ARKANSAS: Summer 2020

ARKANSAS

Spring 2020 For members of the Arkansas Alumni Association Inc. For members of the Arkansas Alumni Association Inc.

Spring 2020 Vol. 69, No. 3

Your Membership Matters

“Since I was a little girl it has been my dream to follow in my dad and his dad’s footsteps by attending the University of Arkansas. Thank you so much for this incredible gift and opportunity!”

-Olivia D. Over 500 students received an alumni association scholarship just this year!

Because of you, the Arkansas Alumni Association has been able to join our University of Arkansas family to provide support and resources to our community through this difficult, uncertain time.

Thank you for Helping Like a Hog and being Determined to Help!

Photo by University Relations

arkansas

SUMMER 2020 / Vol. 69, No. 4

For members of the Arkansas Alumni Association Inc.

4

The Long Empty When the COVID-19 pandemic spread across America and reached Arkansas, the university had already been preparing for it, with a small sense of what steps would be needed because of a brief mumps outbreak during the winter.

On March 16, students began taking their classes remotely to reduce the chance of the campus becoming an inadvertent hot spot. Faculty and staff began working remotely three days later.

For the next two months, virtually no one lived on campus and the interrelationships of college life became virtual. Classes, lectures, entertainment, health tips, yoga exercises and even Senior Walk for the 2020 graduates came to the campus community via online methods.

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38 46 54 56 65

Campus View Determined to Help Alumni Events Yesteryear Senior Walk Last Look

On the Cover: Chieko Hara surveyed the quiet campus in mid-April.

See more of her photos on Pages 28 and 29.

The empty campus became a busy online world. This is that story.

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 1

ARKANSAS Publisher Arkansas Alumni Association

Executive Director Brandy Cox Jackson ✪ M.A.’07 Editor Charlie Alison ★ B.A.’82, M.A.’04 Associate Editor Catherine Baltz ✪+ B.S.’92, M.Ed.’07 Creative Director Eric Pipkin

Photo by Russell Cothren

Magazine Design Ross Maute

Campus View

Rogelio Garcia Contreras Director of Social Innovation

Now that the entire globe is gradually but unequivocally experiencing the economic and social effects of the current COVID19 crisis, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the urgent and vivid manifestation of some of the challenges whether triggered or exacerbated by the crisis.

The world of social innovation offers pragmatic advice to deal with some of the effects of these challenges, with dignity and hope.

The Social Innovation Initiative at the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation is an effort to promote social innovation and entrepreneurship as effective tools to address pressing social and environmental challenges — doing more, with less, for more.

Our purpose is to raise awareness of the pressing challenges faced by our planet, and of the variety of innovative and entrepreneurial efforts to address these challenges. Our goal is to inspire students to take action and become agents of the change they want to see in the world.

As important as recognizing the complexity of the current situation, remaining optimistic is key to find agency in our own response. Agency leads to action, and concrete, constant action is imperative to overcome pressing

2 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

Photo Editor Russell Cothren ✪ Photographer Whit Pruitt B.A.’16 Chieko Hara Writers & Contributors DeLani Bartlette B.A.’06 M.A.’08 Mike Cawood Kendall Curlee Mary Kate Harrison ★ B.A.’06, M.A.’08 Jennifer Holland ★ M.Ed.’08 Anna Hopkin Matt McGowan Michelle Parks B.A.’94 John Post Shawn Price Patti Sanders ✪+ B.S.A. ‘08 Darinda Sharp B.A.’94, M.S.’99, M.A.’05 Shauna Taylor Kevin Trainor Amy Unruh Hardin Young Advertising Coordinator Lee Shoultz ★ B.A. ’16, M.P.A. ’18

circumstances. Purposeful actions shape a culture of solidarity, inspiring others to do the same.

From the humble trenches of our SI Initiative, we are working to minimize the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on our community, particularly among the most vulnerable.

Soon after our region started practicing social distancing, we were invited to be part of the U of A COVID-19 Determined to Help initiative. We started holding weekly virtual town hall meetings to foster synergies between social service providers and a growing and proactive network of U of A faculty, students and staff. In collaboration with the Center for Community Engagement, we began monitoring the recently activated “needhelp” and “canhelp” email accounts, and we are building a comprehensive database of existing resources to procure a more efficient and timely response to growing needs.

The urgency, complexity and universality of the current crisis demands creative and more efficient ways to foster collaboration. The art of connecting and optimizing the use of existing resources is at the heart of efficient and cost-effective social innovation strategies.

MEMBERSHIP SYMBOLS ✩ Student Member; ★ Member; ★+ Member, A+; ✪ Life Member; ✪+ Life Member, A+ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor are accepted and ­encouraged. Send letters for publication to Arkansas Magazine, Office of University ­R elations, 200 Davis Hall, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701. Letters should be no longer than 250 words and may be edited for length. Typewritten letters are preferred. Anonymous letters will not be published. Submission does not guarantee publication.

Arkansas, E xc l u s i ve l y fo r M e m b e r s of the Arkansas Alumni Association, Inc. (ISSN 1064-8100) (USPS 009-515) is published quarterly by the Arkansas Alumni Association, Inc. at 491 North Razorback Road, Fayetteville, AR 72701.

Annual membership dues are now $55 per household and a portion is allocated for a subscription to Arkansas. Single copies are $6. Editing and production are provided through the UA Office of University Relations. Direct inquiries and information to P.O. Box 1070, Fayetteville, AR 72702-1070, phone (479) 575-2801, fax (479) 575-5177.

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ARKANSAS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Mission Statement The Arkansas Alumni Association connects and serves the University of Arkansas Family.

Vision Statement The Arkansas Alumni Association will be nationally recognized as a model alumni relations program.

Value Statement The Arkansas Alumni Association values: • service excellence • collaboration • relationships • diversity • learning • creativity Arkansas Summer 20-102 All photos by University Relations unless otherwise noted.

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The First Security team has a lot to be grateful for – like family, friends and close-knit communities – but home is pretty high on our list. Thank you for sharing it with us.

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Determined to Help

The Long Empty Students, Alumni, Faculty and Staff Meet an Unprecedented Challenge EDITED BY CHARLIE ALISON B.A.’82, M.A.’04

4 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

February 13 was a full day on campus.

Donna L. Graham, a professor for 35 years, endowed a scholarship for agriculture students. Tessa Swehla, a doctoral candidate in English, was honored for her dissertation. The University Libraries opened the archival papers of the late alumnus Gordon Morgan, the first tenure-track African American professor at the U of A. Late in the day, the London-based Septura Brass performed at the Jim and Joyce Faulkner Performing Arts Center.

Best of all, the Arkansas Department of Health announced that a mumps outbreak that had begun on campus in late November was officially over.

In so many ways, Feb. 13 was a normal day in the life of a university, yet innocent to the moment. Beyond the campus cloister, though, the world had changed. A 15th American, quarantined at a Texas air base, was diagnosed with a disease being spread by a new, novel coronavirus, first found by Chinese doctors in a city 300 miles west of Shanghai called Wuhan, where more than 1,000 people had died so far. Health care officials called it COVID-19.

Exactly one month later, an exodus began at the university, the most comprehensive step ever taken by the U of A to thwart a fast-moving, quick-spreading disease. The bustling grounds of campus fell empty — the classrooms shuttered, the offices locked and the dormitories silent. (continues on page 7)

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 5

Determined to Help

Box It Up; We’ll Take It

Biomedical Engineering Professor Designs Second Layer of Safety

BY MATT MCGOWAN

usan Patton, chair S of the Department of Nursing in the College of Education and Health Professions, uses a manikin to demonstrate clinical use of an aerosol box built by researchers at the University of Arkansas.

Photo by Russell Cothren

COVID-19 Timeline 6 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

Health care clinicians face a higher chance of being exposed to COVID-19 during intubation of a patient, a critical procedure of inserting a tube through the mouth and into the airway in advance of putting the patient on a ventilator.

To reduce this exposure, professor Morten Jensen partnered with Dr. Drew Rodgers, cardiothoracic anesthesiologist at

Washington Regional Medical Center, to produce transparent acrylic boxes that could be placed over a patient’s head and neck during intubation.

In addition to an opening for the patient’s head, the boxes — known as aerosol boxes — have holes through which clinicians can extend their arms to work on the patient.

Aerosol boxes can then be quickly sterilized with bleach or alcohol afterward and reused.

Jensen’s team in the Department of Biomedical Engineering expected to produce 25 boxes for Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville and then looked toward working with other hospitals to address their needs for potential COVID-19 patients.

“This is a clear example of how the intersection of medicine and engineering can quickly come together and help us save lives,” Dr. Rodgers said.

Rodgers contacted Jensen because he knew members of the university’s Cardiovascular Biomechanics

December 31, 2019

January 7, 2020

Chinese doctors report pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China, later identified as a new virus.

The virus is identified as coronavirus 2019n-CoV.

The Long Empty (continued)

n illustration of the A aerosol box.

Image provided by Morten Jensen.

This is the first chapter in the ongoing story of a college life interrupted but also one about the will and hope among students, faculty, staff and alumni to show Arkansas grit, to persist in their determination to help each other and their community.

Early Warning Signs

Laboratory had extensive experience with making clear, acrylic boxes for holding fluids. After making small design improvements to fit requirements from Washington Regional, Jensen’s team partnered with the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. Dean Peter MacKeith provided access to machinery and materials that could significantly increase production. The first aerosol box was ready days after Jensen and Rodgers first discussed the concept and partnership.

“These boxes are not for sale anywhere, and we work with these materials and designs all the time,” Jensen said.

“There’s an immediate need to protect staff during these critical, lifesaving procedures. We can make these right away, and they can put them to use immediately.”

The machining and manufacturing of the first aerosol boxes were performed by Angela Carpenter in the Fay Jones School and Sam Stephens in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

“This is a great example of what we can do for our community,” said Raj Rao, professor and head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

January 20

January 29

The United States confirms its first case.

The Arkansas Department of Health begins monitoring the coronavirus outbreak.

From very early in development of the pandemic, university officials were paying close attention to its spread. The university’s new Arkansas Humanities Council held a panel discussion about the coronavirus on Feb. 4, the same day that the Pat Walker Health Center on campus announced it was monitoring the global outbreak, at that point still confined to China with one new case reported in the Philippines.

The panel discussion featured four university experts — Lyn Edington, director of nursing for the health center; Kelly Hammond, assistant professor of history with expertise about China; Huda Sharaf, medical director of the Pat Walker Health Center; and Trish Starks, a professor with expertise in the history of medicine. They gave the campus and public a sense of what was happening in China and the potential dangers posed by a global pandemic.

Sharaf and Edington gave the students a crash course in coronaviruses. They’ve been around for a long time and are common. A coronavirus causes the common cold. “But it really wasn’t until the 21st century when we started seeing new coronaviruses that were more pathogenic, like SARS and MERS,” Sharaf said, referring to similar epidemics confined to China and the Middle East in 2002 and 2012, respectively.

The symptoms of coronavirus, they said, could be mistaken for the seasonal flu or pneumonia, and the only tests at that early date were being conducted by the Centers for Disease Control. Preventing the spread of coronaviruses is also similar to preventing flu, Sharaf said: wash your hands, cough into your elbow, avoid close contact with others, and avoid such things as sharing drinks, e-cigarettes or vaping, all of which easily spread viral diseases.

Two weeks later, as cases of the virus began to spread around the world, the university announced it was canceling three study abroad programs to China and then asked the university’s Rome Center to discontinue field trips and local excursions for U of A students.

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 7

Determined to Help

Shielding the Front Line

Designers and Makers Create Face Covers

BY MICHELLE PARKS B.A.’94

rusa 3D printers with P some of the face shield frames that they were used to create.

Photo Submitted

The 3D printers in the Fabrication Labs of the Fay Jones School of Architecture normally become a whir of activity just after spring break, but this year they sat idle amid a nearly empty campus.

In the emptiness, the staff of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design saw an opportunity to manufacture face shields to help protect health care workers against the spread of the coronavirus.

