strengthen cybersecurity across Arkansas.”<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Cyberspace Operations Research and Education (CORE) Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will now reach more Arkansas communities through the Cyber Learning Network (CLN). By expanding <a href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/\" class=\"more-link\">…<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2906,"featured_media":94406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1926,1922],"tags":[25799,35495,35323,35322,2218],"class_list":["post-94404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-research","tag-donaghey-college-of-stem","tag-innovation","tag-leaders-in-the-classroom-and-communities","tag-program-excellence","tag-student-success"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities - News - UA Little Rock<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Cyberspace Operations Research and Education (CORE) Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will now reach more Arkansas communities through the Cyber Learning Network (CLN). By expanding ... UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-10T13:15:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-13T15:25:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/CORE-Center-work-for-CORE-CLN-story.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"341\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Samantha Koros\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Samantha Koros\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Samantha Koros\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4d2d71db64fc5dad90eaff1ce9387967\"},\"headline\":\"UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-10T13:15:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-13T15:25:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":767,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/CORE-Center-work-for-CORE-CLN-story.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Donaghey College of STEM\",\"Innovation\",\"Leaders in the Classroom and Communities\",\"Program Excellence\",\"Student Success\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured\",\"Research\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\\\/\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities - News - UA Little Rock\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/CORE-Center-work-for-CORE-CLN-story.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-10T13:15:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-13T15:25:46+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/CORE-Center-work-for-CORE-CLN-story.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/CORE-Center-work-for-CORE-CLN-story.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":341,\"caption\":\"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Cyberspace Operations Research and Education Center will reach more Arkansas communities through its Cyber Learning Network, which provides hands-on experience for students while meeting needs in communities across the state. Photo by Benjamin Krain\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/10\\\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/UALittleRock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ualrvideo\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/school\\\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ualr\\\/\"],\"description\":\"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.\",\"email\":\"ask@ualr.edu\",\"telephone\":\"501-916-3000\",\"legalName\":\"UA Little Rock\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4d2d71db64fc5dad90eaff1ce9387967\",\"name\":\"Samantha Koros\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/43fc0575707bd2562cfafa14c6272ed1fb5a02915def80a826f51f931c5ed4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/43fc0575707bd2562cfafa14c6272ed1fb5a02915def80a826f51f931c5ed4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/43fc0575707bd2562cfafa14c6272ed1fb5a02915def80a826f51f931c5ed4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Samantha Koros\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/skoros1\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities - News - UA Little Rock","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities","og_description":"The Cyberspace Operations Research and Education (CORE) Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock will now reach more Arkansas communities through the Cyber Learning Network (CLN). By expanding ... UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities","og_url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/","og_site_name":"News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-10T13:15:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-13T15:25:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":512,"height":341,"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/CORE-Center-work-for-CORE-CLN-story.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Samantha Koros","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Samantha Koros","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/"},"author":{"name":"Samantha Koros","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d2d71db64fc5dad90eaff1ce9387967"},"headline":"UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities","datePublished":"2026-07-10T13:15:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-13T15:25:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/"},"wordCount":767,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/CORE-Center-work-for-CORE-CLN-story.jpg","keywords":["Donaghey College of STEM","Innovation","Leaders in the Classroom and Communities","Program Excellence","Student Success"],"articleSection":["Featured","Research"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/","name":"UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities - News - UA Little Rock","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/CORE-Center-work-for-CORE-CLN-story.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-10T13:15:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-13T15:25:46+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/CORE-Center-work-for-CORE-CLN-story.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/CORE-Center-work-for-CORE-CLN-story.jpg","width":512,"height":341,"caption":"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Cyberspace Operations Research and Education Center will reach more Arkansas communities through its Cyber Learning Network, which provides hands-on experience for students while meeting needs in communities across the state. Photo by Benjamin Krain"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/ua-little-rock-expands-cybersecurity-support-for-arkansas-communities\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UA Little Rock Expands Cybersecurity Support for Arkansas Communities"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"UA Little Rock","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"UA Little Rock","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"UA Little Rock"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ualrvideo","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ualr\/"],"description":"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.","email":"ask@ualr.edu","telephone":"501-916-3000","legalName":"UA Little Rock"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d2d71db64fc5dad90eaff1ce9387967","name":"Samantha Koros","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43fc0575707bd2562cfafa14c6272ed1fb5a02915def80a826f51f931c5ed4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43fc0575707bd2562cfafa14c6272ed1fb5a02915def80a826f51f931c5ed4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43fc0575707bd2562cfafa14c6272ed1fb5a02915def80a826f51f931c5ed4be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Samantha Koros"},"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/author\/skoros1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2906"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94405,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94404\/revisions\/94405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":94391,"date":"2026-07-08T09:03:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T14:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?p=94391"},"modified":"2026-07-13T10:25:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:25:48","slug":"ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/","title":{"rendered":"UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has named Sheila Wold McKinnis director of development for the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education (CHASSE), effective July 1.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McKinnis, most recently associate director of development in the Office of Alumni and Development, will lead fundraising efforts for one of the university’s largest colleges. She succeeds Stephanie Purifoy, who retired earlier this year.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before joining UA Little Rock earlier this year, McKinnis spent more than two decades as owner of The Pilates Studio of Little Rock, where she built a successful business while developing lasting relationships across central Arkansas. Earlier in her career, she served as business director for Ballet Arkansas, helping lead fundraising, community outreach, and organizational operations.