The shields help minimize the spread of infection from one person to another by creating a barrier between infectious materials such as viral contaminants and a person’s skin, mouth, nose and eyes.

Angela Carpenter, manager of the school’s Fabrication Labs, and Randal Dickinson, a digital fabrication specialist, downloaded an open-source design for 3D printed face shields from Prusa, a major manufacturer of 3D printers. The shield design allows for eyeglasses and a surgical mask to be worn underneath.

They revved up the 3D printers and began manufacturing face shields frames, each of which takes about four hours to complete, and more than 350 frames were printed by mid-April. Dickinson is able to operate seven printers during the day, six of which are located in Vol Walker Hall that he monitors by a web camera.

To 3D print the frames, the staff use “PLA” — short for polylactic acid — a plant-based polymer filament, made by Push Plastic in Springdale and purchased at a steep discount. To prepare the clear shield piece, they are using the school’s laser cutter to cut the hole patterns in PETG film so that it attaches to the frame.

Dare Devil Display Works in Rogers donated the clear film needed to make more than 800 shields.

For their work, Carpenter said, they also worked with sculpture faculty in the School of Art and College of Engineering faculty, along with outside industries and design firms.

January 30

January 31

The World Health Organization declares the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

The Pat Walker Health Center begins monitoring the global outbreak.

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The university’s Arkansas Humanities Center sponsors a panel of university experts to talk about coronavirus and potential dangers.

The Long Empty (continued)

“I feel like this has allowed for some things to happen that we’ve wanted to happen, in terms of communicating and understanding who has what tools, and what their capabilities are,” said Carpenter, who’s also an architecture alumna of the Fay Jones School.

Dickinson said this project makes him feel like they can tangibly contribute something during this unusual time. And it’s been good to collaborate with others on campus and outside the school to help the community.

Soon, local architectural firms such as Marlon Blackwell Architects, led by professor Marlon Blackwell, and Modus Studios, run by alumni of the Jones School, began collaborating in the production.

Carpenter and Dickinson have also begun working with Marlon Blackwell Architects in creating the face shields.

The Fayetteville firm is led by Marlon Blackwell, Distinguished Professor and longtime architecture professor in the Fay Jones School. Will Burks, a senior associate at the firm and a Fay Jones School alumnus, said they had also started printing the Prusa design on the firm’s new 3D printer to help with the local need. After running low on filament and contacting the Fay Jones School for more, they discovered both teams were printing the same design.

The connection inspired more coordination. Employees at the Blackwell firm are assembling the face shields, then sanitizing and packaging them according to the client’s particular needs. In addition, Burks said, centralizing the supply chain by producing the same design will make

n assembled face shield at Marlon A Blackwell Architects Photo by Russell Cothren

it easier to replace any damaged or broken clear film pieces.

Through this collaboration so far, the Blackwell firm has delivered 25 face shields to Welcome Health and 50 to Central EMS in Fayetteville. It is preparing another 100 for the Fayetteville Fire Department, which will distribute those to city personnel that need them. In addition, Washington Regional Medical Center has ordered another 300 shields.

The team’s plan was to 3D print up to 600 face shields in April.

Creating the face shields is a production challenge, rather than a design challenge, Burks said. With their architecture training, though, they have been able to use their sensibilities about materials and locate resources through unconventional sources.

“As architects, we very often have to think on our feet and think and react very quickly to interesting and new problems as they pop up. So, it seems only natural,” said Will Burks, an alumnus who works at Marlon Blackwell Architects.

February 11

February 17

The state asks the Pat Walker Health Center to request that travelers from China self-isolate depending on their point of origin or symptoms.

Razorback Transit drivers increase sanitary efforts to keep buses clean and safe.

Italy had just begun to record an outbreak of COVID-19 cases, and the new director of the Rome Center, Francesco Bradeshi, joked that “nobody likes a good panic like the Italians.”

The momentary bravado turned serious as cases increased and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention elevated its travel advisory for Italy to Level 3.

Bradeshi oversaw the closing of the Rome Center and its study abroad programs on Feb. 28, putting students from the U of A and other universities onto Americanbound airplanes, abruptly ending the only chance many of them would have at an international semester.

Unfortunately at the airport, Italian officials learned that an Auburn student had recently visited Milan, a hot spot for Italy, so the student wasn’t allowed to fly out with the rest of the students. Bradeshi and the Rome staff fixed up a spot for the student to selfquarantine for two weeks in the Rome Center itself.

It was the first of many kindnesses to come over the next several months.

Planning for the Unplannable

On Feb. 29, the first publicly known death from COVID-19 in the United States occurred at Kirkland, Washington.

On the same day, Provost Jim Coleman convened a crisis advising team made

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 9

Determined to Help

Lending a Legal Hand

Law Students Volunteer Pro Bono Help

BY DARINDA SHARP ★ B.A.’94, M.S.’99, M.A.’05

Alexis “Lexi” Acello

Jaden Atkins

Antonio “Tony” Jones

Michael Lester

Maisie Manuel

Samantha Warren

Law students at the University of Arkansas volunteered this spring to help address legal needs by partnering with the Center for Arkansas Legal Services and Legal Aid of Arkansas.

Students Lexi Acello and Jaden Atkins worked with the Center for Arkansas Legal Services to help the agency develop a strategy to assist people facing evictions

and foreclosures resulting from the consequences of coronavirus.

“I decided that a global epidemic – and the corresponding rise in unemployment – only made this need more salient, and I volunteered to help,” Atkins said. “I was further inspired to help the Center for Arkansas Legal Services track eviction filings during COVID-19 because I fear for the lives and livelihoods of Arkansans.”

“My strongest urge is always to help,” Acello said. “A few weeks ago, when things in the U.S. began to advance, I felt lost because I was unsure of how I could be useful to others right now. Engaging in pro bono work allows me to contribute to organizations and groups on the ground doing the work to keep people safe. I want to help them as much as I can. Things are messy and uncertain right now, but we’re stronger together.”

Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, six law students had planned to join Legal Aid of Arkansas for their annual “Spring Break on the Road to Justice” project. Legal Aid asked students to help remotely after this year’s trip was canceled, and Atkins, along with fellow law students Maisie Manuel, Michael Lester, Samantha Warren and Tony Jones, answered the call.

February 26

February 28

February 29

The university cancels three study-abroad trips to China.

The university halts the study-abroad program at the Rome Center.

The provost’s office creates a crisis advising team of 12 representatives from across campus.

10 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

The Long Empty (continued)

“Doing pro bono work in the midst of this global pandemic gives me a feeling of agency,” Atkins said. “I can’t control much during this crisis, but I can help in small ways with the response.”

Since 2011, law students supervised by Legal Aid attorneys have traveled the state to provide intensive services to low-income Arkansans in remote and underserved areas.

As of March 31, approximately 50 law students had performed more than 1,300 hours of pro bono service during the 2019-20 academic year. Doing the same work with social distancing and other recommendations has required some adjustments.

“Most times while doing pro bono you have some type of social interaction with either the client or supervising attorney,” said Jones. “Here, I never met the client nor knew their story, all the documents I needed were sent via email, and I drafted the required petitions and order and sent it back.”

Annie Smith, professor of law and the school’s Pro Bono and Community Engagement director, continues to identify ways for law students to assist with the substantial legal needs that will emerge in the wake of the crisis.

Service to the community is a core obligation of practicing attorneys, and the University of Arkansas School of Law seeks to instill this value in its students.

Through the pro bono program, students have opportunities for service, and those who engage in substantial service are recognized academically.

“Serving others is a professional responsibility, as well as a tremendous honor,” Smith said. “It can also be a helpful coping strategy during times of crisis. Now more than ever, I want students who are able to experience the satisfaction, learning and emotional benefits that can come from engaging in meaningful pro bono work and putting their legal education to good use.”

March 3

The university creates a central website, health.uark.edu/coronavirus to provide both health information and updates on operations.

up of 12 representatives from across campus to determine the key issues that might confront the university if the coronavirus spread. They used the outbreak of mumps during the previous fall semester as an initial guide. Coleman also contacted the deans and vice provosts to ask them to begin contingency planning with an assumption that the worst could happen and every hope that it wouldn’t.

Three days later, the university added an informational page to the website of the Pat Walker Health Center to provide everyone — students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, Razorback fans, and more — with health information and advice about the coronavirus as well as institutional updates about procedures and the status of the university’s programs.

A section of the page that offered answers to frequently asked questions grew from a dozen questions to more than 50 by mid-April, everything from how to protect oneself from the virus to whether the Razorback transits were still running to when commencement would be held.

In a meeting with the U of A Board of Trustees, President Don Bobbitt explained the difficulty of preventing the spread of a highly contagious virus on a university campus. The campus residence halls have more than one person sharing a room and numerous students sharing bathrooms in many of the dorms. The general lecture courses are taught in large halls with a hundred or more students seated together. Dining halls, theatrical performances, commencement exercises — each brought an inherent risk of spreading the disease widely.

“There are many opportunities for personal exposure, which are just a consequence of the normal work day at an academic institution,” Bobbitt told the trustees.

Close quarters were a contributing factor in the last major outbreak faced by the campus a century ago — the 1918 influenza pandemic. The flu was probably introduced to the campus by members of the Student Army Training Corps, who had been through bootcamp for service during World War I and then were assigned to the university campus for training in such skills as wireless telegraphy and auto repair.

Soon after their arrival in September, the campus infirmary was full of sick students, and a newly built army barracks was converted into a hospital. The opening of the fall semester was delayed and then

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 11

Determined to Help

Serving Seniors

Triple Major Doubles Down on Public Service

BY AMY UNRUH

ophomore Madison Huckaby delivering meals to senior citizens in S Shreveport.

For the first half of her spring semester, U of A sophomore Madison Huckaby spent most mornings just like other college students — in a classroom, especially since she is triple majoring in international and global studies, French and history. When the university moved to remote learning due to the coronavirus, Huckaby knew she would have to find something to do in her hometown in Shreveport.

“I love being busy, so when I had to move back home this semester, I knew I needed to get involved in my community,” Huckaby said. “The COVID-19 outbreak has made community involvement more important than ever.”

Huckaby found her solution when she and her mother saw a Facebook post asking for more volunteer drivers for Meals on Wheels. “Community involvement has always been important, so we decided to help,” she said.

Huckaby had never been involved with delivering meals to senior citizens but knew the COVID-19 outbreak would make the service critical for many in her hometown. The daily deliveries are made in the morning — when Huckaby would normally be sitting in a classroom in Fayetteville.

Photo Courtesy of Madison Huckaby

March 5

March 11

President Don Bobbit tells the Board of Trustees that the U of A System’s campuses are prepared to teach online should they need to do so.

The World Health Organization declares the outbreak a pandemic.

The first case of COVID-19 is confirmed in Arkansas. Chancellor Joe Steinmetz asks faculty to prepare to conduct courses online if needed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 1,500 points.

12 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

The Long Empty (continued)

“I started delivering for Meals on Wheels because of the COVID-19 outbreak,” Huckaby said. Not only does Meals on Wheels provide food to senior citizens, but it also acts as a daily “wellness check” since many of the recipients live alone. Especially now with the COVID outbreak, many of the recipients are afraid to get out of the house in fear of contracting the virus, so they are more reliant than ever on the daily delivery, Huckaby said.

“People are so thankful for their meals, and as someone who is young, healthy, and — thanks to online classes — has lots of free time, I feel it is my obligation to reach out and help those who may not have access to food without Meals on Wheels,” she said.

Huckaby also noted that, at the time, Louisiana had the highest rate of spread of the virus in the world. She said she wants to do everything she can to make sure those who are high-risk can stay at home.

March 12

The university announces it will move all classes to online or remote-teaching methods.

Students living in residence halls or Greek chapter houses, with some exceptions, will need to move out by April 3.

delayed again. The campus was put under quarantine in early October, and all public functions in Fayetteville — the theatres, restaurants and city hall among others — were shut down. Nursing students and volunteers from Fayetteville tended to the sick on campus. More than 200 students, about one-fifth of the student population, caught the flu, and 14 died during the month-long quarantine, according to Harrison Hale’s 1948 history of the university.

In 2020, though, Bobbitt let the trustees know that the system’s universities had an alternative available: the campuses were prepared to teach courses remotely should the COVID19 epidemic force the closing of campuses.

The number of U.S. cases had grown above 550, a small number when compared to the seasonal flu, but a much faster growing number with what appeared to be considerably higher mortality rates, somewhere between 10 and 20 times more likely to cause death than the flu.

A Strategy of Dispersal

Molly Jensen, a clinical associate professor of marketing, was halfway through a lecture about nonprofit marketing during her service-learning course, one in which nearly all the students were seniors. They were learning how to provide marketing expertise to nonprofit organizations by working with real nonprofits during the school year. It was a Thursday afternoon, and the students were quite naturally looking forward to spring break still a week away and then the following headlong finish of their college careers to final exams and commencement at the end of the semester.

The students’ phones began pinging with an incoming message from Chancellor Joe Steinmetz. The university would move the teaching of all courses online or to other remote methods of delivery starting on March 16, the next Monday. All in-person teaching was to be discontinued immediately.

“I understand that this decision will impact many on our campus but we feel it is in the best interest of the health and well-being of all involved,” Steinmetz wrote. “Governor Asa Hutchinson will be signing an executive order declaring a public health emergency in Arkansas this afternoon and is also limiting official travel outside the state.”

The marketing students began packing up to leave class until, one-by-one, they realized that this would be their last class with everyone together, the last class of their undergraduate college career, and then everyone paused to savor the moment. Jensen had the forethought to take a class selfie in that moment, when faces were smiling broadly, a moment before the world turned upside-down.

The decision to move to remote teaching had not been an easy one for the university administration to make, but it fell

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 13

Determined to Help

Answering the Call

U of A Departments Donate Supplies to UAMS

BY JOHN POST

acked to the gills, a P van is nearly ready to transport supplies from the university’s Eleanor Mann School of Nursing to the UAMS campuses.

Photo Submitted

The University of Arkansas answered the call when the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences began running low on personal protective equipment and other necessary supplies by the end of March.

Colleges across campus donated items including hand sanitizer, gloves and masks to aid health care workers at the medical school’s hospitals as they served an influx of patients, in addition to donating vials

and items to assist with COVID-19 testing.

Supplies were donated to both the UAMS location in Little Rock and the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus in Fayetteville.

Personal protective equipment has been crucial in protecting health care workers and their patients from infection. The COVID-19 outbreak, which led to an increased demand for such equipment, also led to a worldwide shortage that put health care workers at increased risk during the pandemic.

“I am inspired by our faculty and staff ’s selflessness and willingness to help our community and state during this challenging time,” said Jim Coleman, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “As the land-grant university for Arkansas, we recognize the need to come together and leverage the university’s resources to help our state respond to this pandemic. We look forward to continuing to identify proactive ways we can help during this trying time.”

In the College of Engineering, lab equipment such as gloves and masks – normally used for the college’s research and teaching endeavors – found new purpose to help front-line medical workers.

March 16

March 18

March 19

Remote classes begin.

The first confirmed case of COVID-19, a college-age student who had returned to her family in Fayetteville from New York, is announced.

All employees whose jobs don’t require being on campus begin working remotely. The Board of Trustees votes to postpone or cancel all commencement exercises as system campuses and the U of A moves the in-person commencement to join the fall commencement.

14 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

The Long Empty (continued)

“During this time of crisis, it is important to channel all our resources to meet the immediate needs of the community,” said Raj Rao, head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

“By helping a member of our community in need, each one of us in our own small way will make a difference.”

The College of Education and Health Professions also donated hundreds of gloves, masks and other materials from the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing.

“I am proud the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing was in a position to help during this time of need,” said Tabatha Teal, simulation director in the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing. “Our clinical partners are on the front lines of this pandemic. Not only are these supplies much-needed, they could be life-saving for both our region’s patients and healthcare workers at UAMS.” Testing materials such as vials and reagents are also desperately needed at UAMS to help fill the need for COVID19 testing. In addition to donations of gloves and other medical supplies, the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and faculty in the Cell and Molecular Biology program gave a majority of the 12,000 test tubes donated on behalf of the university.

“The faculty were enthusiastically responsive to the request for supplies that were urgently needed,” said

David McNabb, chair of the college’s Department of Biological Sciences. “Our faculty want to support our health care providers and give any assistance we can to facilitate testing and to protect the health of those working on the front lines to serve our community.”

“The call went out to the CEMB faculty, representing 120 faculty in 16 departments in four colleges, since many of those faculty routinely use the reagents and supplies that were limiting,” said Douglas Rhoads, director of the Cell and Molecular Biology program. “The CEMB faculty responded with donations to support the cause.”

As UAMS continues to fight the pandemic, they expressed gratitude for not only the supplies but also the research expertise lent by U of A faculty.

“Where do our educators and investigators find meaning and purpose during this time of fear, anxiety and crisis?

I have at least one potential answer: they donate,” said Jennifer Hunt, chair of the Department of Pathology at UAMS. “Our UAMS and UA system investigators are digging deep to find things we need every single day, some of which would stop us in our tracks if we didn’t have. And, our research community is also donating intellect, brain power, innovation, and ideas — even if we don’t have time to think about them today.”

March 21

The departments of biomedical engineering, biological sciences and nursing gather lab supplies and personal protection equipment to give to UAMS. The Arkansas National Guard, including university students and staff members, is called up to help with testing in Central Arkansas.

in line with the path that universities on the east and west coasts had followed as cases of COVID-19 became known. In Arkansas, the first confirmed case of the coronavirus had occurred the day before in Pine Bluff, and that proved to be the trigger for the university to start a dispersal strategy. Instead of keeping everyone in a tightly bound community and trying to hold the virus at bay, the university would disperse students to their homes.

Safety would rely on separation.

The next threshold — announcement of a COVID-19 case within Washington County — occurred the next week, and the university announced that all non-essential employees would move offcampus and work remotely starting on March 19.

Likewise, the vast majority of students living in the on-campus residence halls and Greek chapter houses would be expected to move out. About 184 students who had nowhere to move — primarily international students but also students with older family members at home and students who wouldn’t have internet access at home — continued to live on campus but were spread out to reduce the likelihood of transmission. The dining hall continued to serve them but shifted everything to take-out meals.

Catileen Petit, a freshman international student from Panama who came to SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 15

Determined to Help

Simulating the Coronavirus

Looking for a Vaccine in All the Small Places

BY MATT MCGOWAN

omputational chemist C Mahmoud Moradi

Computational chemist Mahmoud Moradi is developing enhanced, 3D simulations of the molecular dynamics of coronavirus spike glycoproteins to gain better understanding of how the virus binds to human cells.

Moradi’s work is part of the COVID19 High Performance Computing Consortium, a collaboration of government, industry and academic partners focused on computing resources for COVID-19 research. Spearheaded by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the U.S. Department of Energy and IBM, the consortium volunteers free computing time and resources on some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers.

Mapping how these proteins undergo conformational changes to bind to host cell receptors is critical to the development of coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics.

Simulations are especially important because a framework for drug design will require dynamic, three-dimensional

visualizations of cell structures and behavior, rather than a static picture.

“As with other viruses, a crucial step in the coronavirus infection process is viral entry,” said Moradi, assistant professor in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. “With coronaviruses, we know these spike glycoproteins mediate entry into the human cell. Both SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19, and SARS-CoV, the cause of the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic, have spike proteins that attach to the same receptor in human cells.”

To perform the simulations, Moradi has been granted access to Frontera, a National Science Foundation-sponsored supercomputer housed at the University of Texas at Austin. Frontera is the largest supercomputer on any university campus.

Moradi’s project benefits from several recent, high-resolution 3D models of the coronavirus spike proteins. These models can be used as initial structures to begin simulations that will enable analysis of the detailed mechanisms of the proteins

March 23

March 24

A University of Arkansas student who lives away from campus is confirmed as having COVID-19.

The student self-isolates.

The first two Arkansas deaths are reported.

The Summer Olympics are postponed.

16 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

The Long Empty (continued)

he coronavirus spike protein changes its shape just before T binding to human cell receptor. Knowing how the virus binds to human cells will help in developing a vaccine.

and their behavior upon viral entry. Enhanced, detailed simulations of such molecular dynamics will provide a complete picture of proteins’ structural changes, as well as how they bind to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, the specific human cell receptor.

March 25

Justin Zhan, a professor of data science, collaborates with UAMS professors to predict genomic variation trends of the coronavirus.

Arkansas to study biomedical engineering, was one of the students who stayed. She recalled the day all the other students departed: “I remember walking back into my dorm that afternoon, and there was a mess everywhere from students moving out of their rooms very fast. It was sad, and that’s when everything changed.”

Petit and her roommate, also a Panamanian student, didn’t have the same option of leaving.

Soon, they were the only residents on their floor of Humphreys Hall. “We don’t see very many people, even when we walk across campus to pick up our meals from the dining hall,” Petit said. At night, they looked out across the campus. “It’s dark. Really dark,” she said. “There are no other lights on in the dorms nearby, and I wonder if anyone else is here.”

But she said she wouldn’t let the pandemic stop her studies.

“I am here to get my degree. I just have to stay calm and keep working,” she said. “I try to talk with my family most days to let them know I am safe here. Online classes and social distancing makes it hard, but the good times will come. Just to be here in Arkansas, to be a student, … I am still living my dream.”

Where possible, professors tried to make the separation a little less stressful, a little more fun. Alex Nunn, a law professor, posted a video on Twitter with the beginning of his first online lecture for his Criminal Procedure II course. In the monochromatic, pedantic form of Ben Stein, Nunn begins the video explaining what he will be explaining today in the class. Thirty or 40 seconds in, though, just as tedium and boredom are lulling your eyelids into a coma, Nunn shifts gears and changes into the Kodachrome king, veering into a virtual world of stand-up schtick with special effects and non sequiturs about chickens and Pedialite.

His lecture went viral, helped in part by a retweet

by Secretary Hillary Clinton, who started her career teaching at the School of Law in the mid-1970s and wrote: “This is the most groundbreaking Crim Pro I’ve seen since I taught it at Arkansas myself (during the late Middle Ages, after the bubonic plague and before the coronavirus).”

Curt Rom, associate dean for international education, joked on Facebook that with millions of students taking courses via computers from home, the United States would have the best educated pets in the world. A student replied: “This turned out to be a fantastic opportunity. U of A is top of the SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 17

Determined to Help

Pivoting Production

Alumnae Redirect Crafters to Sewing Face Masks

BY HARDIN YOUNG M.F.A. ’04

ou Reed Sharp, left, and L Leah Garrett don face masks made by their company, Olive Loom, for the Washington Regional Hospice House.

Photo Submitted

As non-essential businesses closed around the state, a pair of alumnae made a pivot with their own business to remain essential.

Olive Loom, a local apparel craft company founded by Lou Reed Sharp and Leah Garrett, made that change by focusing on the production of face masks, specifically for those in hospice care and the homeless.

Sharp, a retired nurse who graduated from the College of Education in 1976, and her daughter, Leah Garrett, who earned bachelor degrees in both 2003 and 2007, as well as a

master’s degree in 2010, started the company in 2011. Their hope was to provide jobs to women in rural communities who needed work, but were unable to travel due to being a caregiver, a stay-at-home mom or having limited mobility.

With the coronavirus outbreak, Olive Loom has enabled their employees to keep working from home while providing a community need. They began making and donating CDC-approved reusable masks to Washington Regional Hospice House and have earmarked one mask to be donated to a homeless shelter for every five they sold. The company also offered a feature that allows customers to donate a mask to someone who needs one.

By partnering with Personally Yours, Olive Loom had 10 employees by the end of March and had produced 549 masks.

“Our seamstresses had skills and enjoyed sewing,” Sharp said. “It was a way to keep them working or create secondary income — a way of giving back to the community. This gave them a way to buy their medicine, pay their utilities and meet other needs.