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“Sheila has a genuine love for this university, and people see that the moment they meet her,” said Christian O’Neal, vice president of advancement. “She’s done an incredible job leading campus tours for prospective donors and partners. With her family’s ties to the university, this role is both professional and personal, and I can’t think of a better person to help tell CHASSE’s story.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeremy Ecke, dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education, said McKinnis’ background and passion for the arts and education make her an ideal fit for the college.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“CHASSE prepares educators, artists, communicators, social workers, public servants, and community leaders who make a difference across Arkansas and beyond,” Ecke said. “Sheila understands the transformational impact of these disciplines, and her passion for building relationships will help create new opportunities for our students, faculty, and programs.”<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McKinnis said she looks forward to working with alumni, donors, and friends of the university to strengthen the college’s impact.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“I’ve spent much of my career working alongside people who believe education, the arts, and community engagement can transform lives,” McKinnis said. “I’m excited to connect alumni and supporters with opportunities to invest in our students and help expand the college’s impact for years to come.”<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McKinnis earned a Bachelor of Arts in dance from the University of North Texas. To learn more about the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/ualr.edu\/chasse\" type=\"link\" id=\"ualr.edu\/chasse\">ualr.edu\/chasse<\/a>.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has named Sheila Wold McKinnis director of development for the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education (CHASSE), effective July 1. McKinnis, <a href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/\" class=\"more-link\">…<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94393,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1925,1926],"tags":[28389,35323],"class_list":["post-94391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-featured","tag-college-of-humanities-arts-social-sciences-and-education-chasse","tag-leaders-in-the-classroom-and-communities"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE - News - UA Little Rock<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has named Sheila Wold McKinnis director of development for the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education (CHASSE), effective July 1. McKinnis, ... UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-08T14:03:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-13T15:25:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Shelia.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UA Little Rock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UA Little Rock\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/841beab92c4de6b8988cb3708c29b192\"},\"headline\":\"UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-08T14:03:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-13T15:25:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":379,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Shelia.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education (CHASSE)\",\"Leaders in the Classroom and Communities\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community\",\"Featured\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\\\/\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE - News - UA Little Rock\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Shelia.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-08T14:03:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-13T15:25:48+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Shelia.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Shelia.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Sheila Wold McKinnis will lead fundraising efforts for one of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's largest colleges, the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education (CHASSE), as director of development. Photo by Benjamin Krain\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/UALittleRock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ualrvideo\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/school\\\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ualr\\\/\"],\"description\":\"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.\",\"email\":\"ask@ualr.edu\",\"telephone\":\"501-916-3000\",\"legalName\":\"UA Little Rock\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/841beab92c4de6b8988cb3708c29b192\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/ualr\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE - News - UA Little Rock","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE","og_description":"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has named Sheila Wold McKinnis director of development for the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education (CHASSE), effective July 1. McKinnis, ... UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE","og_url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/","og_site_name":"News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-08T14:03:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-13T15:25:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Shelia.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"UA Little Rock","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"UA Little Rock","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/"},"author":{"name":"UA Little Rock","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/841beab92c4de6b8988cb3708c29b192"},"headline":"UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE","datePublished":"2026-07-08T14:03:29+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-13T15:25:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/"},"wordCount":379,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Shelia.jpg","keywords":["College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education (CHASSE)","Leaders in the Classroom and Communities"],"articleSection":["Community","Featured"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/","name":"UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE - News - UA Little Rock","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Shelia.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-08T14:03:29+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-13T15:25:48+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Shelia.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/Shelia.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Sheila Wold McKinnis will lead fundraising efforts for one of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's largest colleges, the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education (CHASSE), as director of development. Photo by Benjamin Krain"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/ua-little-rock-promotes-sheila-wold-mckinnis-to-lead-development-for-chasse\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UA Little Rock Promotes Sheila Wold McKinnis to Lead Development for CHASSE"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"UA Little Rock","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"UA Little Rock","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"UA Little Rock"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ualrvideo","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ualr\/"],"description":"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.","email":"ask@ualr.edu","telephone":"501-916-3000","legalName":"UA Little Rock"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/841beab92c4de6b8988cb3708c29b192","name":"UA Little Rock","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"UA Little Rock"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/ualr.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/author\/ualr\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94391"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94402,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94391\/revisions\/94402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":94385,"date":"2026-07-08T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?p=94385"},"modified":"2026-07-08T14:23:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:23:03","slug":"community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Community support continues to grow for the return of the Shellam Flake Planetarium at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since launching the planetarium seat sponsorship program this spring, alumni, friends, and community partners have sponsored 26 seats, generating $65,000 to provide long-term support for the planetarium’s maintenance and future enhancements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“We’re encouraged by the enthusiasm we’ve seen so far,” said Lloyd Webre, director of development for the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. “Every sponsorship represents someone who believes in creating opportunities for students and our community to experience science in a hands-on, inspiring way. We’re grateful to everyone who has stepped forward to ensure the Shellam Flake Planetarium is a UA Little Rock staple for generations to come.