“We really want to keep the community safe and help where it’s needed.”

March 26

March 27

Nationwide, a record 3.3 million people file for unemployment benefits during the preceding week.

The university closes for spring break.

18 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

The Long Empty (continued)

kingdom of online tech support. … Just had my first two online [courses] live and it was incredible to see them all again! … And yeah, a cute puppy from Little Rock joined my class!”

The Newest Normal

By early April, a new lexicon of phrases had entered the campus vocabulary: social distancing, ventilators, selfisolation, Zoom chat, Kevin Bacon’s six feet of separation, the front lines of the war, and N95s, among others. The early rush of figuring everything out — how to connect to Blackboard, where the un-mute button is, why the router speed is slow, how to show a document online — gave way to the “new normal,” another phrase that seemed ubiquitous.

Events canceled weeks earlier were slowly replaced with new virtual events. University Recreation posted exercise videos to keep everyone in shape. The Department of Music offered free concerts online. The Arkansas Alumni Association scheduled a series of virtual lectures by inspirational speakers, like alumni John Register and Regina Hopper.

Students turned to public service. The Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry on campus began providing to-go bags of food for campus community members who needed meals. Sophomore Madison Huckaby began delivering meals on wheels to residents in her hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. Law students offered free legal services to residents suddenly facing eviction or foreclosure due to the consequences of the coronavirus.

Faculty, staff and alumni became makers and manufacturers of personal protection equipment for health care workers while researchers began trying to untangle the coronavirus itself and determine how best to corral it.

The Board of Trustees voted to push the 2020 Spring Commencement off to at least June 1 but gave each campus the option of making further changes. The U of A chose to create an online site for the May graduates and asked that they join the Fall Commencement instead.

Courses during the summer would continue to be offered only online or remotely.

The dispersal seemed to work. A student who lived off campus and later a staff member were diagnosed with COVID-19 in March, but each of them self-isolated until they passed the contagious point.

On April 9, news media reported that Richard “Donut” Richardson, who played nose guard for the Razorback football team in the early 1980s, had died of COVID-19.

He was 60 and working for the state prison system.

Professors of courses that would seem impossible in a remote situation, particularly a science lab or one of the performing arts classes, found creative ways to push forward.

More than 100 singers enrolled in the university’s choral courses — Schola Cantorum, the Women’s Chorus, the Men’s Chorus, Inspirational Chorale, and the Chamber Choir — learned their parts in the university’s sacred “Alma Mater.” Then they recorded themselves individually on home video, singing their own part — altos, sopranos, basses and tenors — in dens and bedrooms across Arkansas and nearby states. The individual pieces, part of their final learning project for the spring semester, were then layered together as a single video and stitched together into a visual quilt of earnest faces, a virtual choir, full and booming and built from parts.

The words of “Alma Mater,” written more than a century ago, normally conjure up visions of graduates setting out upon the world, alumni determined to build a better state and nation, but in this new normal they also reflect a new sensibility: “Over the fates of thy children departed, far from the land where their footsteps have trod. Beacon of hope in the ways dreary lighted; Pride of our hearts that are loyal and true.”

Commencement in Slo-Mo

Amy Unruh, who works for the Graduate School and International Education, stopped by her office in Gearhart Hall on May 8 and watched a pageant below her window.

April 1

April 2

The Associated Student Government approves a resolution supporting a change in grading to allow a pass or no-credit option for the spring semester.

Worldwide, coronavirus infections exceed 1 million cases, and more than 50,000 have died. The first university staff member tests positive for COVID-19 and self-isolates.

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 19

Determined to Help

Serving Arkansas

Always Ready, Always There

BY CHARLIE ALISON, B.A.’82, M.A.’04

llen Smith, a private in A the Army branch of the Arkansas National Guard, takes a swab test of a drive-through patient at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Photo by Eric Pipkin

When Gov. Asa Hutchinson called up National Guard medical units to help hospitals deal with an influx of people seeking treatment for COVID-19, staff and students from the University of Arkansas answered the call.

Eric Pipkin, the manager of design services for the university, is a chief masters sergeant with 27 years service in the Arkansas Air National Guard. He was called up as part of a medical unit to help the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences initially, but as the emergency rooms at Children’s Hospital began to fill

with people wanting to be tested for the coronavirus, the troops were reposted to help with screening.

The work they do is literally on the front line of the epidemic, meeting people as they drive onto the hospital grounds, taking their temperatures and asking a series of questions to help determine whether they need to be tested. Do you have any immuno-deficiencies? How about symptoms like a headache or loss of taste?

Have you been exposed to someone who does have COVID-19?

A high temperature or exposure to an infected person are often automatic tests, but getting a sense of each person’s general wellness helps as well.

“When we got there, the ER originally had three 2-person shifts,” Pipkin said. But as patient numbers increased, the National Guard asked for troops to volunteer, and they expanded their staffing by early April to two 5-person shifts, giving everyone a little more breathing room.

Airman Ayana Thompson, a freshman at the university, stepped up.

“I never anticipated anything like COVID-19,” she said about joining the Air National Guard. “When I was asked to volunteer, I said of course. I would do anything to help.”

She said she had been debating what to major in during her first year at the

April 3

April 8

University summer camps are canceled and all summer classes will continue to be taught remotely.

The Board of Trustees votes to keep tuition and fees flat for the coming fall. The Fayetteville campus will offer pro-rated credits to students for room and board costs after the closing of campus housing.

20 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

The Long Empty (continued)

university, but her experience working with fellow medics and the hospital doctors has her leaning strongly toward the public health major in the College of Education and Health Professions.

The National Guard troops also have provided additional help to various communities whenever a bump in cases is noticed through mobile triage. A crew of four — a driver, nurse and two medics — packs a van with test gear and personal protection equipment and heads out to help, everywhere from Mountain Home to Dumas and from Texarkana to Marianna.

Private Allen Smith, a freshman biology pre-med major from Pine Bluff, said they’ve been seeing 150 to 180 people a day although it slows down a bit on the weekends.

When there’s a lull, he enjoys talking with the doctors and fellow National Guard medics on his shift. There’s someone new each day and getting to know them has been fulfilling. That same gregariousness leads him to enjoy meeting the patients coming to the hospital.

Tests packaged for review.

Photo by Eric Pipkin

“I personally enjoy interacting with the people, especially people who are a little worried about the COVID-19 thing,” he said. “Talking with them helps reduce that worry and lets them know that things are going to be OK.”

The drive-through testing bay at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Photo by Eric Pipkin

April 9

April 10

Richard “Donut” Richards, a nose guard for the Razorback football team during the early 1980s, dies of COVID-19 in Little Rock.

The worldwide death toll passes 100,000.

Dozens and dozens, perhaps hundreds and hundreds of graduating students — no one really counted — created a slowmotion commencement on Friday and Saturday, the two days that had originally been set aside for the real but canceled commencement processions. Instead, a long spread-out parade of families and friends took pictures of students in their caps and gowns on the front steps of Old Main, each family indulging the previous with patience and no small measure of pride for someone whom they just met.

They were photos that could have been taken in the backyard under an arbor. No one had to make the trip to Old Main, but it was a place that beckoned true hearts for a last visit.

They called the Hogs, they picnicked on the front lawn, they helped dad find his name on Senior Walk, they popped corks till the brick walks were sticky with champagne, they threw glitter confetti in the air and cheered for their fellow graduates, many of them strangers until this spontaneous moment of shared celebration over the years of diligent classwork, late nights at the library and nearly two months of remote learning.

At 5 p.m. the chimes of Old Main began ringing their slow, somber melody of the “Alma Mater,” and four women in mortar boards waved their arms and chimed in, singing SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 21

Determined to Help

Uncommon Times Audax at Sapiens

BY KENDALL CURLEE

raetor Lynda Coon, dean P of the Honors College, recites the Latin oath with seniors while Prashant Anand, a graduate student, waits to play the French horn.

Photo Submitted

To see socially distanced history in the making, the curious can still watch the ceremony on the Honors College Facebook page at bit.ly/honorscommonroom.

The Honors College hosted a top-secret ceremony for its graduating seniors, which, thanks to the current digital campus format, was, in fact, not so top secret this year. Ninety students tuned in live to watch the ceremonies on the Honors College Facebook page, and by the end of the week, 800 had viewed the page.

The Senior Common Room was established last year as a way for the Honors College to celebrate its graduating seniors, all of whom must maintain at least a 3.5 GPA throughout their college career, participate in rigorous honors coursework and complete an honors thesis project to graduate with Latin

April 11

Arkansas receives its first shipment of personal protection equipment for health care workers.

22 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

honors. All honors graduates receive a cloisonné pin embossed with the motto “Audax at Sapiens,” meaning Bold but Wise, a fitting phrase for these bright and imperturbable young scholars. Normally, seniors participating in the Common Room induction ceremony would receive this pin in person, but this year, the Honors College did things a little bit differently.

Pins were mailed out to the students, who had the option to participate in a virtual induction ceremony presided over

by Honors College Dean Lynda Coon and her Honor Guard, before whom seniors recited an oath, in Latin, to uphold the ideals of the Senior Common Room, lest their souls be condemned to a uniquely Razorback-styled form of torture.

Awe and surprise were the order of the day, as well as an induced eye-roll here and there. But that’s how Dean Coon, who has frequently been described by students as “extra,” likes it: “We took all the necessary social distancing precautions to keep the induction ceremony safe for those involved,” she said, “But that didn’t mean we couldn’t still have a bit of solemn fun. It sounds like a paradox – I assure you, it was not.”

“You want campy?” Dean Coon added, muttering something about goblets and plague masks. “We’ll give you campy.”

April 14

The number of cases in America passes 600,000 and the number of deaths passes 25,000.

The Long Empty (continued)

once again the lyrics: “Pure as the dawn on the brow of thy beauty…,” a nostalgic homage to a place, an idea, a tradition — of learning, of service and of looking forward.

Two graduates from Rogers — Kimi Davis and Tony Roller — took their turn on the steps while a third friend took photos. Davis, who played on the Razorback volleyball team as a freshman, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in career and education technology. She’s hoping to land a coaching job in the region, preferably with a volleyball team at one of the high schools. Roller earned a Bachelor of Biomedical Engineering as an honors student and is planning further studies at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

After pictures at Old Main, they were off to the Chi Omega Greek Theatre for more pictures and last reminiscences.

Caroline Rhomberg, a member of the Honors College from Fort Smith, posed while her mother, Dana Rhomberg, took photos. Caroline earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and plans to continue

Above left: Caroline Rhomberg, an industrial engineering honors major from Fort Smith, is photographed by her mother Dana Rhomberg. Above: Tony Roller and Kimi Davis, both from Rogers, take their turn on the Old Main steps.

Photos by Charlie Alison

study in that field as a Fulbright Scholar in a master’s degree program at Ghent University in Belgium.

For the Class of 2021, she said, “Take every moment you can to soak in everything because it will be done before you know it. And then pay it forward.”

As evening approached, the line of graduates dwindled and then disappeared. The shadows of Old Main stretched across the green grass of the front lawn and darkness covered the firmament. ¡

April 18

April 22

Gov. Asa Hutchinson appoints an Economic Recovery Task Force with Steuart Walton as chair and Hunter Yurachek, vice chancellor and director of athletics, as a member.

The first known deaths in Washington County occur. The university will provide housing space to emergency responders who need to self-isolate from their families.

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 23

Determined to Help

Olympic Reset

Arkansas Alumni Adjust to Delayed Competition

BY SHAWN PRICE

ominique Scott, running D for the Republic of South Africa, competes in the 10,000-meter final at Rio in 2016.

Photo: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

An Olympic year for a track and field athlete involves plenty of planning in terms of training, competitions and various logistics. These plans often start a year, or even two, prior to the Olympic season in hopes of lining up everything for peak performance to earn a medal on the global stage.

With the pandemic causing a postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games until the summer of 2021, calendars were reset amid a timeframe where the world is under a stay-in-place situation. With normal training facilities at universities no longer available, athletes utilize whatever they can to continue some form of training.

Omar McLeod, who trains in Jacksonville, Florida, is the defending Olympic champion in the 110-meter hurdles. He became the first Jamaican male to claim gold in the event in 2016, and then won the 2017 World Championships title as well.

“I do believe that postponing the Games to 2021 is the best solution for all athletes,” McLeod stated. “We just need to stay motivated and keep aspiring. I truly feel for all us athletes who have been working tirelessly to accomplish the goals we’ve set for this year. One of those common goals is obviously the Olympic Games.”

Sandi Morris, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist and 2018 World Indoor gold medalist in the pole vault, normally trains at the University of Arkansas with Razorback assistant coach Bryan Compton.

She returned home and had an opportunity to build a pole vault runway with her father near Greenville, South Carolina. It’s situated between a soccer field and a tennis court on neighborhood land two blocks from her parents’ place.

“There are tons of houses that can see the field from their windows,” said Morris. “So, I’m being literal when I say they’re going to watch me from their windows. It will be fun.”

This project has been in the back of her mind for ages since Morris would always

April 28

April 30

The university partners with state and local organizations to provide free online workforce development courses for unemployed or dislocated Arkansans.

Chancellor Joe Steinmetz updates the campus on plans for the use of funding from the federal CARES Act to help students affected by the disruption of classes.

24 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

Running for Jamaica, Omar McLeod wins the 100-meter hurdles in the finals of the 2016 Olympics Photo: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

venture home and wouldn’t be able to stay long because she had to return to practice.

“This virus kind of pushed us to do something that we’ve always wanted to do,” Morris noted.

As a distance runner Dominique Scott can still access the trails she enjoys training on in Boulder, Colorado, as can Nikki Hiltz, a middle-distance runner who is based in San Diego.

“Not much has changed: The life of a runner, it’s go for a run and go home,” Hiltz stated.

Scott, who represents South Africa, competed in the 10,000m at the 2016 Olympics and in the 5,000m at the 2019 World Championships. Meanwhile, Hiltz made her initial United States team this past year, winning the Pan American Games and reaching the 1,500m finals at the World Championships.

“I really feel like I am in a good place now to compete on the world stage,” said Scott, who was named to South Africa’s provisional Olympic team back in November of 2019. “So, definitely upset and sad. I do realize that it’s not the end of the world. We’re still going to get our Olympics, but it’s going to be later than expected. I realize that it’s for the greater good and the right decision.”

Hiltz commented: “It’s definitely disappointing, but I definitely support it. I had a lot of momentum in 2019 — it was the best year of my life. I was excited to have it lead into an Olympic year.

“Making the World Championships gave me a taste. I got to wear the USA jersey. It really motivated me to want to make the Olympic team. The best athletes in the world are the ones who can be adaptive. I’ve got to be adaptable to this.”

andi Morris celebrates her S silver medal in the women’s pole vault during the 2016 Olympics.

Photo: Andrew P. Scott-USA TODAY Sports

May 4

May 8-9

The Board of Trustees approves a plan to process and distribute $7.7 million in student aid to University of Arkansas students. The board also approves a resolution of intent to have on-campus classes in the fall.

Alumni, students, faculty and staff wear the cardinal colors for Red Out, one way to celebrate the graduates of 2020. In the evening, Razorback Stadium and the Arkansas Alumni Association’s are lit up in red lights both nights and a cascade of graduates pose for photos.

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 25

Determined to Help

Razorback Road

Forty-Eight Hours That Changed Sports

BY KEVIN TRAINOR ★ B.A.’94, M.A.’05

A moment. That is all it takes. When it comes to sports, a moment can feel like a lifetime. That is what we love about sports. It is also the thing that can make us anguish about fleeting opportunities missed. If just for a second here or there, things could look much differently than they did just a moment ago.

Whether it was the ticks of the clock as Scotty Thurman’s three-pointer fell from the heavens to bury Duke in the 1994 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game or the handful of seconds it took for Matt Jones’ pass to find DeCori Birmingham in the back of the end zone at War Memorial Stadium in the famed Miracle on Markham, history isn’t necessarily defined by a specific length of time.

The same can be said off the field as well. After more than three decades working in intercollegiate athletics, I have become accustomed to unexpected changes, the landscape shifting suddenly. As a college junior working in the sports information office, I sat in the room as Jack Crowe participated in his weekly Sunday 2 p.m. press conference following a devastating 1992 opening season loss to The Citadel. By 5 p.m., he was no longer the head football coach at the University of Arkansas.

Add to that countless other moments that have altered our course as Razorbacks, suddenly and drastically.

From the tragic deaths of Brandon Burlsworth and Garrett Uekman to the 24 hours of Dana Altman and a motorcycle wreck that will live in infamy, all of these challenging times have shaped who we are and most importantly who we will be.

As the morning turned to afternoon on Wednesday, March 11, the winds of uncertainty began swirling.

Earlier in the week, a case of COVID-19 had been discovered near Nashville and there were discussions about how it might impact the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament. Arkansas was scheduled to play Vanderbilt in the opening round and by the time the Hogs and Commodores took the court, both teams knew it would be the last game played with fans. The SEC had made an announcement that all sporting events through March 30, including games in the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament, would be played in front of only required personnel and family members of the student-athletes starting on Thursday.

That decision had come down late in the day, well after the first pitch of the Arkansas-Grand Canyon baseball game at Baum-Walker Stadium. Little did we know that when a bouncing ball ended up as a 5-4-3 double play, it would not only clinch a 10-9 win, but would eventually mark the end of the baseball season. For the moment, Razorback student-athletes and fans celebrated win No. 700 for Coach Dave Van Horn at Arkansas. A touching retrospective video tribute ran on the video board at Baum-Walker Stadium as the team huddled up in shallow left field.

As our minds began to wrap around the idea of playing in empty venues, the ‘Shot Heard Around the Sporting World’ signaled a new day. Although emanating from the NBA, it was not a dagger three-pointer or a dunk, in fact the stunner came before the game even tipped. First a game was postponed and then came the word from the NBA that Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz had tested positive for COVID-19. The NBA announced it would shut down immediately. Suddenly, everything we thought we knew was out the window.

May 9

May 12

Hundreds of students make their way to campus with families to have their pictures made in front of Old Main.

The first stage of returning to campus begins with guidelines set for resumption of critical and time-sensitive research.

Meanwhile faculty and staff research best practices for bringing other aspects of campus back to life on the Hill.

26 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

Working with contingencies has become a way of life.

Even as I hurriedly packed my suitcase on Thursday morning for a trip to Little Rock and then on to Starkville to join the baseball team, I wondered if it was going to be needed. By 9 a.m., it was becoming clear, things were moving, but not in a way that required a suitcase. In Nashville, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey had gathered athletics directors, university presidents and chancellors to discuss the latest developments. With the first game of Thursday’s quarterfinal round of the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament set for mid-day, a decision by high noon loomed.

Back home, a group of us gathered in the conference room to discuss contingency plans of our own. At 9 a.m., the discussions were different. Who were essential employees to staff events and how would be handle accommodating families? Was it going to be immediate family only allowed into home events or could grandmother or cousins make the cut? Before one question could be fully voiced, another forged ahead and interrupted. An issue discussed a few minutes prior, became a moot point merely 10 minutes later.

Word emerged from Nashville that things were likely to change again. It appeared that athletics competition as we knew it in the SEC was getting ready to stop – at least for the time being. But until it was official, there were things to deal with. Both track and field teams were already in New Mexico for the NCAA Indoor meet, and baseball was scheduled to board a plane for Starkville at 2 p.m.

Meanwhile Penn State had left campus and was arriving at the airport to fly to Fayetteville for Friday’s gymnastics meet. Should they board the plane for Fayetteville?

Finally, it came down. The SEC would suspend all athletics competition until at least March 30. A charter plane sitting at Drake Field in Fayetteville would carry Razorbacks, but not the baseball team. Instead it headed to Nashville to get the men’s basketball team who would be back on campus rather than back on the Bridgestone Arena Court.

May 27

The number of American deaths confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention passes 100,000.

In the whirl of activity to get teams home, hotels canceled, and other arrangements made, a stunning announcement from the NCAA came as unexpectedly as a tsunami during low tide. Some media headlines concealed the punch – NCAA cancels men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. A major announcement, but underneath that first wave was the harsh reality that all winter and spring sport NCAA championships would not be played for the remainder of the year. Where do you go from here?

By Friday, the answer was abundantly clear. By early afternoon, the SEC announced it had suspended all athletics activities, practice, workouts, and games until at least April 15. The following Tuesday, the ending that nobody wanted, but everyone expected, came to fruition.

The 2019-20 competitive year was over, even as our uncertainty was just beginning.

In hindsight, it would be easy to look back at those 48 hours and say the end result was inevitable. But then again, second guessing is much clearer than discerning things at first glance. The right decisions were made. But even right decisions can hurt.

In the days and weeks to come, many will opine on what the future holds. When will we return to normal?

What will be the impact both on and off the field? But just as the events of the past few weeks have reminded us, the future of sports rarely goes by the script.

At some point, we will file back into Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Bud Walton Arena, Baum-Walker Stadium and Bogle Park. We will reminisce about our lost Razorback spring and tell our kids and grandchildren about when social distancing became a thing.

Most of all, we will remember how we rallied together in this defining moment to face this challenge and cheer on the true heroes, the countless medical professionals, public servants and conduits of simple acts of kindness, that not only help save us today, but also helped preserve the memorable moments of tomorrow.

June 1

Chancellor Joe Steinmetz announces the university’s plan to phase in the return of faculty, staff and students to campus with guides, caveats, limitations and exceptions for how to do it as safely as possible.

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 27

Determined to Help

28 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

Photos by Cheiko Hara and Russell Cothren

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 29

Campus

Passion and Pride Home Away From Home

BY ANNA HOPKIN

My journey to Arkansas hasn’t been the most conventional but it has certainly opened my world up to a whole host of new opportunities that I didn’t know were available to me.

Unlike many other athletes, I haven’t been competing my whole life. I took a break from swimming when I was 13 and didn’t get back into competing until I was 17. My decision to stop swimming was simply because I lost my passion for the sport. I felt a lot of pressure put on me as a 12-year-old to train more and more, and I was constantly scared of being told I wasn’t training hard enough, or my times weren’t good enough. Even though my love for the sport was Anna Hopkin fading, I was still training Courtesy of Razorback Athletics twice a week but hadn’t competed in years. My high school persuaded me to swim a meet for them. I missed my race, but they allowed me to swim the 50 fly with the boys. I ended up beating a lot of them and did a personal best out of the blue. After that, I decided to train a little more and try to qualify for British champs in 2014. I figured this would also help me get on the University of Bath swimming team because I was starting that year. Since it had been so long, I had low expectations for myself and where I could go in my swimming career.

At this point, I was at university in England studying for my undergraduate degree and slowly improving my times. My love for the sport was returning but I didn’t believe in myself and my ability at all. It wasn’t until a few years later that Neil Harper, head coach of Arkansas Swimming and Diving, got in contact with me about coming to the states to do a master’s degree.

I came to visit Arkansas the year before I started. It was the only university I visited, and I knew instantly it was going to be the place for me. Before I visited, I never 30 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

really considered the states as an option. I was ultimately drawn in by Neil, the team, the coaches, support staff and the amazing facilities available to me.

Neil has certainly been the driving force behind my success. He has such big dreams for where I could go in the sport that I didn’t believe could be possible. When he started talking about aiming for the World Championship team and then the Olympic team, I thought he was crazy. He believed in me so much more than I ever did in myself, but as with so many things during my time at Arkansas, he was right.

Throughout my time at the U of A, I have constantly been overwhelmed by the support available to me.

The atmosphere at college meets is electric and it brings out the best in me. I can’t believe how much I have been able to achieve. Being able to compete at the 2019 NCAAs was one of my proudest moments. Representing the Razorbacks and becoming a two-time All-American in the 50 and 100 freestyle felt like I was giving back to a program that had given so much to me.