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Provost Ann Bain became the program’s first supporter, sponsoring two seats in honor of her grandchildren, Sadie and Henry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate curiosity and discovery than by supporting a space like the planetarium,” Bain said. “Knowing Sadie and Henry will have a connection to this experience, and that so many other children will be inspired here, makes this especially meaningful.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Centennial Co-Chair Alfred Williams has been instrumental in securing many of the campaign’s seat sponsorships. Campaign cabinet members Mike Williams, James Bobo, RJ Martino, Courtney Little, and Thomas Dickinson have also demonstrated their support by purchasing seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each $2,500 sponsorship includes a personalized nameplate displayed on a planetarium seat for five years. Sponsors may recognize an individual, family, organization, or honor the memory of a loved one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Proceeds from the program provide long-term support for the Shellam Flake Planetarium’s maintenance and future enhancements, helping ensure it remains a premier destination for student learning and community engagement for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When open in the spring, the restored Shellam Flake Planetarium will serve as a multidisciplinary learning space welcoming K-12 students and community members for educational programming and public shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Seat sponsorships remain available. To learn more or sponsor a seat, visit <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/ualr.edu\/planetarium\">ualr.edu\/planetarium<\/a><\/strong> or contact Lloyd Webre at <strong>501-951-1794<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Community support continues to grow for the return of the Shellam Flake Planetarium at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Since launching the planetarium seat sponsorship program this spring, <a href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/\" class=\"more-link\">…<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94396,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1925,1926],"tags":[35323,36040,2218],"class_list":["post-94385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-featured","tag-leaders-in-the-classroom-and-communities","tag-planetarium","tag-student-success"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign - News - UA Little Rock<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Community support continues to grow for the return of the Shellam Flake Planetarium at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Since launching the planetarium seat sponsorship program this spring, ... Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-08T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-08T19:23:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/planey.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UA Little Rock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UA Little Rock\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/841beab92c4de6b8988cb3708c29b192\"},\"headline\":\"Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-08T13:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-08T19:23:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":355,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/planey.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Leaders in the Classroom and Communities\",\"Planetarium\",\"Student Success\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community\",\"Featured\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\\\/\",\"name\":\"Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign - News - UA Little Rock\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/planey.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-08T13:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-08T19:23:03+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/planey.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/planey.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"The expansive dome of the UA Little Rock Planetarium is part of the the newly renovated space, where students, faculty, and community members will experience immersive astronomy programming and science education. Photo by Benjamin Krain\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/240\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/UALittleRock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ualrvideo\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/school\\\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ualr\\\/\"],\"description\":\"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.\",\"email\":\"ask@ualr.edu\",\"telephone\":\"501-916-3000\",\"legalName\":\"UA Little Rock\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/841beab92c4de6b8988cb3708c29b192\",\"name\":\"UA Little Rock\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"UA Little Rock\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ualr.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/ualr\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign - News - UA Little Rock","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign","og_description":"Community support continues to grow for the return of the Shellam Flake Planetarium at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Since launching the planetarium seat sponsorship program this spring, ... Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign","og_url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/","og_site_name":"News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-08T13:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-08T19:23:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/planey.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"UA Little Rock","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"UA Little Rock","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/"},"author":{"name":"UA Little Rock","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/841beab92c4de6b8988cb3708c29b192"},"headline":"Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign","datePublished":"2026-07-08T13:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-08T19:23:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/"},"wordCount":355,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/planey.jpg","keywords":["Leaders in the Classroom and Communities","Planetarium","Student Success"],"articleSection":["Community","Featured"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/","name":"Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign - News - UA Little Rock","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/planey.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-08T13:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-08T19:23:03+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/planey.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2026\/07\/planey.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"The expansive dome of the UA Little Rock Planetarium is part of the the newly renovated space, where students, faculty, and community members will experience immersive astronomy programming and science education. Photo by Benjamin Krain"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/2026\/07\/08\/community-support-builds-for-shellam-flake-planetarium-seat-campaign\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Community Support Builds for Shellam Flake Planetarium Seat Campaign"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"UA Little Rock","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#organization","name":"UA Little Rock","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2024\/12\/ua-little-rock-logo-yoast.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"UA Little Rock"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UALittleRock\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ualrvideo","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/university-of-arkansas-at-little-rock\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ualr\/"],"description":"The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is a metropolitan research university that provides an accessible, quality education through flexible learning and unparalleled internship opportunities.","email":"ask@ualr.edu","telephone":"501-916-3000","legalName":"UA Little Rock"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/841beab92c4de6b8988cb3708c29b192","name":"UA Little Rock","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c41d6db803ac229bd6efa630cecf87fd2fa2c4e21272b5560ee4672f1e160d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"UA Little Rock"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/ualr.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/author\/ualr\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94385"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94395,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94385\/revisions\/94395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ualr.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]