Collegiate sports in America are a different world to me because you are swimming for something bigger than yourself. The overwhelming sense of pride when any one of your teammates achieves one of their goals is honestly a feeling I wouldn’t change for anything. We are one team and we all share in each other’s successes and disappointments. This is what gives us such a strong bond. My teammates are my best friends, and I’m so grateful to have met every single one of them.

Although I’m sad that my time at Arkansas has come to an end, and earlier than expected due to the current circumstances, I will always be a Razorback at heart.

Thank you to my Razorback family and GO HOGS!

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 31

Campus

Coach Eddie Sutton in the 1980s.

Eddie Sutton

A Coach Who Became a Father Figure to Razorbacks Dies at Age 84

BY MIKE CAWOOD

Former men’s basketball coach Eddie Sutton, who led the Razorbacks to their first national prominence, died May 23 in Tulsa. He was 84.

“Coach Sutton is an integral part of the history of Razorback basketball,” said Hunter Yurachek, vice chancellor and director of athletics. “Coach Sutton helped transform the way our state thought about college basketball and provided Razorback fans with countless memories. His legacy is not only shaped by his many victories and championships, but also by the immeasurable impact he made in the lives of the young men who called him ‘Coach.’ The thoughts and prayers of the entire Razorback nation are with Steve, Scott, Sean and the entire Sutton family.”

Sutton was scheduled to be honored as one of the newest members elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame during festivities in August.

He spent 36 years as an NCAA Division I basketball coach and became the first coach to take four schools to the NCAA Tournament. He was a four-time National Coach of the Year and compiled a career coaching record of 806-326.

In 1974, Sutton took over the Arkansas program and, over the next 11 seasons, he compiled a record of 26032 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

75, including five Southwest Conference championships, nine NCAA Tournament appearances and a Final Four appearance in 1978. Sutton helped lead the Razorbacks to national prominence, including coaching the famed Triplets – Sidney Moncrief, Ron Brewer and Marvin Delph – Joe Kleine, Scott Hastings, Alvin Robertson, Darrell Walker, and numerous other Razorback greats.

His Arkansas winning percentage of .776 is the highest in the history of the Southwest Conference. He is a member of both the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor, the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame. In 2011, Sutton was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Missouri. In 2016, the University of Arkansas honored Sutton with a banner in Bud Walton Arena.

In May 2019, the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees adopted a resolution to name the men’s practice gym at the University of Arkansas’ Basketball Performance Center in Sutton’s honor.

Sutton was the third representative from the University of Arkansas in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and second in as many years. Last year’s class included Sidney Moncrief while Nolan Richardson, who followed Sutton as Razorback head coach, was inducted in 2014.

Around the World with

Razorbacks on Tour MEMBERS, ALUMNI, FRIENDS AND FAMILY - ANYONE CAN TRAVEL WITH RAZORBACKS ON TOUR

We look forward to a time when we can travel around the world together once again.

Until then, please enjoy some images from our past adventures.

For more photos, visit our digital scrapbook at https://bit.ly/2VMExyy.

Updates for the alumni travel program can be found at www.arkansasalumni.org/travel.

Campus

Patience in the Moment A Letter to COVID-19

BY SHAUNA TAYLOR IMMUNOCOMPROMISED GOLF COACH

Dear COVID-19, As a wife, mother, daughter, coach and friend, I never thought I would be spending my spring season in my house homeschooling, recruiting online, cleaning and constantly worrying about the health and well-being of my family, players, and friends.

For me, Aug. 26, 2019, came so quickly. My first goal as a coach was to get in tune with a new group of Arkansas women golfers. I needed to figure out how I was going to once again develop a culture of excellence while juggling being a wife and mom. Our staff worked tirelessly to pour into our team as we knew losing four amazing seniors the previous year would be our biggest challenge, but we were ready! We created a plan to help grow our group in more than just golf. We had a new team motto – “Powered by LOVE” – and little did we know that this would be something that would foreshadow our future needs. My goal as a coach has always been a wholistic approach in developing our players. I have seen time and time again that when investing in this complete model, golf will always improve along the journey. We went back to the basics and were committed to laying a foundation for our future by developing our team in all areas. We made progress each week and headed into the holiday break with momentum and an eagerness to return in January.

I spent the holiday time as usual: with a great family Christmas, which included Santa for Grace and a trip to Arizona to recruit. The world was turning normally as I headed to Guadalajara, Mexico, for the Mexican Women’s Amateur golf tournament to watch our future Razorbacks, but also help most of our team get primed and ready for competition. We scraped off the rust and were able to identify areas of improvement before our first event of the spring. The momentum was building, and keeping the eye on post-season was a part of my daily plan for our team. I knew with a young team that the victories would lie in the daily improvements and growth of each young woman.

We were winning the daily battle!

34 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

We headed to our first event of the spring in Mexico with an eagerness to get started. We had just been there a few weeks prior, and we knew it was a great starting point for an exciting spring season. We competed hard, but walked away a bit short of the ultimate goal of winning.

We did not take the trophy, but we made tremendous strides towards our goals of post-season contention.

After two weeks at home, we headed to South Carolina to one of our favorite events of the year: The Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. It’s an amazing tournament, as (assistant coach) Mike (Adams) and I return to our home state of South Carolina. We are also afforded the opportunity to stay with a former chancellor of the University of Arkansas, Dr. and Mrs. John White. The field was loaded, and we knew it was going to be a great test. We were able to compete, learn and walk away a better team by garnering another Top-10 finish. We were battled tested on a championship golf course—this was a great event to help prepare us for our postseason goals. We returned Sunday, March 8, at 11:45 p.m., with ambition to prep for our next event in Arizona. Practice, workouts and school resumed as normal on Tuesday, March 10, but I began to realize that the world around us was changing by the hour as your spread around the world was now more recognizable. My focus was getting our team academically caught up and trying to determine our lineup for our event in Arizona.

On Wednesday, March 11, as I was prepping for practice at our normal 2 p.m. start, we received a message from our Director of Athletics, Hunter Yurachek, that changes were coming and we should start preparing for some adjustments in our competitions moving forward due to COVID-19. Less than two hours later, we were informed that commercial airline travel would be suspended by the university and that we would need to look into private air travel and/or a bus charter for our future competitions. No big deal! I was actually excited because this made our trip to Arizona easier and convenient. We put a plan in place to make this happen

and continued to train and prep for putting together a lineup to help us accomplish our goal of winning.

Around 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 12, we received another message that all competitions were cancelled through March 30, 2020. At this moment, I started to realize the severity of the pandemic you were creating. As a society, I think we always operate with a mindset of “out of sight, out of mind,” and this reaction to you was an absolute overreaction. I was angry that we weren’t going to be able to compete in Arizona. I had many thoughts running through my mind: “Why us? We are a golf team and COVID-19 will never impact our sport!” Little did I know what was ahead of us.

Our team proceeded with 6:15 a.m. workouts on Thursday and were excited about a great day of practice starting at 2:30 p.m. We were committed to preparing for the next tournament in Mississippi at the beginning of April. We were about four holes into our on-course practice when I received a Twitter notification that all NCAA Championships for spring sports had been cancelled. My first reaction was, this can’t be true and someone had hacked the NCAA Twitter handle. When I told my team mid-practice, they were devastated. I kept searching for every way I could deem this news unreal.

A few minutes later, Hunter messaged all head coaches to confirm that this was true and that we would meet on Friday as a staff to discuss.

On Friday, March 13, we met as a group of head coaches with a lot of questions, concerns and uncertainty.

The room was filled with devastation and heartbreak. We all began to realize that the work we started in August was going to come to an abrupt halt, and the vision of our season goals was on the back burner. As a coach, you work so hard to pour into a team so they are performing their best when April and May come around. Our team was hitting its stride and it was all brought to an abrupt stop. What did our future look like? Would we be able to train? Would we be able to play a SEC Championship?

Would our team be allowed to continue to grow despite the news we were given? As the realization set in, we all began to recognize that this COVID-19 might be for real.

Our biggest competition was going to be preparing and fighting this virus for our families and student-athletes.

It was becoming more important for us to battle and one that has come with a lot of uncertainty.

I spent the rest of Friday, March 13, developing a plan and response that kept the safety and well-being of our team at the forefront of our decisions. Should our athletes stay or should they return home? Should we connect with their families to see that what they would like or should

we keep them all here in hopes we could train sometime in the near future? We wanted our athletes’ parents to determine their next move. No matter what they decided, we would support them in making sure they were safe and cared for.

Almost our entire team is back home safely and for the few who are in town, we have implemented plans to ensure they are taken care of in every aspect.

While I have had almost one week to sit at home with my husband and little girl, I have taken the time to try and process what has happened and how suddenly our season plan was no longer applicable. I am a planner by nature and not being prepared for this has been very unsettling for me. I like to be in control, and I always want to make sure those I lead and care for feel safe and loved. I can see the stress plaguing my team and others, and I have these inner dialogues with myself to ensure I am displaying calmness and hope.

As I sit and continue to reflect, I recognize for the first time in my career that my plan wasn’t the plan we were all following. I am having to adapt and adjust to having the leaders of our country guide me and my family along this journey. Are they well equipped to show us the way? Do they have the ability to implement decisions that could have lifetime implications? My hope is that by following their recommendations my family, my team and our loved ones will come out on the other side of the pandemic healthy and ready for a normal day.

I am really trying to stay patient and embrace what has been given to us. I get the chance to wake up every morning and make breakfast for my little girl, read books to her, go on bike rides, teach her the solar system, do yoga and sit at the kitchen table with her and my husband and do a puzzle together. I haven’t slowed down this much in the last 18 years and now I am getting to be the mom I have always wanted to be to our little girl. I’m soaking up the self-imposed quarantine as it has reminded me that our plan we create at the beginning of each season can be taken away with one virus like yourself.

COVID-19, you are taking your toll on all of us around the world. As a coach, I know you will eventually lose and we will outsmart you someday very soon. But, maybe just as important, I need to thank you for making me slow down and recognize that we are all more than our jobs.

The time spent at home has truly taught me the team motto that we adopted back in August is one of the most positive phrases I can hold true during your time here: Powered by LOVE!

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 35

LEFT: Gary Peters and the newly named William Dillard Department of Accounting BELOW: William T. Dillard

Names and Numbers What’s in a naming? For the newly named William Dillard Department of Accounting, it means extensive benefits to the department, its faculty and its students.

Thanks to a gift commitment of $10 million from William T. Dillard II, current chairman and chief executive officer of Dillard’s Inc., the accounting department in the Sam M. Walton College of Business is now named in his father’s memory. The William Dillard Department of Accounting is one of only two named departments on the University of Arkansas campus and will have a transformational impact on its development.

“In accounting, we teach our students the importance of strategic budgeting processes within organizations,” said department chair Gary Peters. “Endowments allow us to do the very same thing in our own department. They allow us to identify, plan and support mission-critical and aspirational activities.”

Peters is familiar with the impact of endowments. As the S. Robson Walton Endowed Professor, he has the opportunity to assist students, reach alumni, elevate the university’s reputation in accounting and interact with others in the accounting profession, thanks to his own endowed position.

“These opportunities fill me with an incredible amount of pride and gratitude to be a part of the University of Arkansas,” he said. “Endowments at the university produce compounding returns for Arkansas and society at large. As a result, we are all allowed to be a part of the larger purpose or story. This is one of the reasons why my family chooses to include the university in our own annual giving plans.”

The late William T. Dillard, who graduated from the

university’s College of Business Administration in 1935 with an accounting degree, was responsible for the development of one of the nation’s retail giants. The department named in his memory has four strategic focus areas: advancing student success, fulfilling our research mission, affirming the Arkansas flagship and developing leaders of the accounting profession. Peters says each of these areas involve students, faculty, alumni and external constituents, and the department’s new endowment will allow them to support each of these groups in ways that could not be done previously.

“While most people might view the university through the lens of the classroom, our functions and impact reach much further,” he said. “Hundreds of students already benefit from Mr. Dillard’s generosity every year, but now thousands of students, the accounting profession and the Arkansas business economy will continue to benefit for years to come.

As a member of Arkansas’ flagship university, the accounting department has a storied history of contributions to Arkansas’ accounting profession. The Dillard gift expands those contributions and opportunities for students as a nationally recognized program.

“Similar to the adage ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,’ endowments not only provide the fishing poles, they produce generations of individuals who pass along the lessons.”

The Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry continued to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic and served the entire university community thanks to support from individuals and organizations like the Women’s Giving Circle.

Circle to Circle The Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry has always been an important initiative to the Women’s Giving Circle.

The pantry received $8,250 from the circle for their Baskets of Hope program in 2013, a $25,000 grant in 2015 and $6,000 in 2016 for their Cooking for the Future program. So when the group found out about the challenges being faced by the pantry during the COVID-19 crisis, they decided to take action.

The circle’s annual voting event is typically scheduled for the fall, but an emergency vote was sent out to the membership to determine if funding could be provided to the pantry sooner in this special circumstance.

“The Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry relies solely on donations to our account and donations of goods to operate at the capacity in which we have been so fortunate to operate these past nine years,” said Sage McCoy, food programs coordinator for the Center for Community Engagement. “The COVID-19 related campus closures and risks have caused us to cancel all of the large-scale campus food drives that we would have had in the spring semester to keep our shelves stocked.”

This spring, the pantry found itself spending about $1,200 per week stocking up on shelf stable goods from the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank and other local grocers.

Through the end of April, they had spent nearly 10 times the amount they typically spend in a given year on purchasing additional supplies.

“Students moved out of residence halls, but Fayetteville is still full of undergraduate and graduate students who live here year-round,” McCoy said. “Additionally, several staff members

found themselves financially challenged, so it’s important to us to fill that gap for those hard-working individuals.”

From April 13 through April 22, McCoy noted that more than 43 percent of the visitors to the pantry were visiting them for the first time.

Presented with these facts, voting members of the Women’s Giving Circle unanimously approved emergency funding to support the pantry. A $5,000 grant was issued, and the circle challenged its members to contribute individually to the pantry as well. These contributions raised another $7,770 for the pantry, and that amount was matched up to $5,000 by the Women’s Giving Circle, bringing their total support of the pantry to $17,770.

“The Women’s Giving Circle has a history of supporting projects and programs that address food insecurity,” said Caroline Rochelle, president of the circle. “Over the years, the Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry has been incredible stewards of the grants they have received and have put the money to use to help those in need. These are fundamental priorities of the Women’s Giving Circle, so we were happy to be able to step in during this difficult time and support this program further.”

The Women’s Giving Circle was created by the founding members of the Women in Philanthropy Committee of the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century. Since 2003, the circle has awarded over $1.4 million in funding to faculty and staff members from various departments and academic units at the university. This year marks the 18th year of funding for the circle.

Alumni

Farewell

President’s Message

Photo by University Relations

So, this is my final contribution as president to the Arkansas Alumni Association’s magazine. These past two years have flown by, and I find that I am a little sad it is all coming to an end.

It has been a fabulous experience. Over the past few months, so many events were canceled that it seems as though there is no way to connect with other people. But, in fact, the Arkansas Alumni Association is continuing to be your connection to the University of Arkansas.

Even in our current COVID-19 circumstances, I am finding ways to connect with fellow alumni through Zoom Happy Hours, Lunch and Learns, and local chapter Board meetings. I hope you are able to do the same. If the current circumstances persist into the publication of this magazine edition, the Alumni Association will continue to meet alumni and friends’ needs in whatever ways they can.

I feel for the students who are graduating this year. Many were unable to complete projects, whether they be athletic seasons, internships, study abroad, or any other special projects that required travel or competition. Missing the traditional graduation is sad for families and students alike (although there are some who are glad they don’t have to go!).

But, in the end, events will return.

People will be moving on with their lives, both work and social.

I am most excited about the next time I am able to gather with my fellow alumni and friends at a Razorback football game or another sporting event. Truly, our returns to regular life will remind us of just how precious moments together are.

I am so proud of the Arkansas Alumni Association staff. They have gone above and beyond in helping me navigate the many roads the president must travel during their tenure. I thank you all for being there anytime I called. I also thank my fellow Board of Directors members.

These people give of their time with the only reward being the satisfaction each of us gets from giving back all that we can to the University of Arkansas. It has been an honor to serve with each of you!

Thank you to Brandy Cox Jackson, the executive director of the Arkansas Alumni Association. You have led the association through some tough times, but your steadfastness to making it the best alumni association is showing enormous strides.

You are a good friend and I will miss our regular chats.

Finally, thank you to all of the alumni and friends out there. I am privileged to have met so many of you over the past two years, and I always love talking to people who love the university and the Hogs as much as I do. I cherish the connections I have made with each of you.

Wooo Pig,

Teena Gunter, ✪ J.D.’92, LL.M.’97 President, Arkansas Alumni Association

38 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

Exercising Flexibility

2020 Arkansas Alumni Scholarship Review

BY PATTI SANDERS ✪+ B.S.A. ’08

“The Arkansas Alumni Association is proud to connect and serve the University of Arkansas family. Tell why being a member of the ‘University of Arkansas family’ is important to you.”

This is one question in the Alumni Association scholarship application. The scholarship application itself moved online in 2016. Since then, a major portion of the reviews have also moved online, engaging a larger number of alumni across the nation. Because of COVID-19, the entire 2020 scholarship review process moved online and highlighted one reason being part of the University of Arkansas family is important to our students.

We wished we could have continued the tradition of hosting the second-round reviews of incoming freshman applications in-house this year. We missed the delight of renewing friendships and catching up in person, as well as sharing together the potential we see in the next group of Razorbacks. What we experienced instead was the continued support of more than 170 alumni across the country exercising flexibility as the second round of reviews was moved online to facilitate social distancing for safety.

From the 400 incoming freshman applications, these dedicated alumni have selected two new Alumni Endowed Scholars, 10 new Board of Directors Scholarship recipients, 27 recipients of the Razorback Generations Scholarship, 23 Arkansas Alumni Association Membership Funded Scholarship recipients, 33 new “Roads Scholars” (recipients of the U of A Alumni Association License Plate Scholarship), along with numerous alumni chapters and societies scholarship recipients. These new alumni scholars join the University of Arkansas family along the hundreds of alumni scholars who work hard and retain their renewable alumni scholarships. When we are able to visit in person again, we hope you will take advantage of opportunities throughout the year like our Hog Wild Tailgates to connect with them.

We are thankful for the outpouring of support from our alumni members and the joy of connecting with new members of the University of Arkansas family. To learn more about how you can connect with the University of Arkansas family through the alumni scholarship program, contact your Arkansas Alumni Association by emailing alumnisp@uark.edu or calling Patti Sanders, associate director of alumni scholarships, at 479-575-6391.

Koesha Davis

Shaelyn Frauenhoffer

Emirra Harris

Nabiha Khetani

Eunyko Kim

Daniel Koonce

Marcus Logan

Mika Sood

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 39

Alumni

Cardinal & White Celebration Class of 2020

BY CATHERINE BALTZ ✪+ B.S.’92, M.ED.’07

The Alumni Association has recognized outstanding seniors for more than 50 years. For the past five years, that recognition has included a spring awards celebration known as the Cardinal & White Banquet. This year the association had to adjust its plans in this time of gathering together, separately. The staff of the Arkansas Alumni Association worked with the office of University Relations and Chancellor Joe Steinmetz to honor our outstanding seniors with a virtual Cardinal & White Celebration, which premiered on the association’s YouTube channel on April 30 and is available for viewing at www.arkansasalumni.org/seniorawards.

During the celebration, the Arkansas Alumni Association recognized the Class of 2020 Razorback Classic Awardees. This class represents the top 10 female and top 10 male graduating seniors at the University of Arkansas for the academic year. Students were selected from among 71 Seniors of Significance honored recently

for academic excellence, demonstrated leadership and co-curricular involvement.

This year’s class of winners includes representatives from a variety of academic disciplines. Arkansans make up a significant number of recipients with 12 students hailing from the state. Other locations represented are Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

Each of the Razorback Classic awardees was sent a special package that included their Razorback Classic certificate and a printed program for the celebration containing information on each of the recipients and special notes from their mentors. Mentors, chosen by the honorees, are individuals who have made an impact on the students during their time at the University of Arkansas. All of the Razorback Classics received a special honor cord as well as a personalized print of Old Main from King River Fine Arts. They will also be featured in the Razorback Yearbook.

Nicholas Drake Broadbent*

Nicholas “Nick” Foster*

Bailey Corwine

Andrew Greek*

Ashley Paige Cox*

Gillian Gullett*

Bentonville J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and College of Engineering Mentor: James Leylek

Lyndon, Kansas Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Mentor: Cassandra K. Cox

Prairie Grove College of Engineering Mentor: Heather Walker

Edmond, Oklahoma Sam M. Walton College of Business Mentor: John Norwood

Joplin, Missouri College of Engineering Mentor: Christopher Nelson

Little Rock J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Mentor: Kathryn Sloan

* Students who are members of the U of A Honors College.

40 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

John Nolen Hedgecock

Ryan L. Pohlkamp*

Little Rock Sam M. Walton College of Business Mentor: Vikas Anand

Little Rock J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Mentor: Timothy Kral

Eleanor “Elle” Henson*

Mersady C. Redding*

Samia Ismail*

Hudson M. Surber*

Fort Smith College of Engineering Mentor: Raj Raghavendra Rao

Owasso, Oklahoma J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Mentor: Hanna Jensen

Amrit Kannan*

Pranav Suri*

Gabriel Kupovics*

Kate Truitt* ✪

Hot Springs College of Engineering Mentor: Benjamin Runkle

Fort Smith J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Mentor: Suresh Kumar Thallapuranam

Dallas, Texas J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Mentor: Suresh Kumar Thallapuranam

Chimdera Nzelu*

Plano, Texas College of Education and Health Professions Mentor: Jeffrey Murdock

Jared A. Pinkerton* ✪

Farmington J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and Sam M. Walton College of Business Mentor: PJ Martinez

Marshall Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Mentor: Mechelle Bailey

Joplin, Missouri College of Engineering Mentor: Christopher Nelson

Fort Smith Sam M. Walton College of Business Mentor: Molly Rapert

Maya Ungar*

Fayetteville J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Mentor: Laurence Hare

Darci Walton*

Highland Village, Texas J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Mentor: Lynda Coon

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 41

Alumni

SENIOR HONOR CITATION Out of these students, the Arkansas Alumni Association awards its highest student honor, the Senior Honor Citation, to the top male and female. The award was established in 1965 by the Arkansas Alumni Association to recognize a senior male and female student who each exhibit outstanding academic achievement, leadership skills and co-curricular activities at the University of Arkansas.

At the conclusion of the celebration, Chancellor Joe Steinmetz announced the Senior Honor Citation recipients for 2020.

They are Jared A. Pinkerton and Kate Truitt. As the winners of the Senior Honor Citation, Pinkerton and Truitt received life memberships in the Arkansas Alumni Association and permanent recognition on a plaque at the alumni house. They will be invited back to campus to represent their class at events, including speaking at their Senior Walk Dedication.

Jared Pinkerton Jared Pinkerton was the 2019/2020 student body president. In addition to his roles with the Associated Student Government, he was the founder and president of the Theta Chi Fraternity and a distinguished delegate of the Model United Nations in Xi’an, China, among other roles. “I have never met a student as dedicated, determined and enthusiastic as Jared,” said mentor PJ Martinez. “He truly embodies the characteristics of a leader. He serves well, listens closely and advocates for those around him. He sought to unite all organizations across campus, and he successfully created innovative initiatives that boosted the university’s morale. I have been impressed with the way he creates relationships with students and administrators.”

“The Razorback family has the best traditions, opportunity after opportunity, and incredible resources, but what makes it exceptional is the community,” said Pinkerton. “That sense of community is what drives a person to run across a crowded airport and shake the hand of someone wearing Razorback apparel. I am so thankful for this university and everything it has done for me. Being a part of the Razorback family means you are getting a community that will be your support system, an identity that you will wear with a sense of pride, and a place to call home on the Hill.”

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Kate Truitt Kate Truitt held leadership roles across campus including serving as president of the Gamma Nu Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma and vice president of Board Development for the Student Alumni Association. She has been a peer mentor and has held internships with PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Walmart Accounting and Finance Development Program. Her mentor Molly Rapert said, “I think it is safe to say that Kate intentionally chose to leave our university better than she found it, giving more than she took.”

“I’ve learned that being a Razorback means more than shared experiences,” said Truitt. “A Razorback has the qualities that we all desire: toughness, dedication, loyalty and fearlessness. I learned to be tough through watching a classmate’s mom pass away and seeing her continue through school and achieve amazing things despite her loss. I learned dedication by watching my professors give their time and hearts to myself and my peers in each class I attended. I learned loyalty as I served on the Student Alumni Board, which provided a front-row seat to how alumni from all over the world work to make this university the best it can be. I learned to be fearless by walking on Senior Walk each day and seeing thousands of names that have come before me. Those names were not afraid to stand up for what they believed in, be the first in their family to go to school, or even publish research that would change the world forever. I am very thankful to have attended a school that not only pushes me to be a better student but also to be a better person. Regardless of background, age or culture, the Razorback family is a global unit that comes together as one.”

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 43

Alumni

Lunching, Learning, Connecting, and Serving

How the Arkansas Alumni Association’s Lunch & Learn Program is Keeping Us Connected

BY MARY KATE HARRISON ★ B.A.’15,M.A.’17

To connect and to serve. Even during a pandemic, the goals of the Arkansas Alumni Association have not changed; however, as life changes, so too must our methods of connecting and serving the University of Arkansas family.

Regina Hopper

Kristin Jakus

Kay Goss

John Register

Susan Patton

Mark Power

Eric Jones

UAPD

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For the Arkansas Alumni Association, an organization that hosts hundreds of events across the country each year, not having the opportunity to hold the annual Cardinal & White banquet for graduating students, or having to cancel the ArtChalk Arkansas we’d been planning for months with the Central Arkansas Alumni Chapter wasn’t easy. Members of the Alumni Association community and staff thrive on the opportunities we have to see the thousands of alumni that pour in each year to different parties, award recognitions, tailgates and happy hours, so as COVID19 forced the cancellation of nearly all of the association’s planned spring 2020 events, it was imperative to find a new way to interact with our U of A family.

Enter the new “Lunch & Learn” program series. The series was launched with the goal of engaging University of Arkansas alumni, friends and family through weekly, live, online presentations.

During these presentations, a variety of members from the U of A community share one-hour talks on a multitude of topics. With hopes to remain interactive, those who tune in are encouraged to ask the speaker questions, participate in conversation, or just enjoy being together — virtually — with other members of the Razorback community.

Many presenters have volunteered to make the association’s Lunch & Learn program successful.

he Lunch and Learn programs continued in June with presentations from Chancellor Joe Steinmetz; Elecia Smith, executive T director for the IDEALS Institute; and others.

The series kicked off with presentations from Alumni Association National Board Member, Regina Hopper ✪ B.A.’81, J.D.’85, and Razorback men’s and women’s basketball nutritionist, Kristin Jakus.

Kay Goss ✪+ B.A.’63, M.A.’66, former senior assistant for intergovernmental relations for Gov. Bill Clinton, talked about how her experiences and time on the Hill prepared her for her career as the first woman to hold the position of assistant director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This role placed her in charge of national preparedness, training and exercises across the country.

University of Arkansas alumnus, Paralympic silver medalist, Razorback track All-American, and former Alumni Association Johnson Fellow, John Register ★ B.A.’88, gave an empowering presentation on adapting to a new normal, drawing from his own experience having his leg amputated while training for the 1996 Olympics.

Members of the on-campus U of A community have also volunteered to host programs to discuss their expertise

including the director of the U of A’s Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, Susan Patton ✪+ B.S.’74, M.S.’11, Ph.D.’16, and the vice chancellor of advancement, Mark Power ★.

The month of May wrapped with presentations from branding expert and social media strategist Eric Jones B.S.H.E.S.’16, a.k.a. “Doctor Dapper,” and a meet and greet with members of the University of Arkansas Police Department and their K-9 partners.

Though we are disappointed that we haven’t been able to shake hands, high five or call the Hogs in person with alumni and friends, we have found new ways to achieve the association’s goals. The Lunch & Learn program has given us the ability to bring people together while we remain safely apart. The Arkansas Alumni Association will always be here to connect and to serve our U of A family. Methods change, goals don’t.

To register for upcoming Lunch & Learn Sessions and view past presentations on the Arkansas Alumni Association’s YouTube channel, visit www.arkansasalumni.org/learn.

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 45

Events

Running of the Hogs University Recreation and the Student Alumni Association hosted the third annual Running of the Hogs race on Saturday, March 7.

The race included both a 5k and 10k option. More than 320 people ran the race, which took them from the Razorback Gardens, through campus to Old Main and the Greek Theater, and back to the finish at the Razorback gardens.

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Arkansas Connections Luncheon The winter Arkansas Connections Luncheon was hosted by the Dallas Alumni Chapter on Jan. 23. Associate Dean Brent Williams of the Sam M. Walton College of Business presented, along with several of his students, about the McMillon Innovation Studio.

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 47

BLACK

ALUMNI SOCIETY Dear Alumni and Friends, We thank you for the continued support you have provided to the Black Alumni Society during these times. You have volunteered to review scholarship applications, created and provided financial support to BAS scholarships, and supported student success through serving as mentors and presenters. At this time, we know we can’t connect in person, but thank you for staying connected to BAS through our social media platforms.

We look forward to reuniting with you in the future. Please SAVE the DATE, April 16-18, 2021 for the BAS Reunion. We look forward to “Connecting, Inspiring and Engaging” with our members, students, faculty, staff, and friends.

Please stay safe.

With gratitude and for the students,

Ritche Manley Bowden, B.S.I.E. ‘86 Black Alumni Society, President Arkansas Alumni Association, Life Member

Basketball and Baseball Event

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The Houston Alumni Chapter hosted a basketball watch party and baseball pre-game before the Shriners Classic at Flying Saucer Draught Emporium.

We called the Hogs, fellowshiped as we rooted on our teams to victory! The chapter hosted university leadership, university staff members as well as guests from the Razorback Foundation.

Special guests included Chancellor Joe and Sandy Steinmetz; Mark Power, vice chancellor of advancement; Scott Varady B.A. ‘85, executive director and general counsel of the Razorback Foundation; Mary Purvis ✪ B.A. ‘86 M.A. ‘93, director of development for the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design; and professor emeritus Hoyt Purvis ✪.

1. It was a full house of alumni and friends enjoying visiting with each other, watching the basketball game and Calling the Hogs.

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2. Professor Emeritus Hoyt Purvis, Vice Chancellor of Development and Advancement Mark Power, Executive Director and General Council of the Razorback Foundation Scott Varady, and Alumnus Greg Roberts.

3. Alumni Greg Roberts and Craig Grassle are pictured with Director of Development Mary Purvis, Chancellor Joe and Sandy Steinmetz, and Professor Emeritus Hoyt Purvis.

4. The Barborek family enjoyed the Razorback basketball game before walking over to the baseball game. Truly a family and generational affair!

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 49

Events

Shades of Ebony

‘Diversity in the Arts’ Celebrated

Alexis “Broox” Piggee and her mother.

Photo Submitted

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The Black Students Association and the Black Alumni Society Scholars hosted their annual Shades of Ebony event during Black History Month. The theme for this year’s event was “Diversity in Arts.” SOE was sponsored by the Black Alumni Society with the assistance of the School of Art, Center for Multicultural and Diversity Education, and the Student Success Center.

Dai’Trion McKinney, a freshman and art curator, was the inspiration behind “Diversity in the Arts.” Six artists shared their artwork with faculty, staff, students and alumni. The student artists were Markeith Woods, Justice Henderson, Khalil Allen, Haley Tucker, Cianna Rodriguez and Margaret “Maggie” McLemore.

Alexis “Broox” Piggee, BSA/BASS president, and Whitney Kwamin, Black Graduate Students Association president, served as the emcees. Brylea Palmer, BSA/ BASS vice president, gave the welcome.

Kasey Carolina, alumna and former BSA president, gave the occasion. Ethan Godfrey gave a resounding rendition of the Negro National Anthem. Angelique Price, BGSA vice president, gave the Spoken Word for the attendees.

SOE is also known for its Shades of Love Panel. The panelists receive questions from students in reference to dealing with relationships. Panelists and participants were Lindsey Leverett-Higgins, BAS parliamentarian, and Leon Higgins; faculty member Niketa Reed and David Reed; Romona West, director of diversity and inclusion for Fulbright College and Herschel West; Karrie Claybrook, graduate advisor Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and Brandon Claybrook.

In addition to the art show, and the panel, BSA and BASS hosted their annual outstanding student and organization awards. The awards and award recipients are listed.

Dr. John L Colbert and Dr. Barbara Lofton Leadership Awards The Dr. John L Colbert and Dr. Barbara Lofton Leadership Awards are given to two students for displaying exceptional leadership through their involvement and impact on campus. The leadership award also signifies courage and vision shown by two students who actively advocate for positive change on the University of Arkansas campus.

Award Recipients: Delayne Coleman and Kevin Smith Jr. Parice Bowser and Adrian Smith Service Awards The Parice Bowser and Adrian Smith Service Awards are given to two students who have unselfishly given of their time and energy in serving the University of Arkansas campus and community above and beyond normal expectation.

Award Recipients: Frenklyn Piggie and Kyesha Williams

Black Alumni Society, Black Students Association and Black Alumni Society Scholars Photo Submitted

Dr. Yvette Murphy-Erby and Dr. Calvin White Excellence in Education Awards The Dr. Yvette Murphy-Erby and Dr. Calvin White Excellence in Education Awards are given to two students exemplifying outstanding academic accomplishment.

Criteria: • Minimum 3.5 GPA • Demonstrate major accomplishments in academic excellence • Demonstrate outstanding work in research or other academic pursuits • Include awards and honors in recognition of outstanding academic achievement Award Recipients: Diane Charles and Sterling Smith Black Students Association and Black Alumni Society Scholars of the Year Awards: This award exemplifies outstanding campus and academic achievements. The award recipients are selected by the BSA and BASS Executive Board.

Award Recipients: Cayla Johnson and Daniel Webster

Organization of the Year Awards The Outstanding Organization of the Year Award recognizes organizations which have done exceptional activities and service on the University of Arkansas campus. The organizations represent the U of A campus and have the greatest and positive impact.

Award Recipients: Black Graduate Students Association and Students Advocating Stronger Sisterhood Dr. Synetra Hughes, BAS vice president, and Justyce Yule, Associated Student Government Chief Justice, gave the closing remarks.

The BSA and BASS would like to give special thanks to Ritche Manley Bowden, BAS president; Dr. Synetra Hughes, BAS Board of Directors; Dr. Yvette MurphyErby, Office for Diversity and Inclusion, vice chancellor; Brandy Cox Jackson, Arkansas Alumni Association, associate vice chancellor; Donna Smith Jones, School of Art, director of recruitment and outreach; Sarah Draine, Center for Multicultural and Diversity Education, College Access Initiative director; Trevor Francis, associate vice provost and director; and Don Nix, director, Office for Student Success.

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 51

Events

Craft Brew Series at Core Brewing Company The second stop in the Craft Brew Series was Core Brewing & Distilling Co., the official craft beer of the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Founder Jesse Core was there to give alumni an exclusive tour of the brewing and canning processes.

1. Jesse Core gives alumni a special view into their process of making craft brews and spiked seltzers.

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2. Alumni gather in the canning building to see how Core’s beverages are canned and packaged for distribution.

3. Chancellor Joe Steinmetz and his wife Sandy joined us for the event and a group photo.

4. Erin Rosa, M.B.A. ’19, shows off her door prize swag.

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UPGRADE to LIFE and Never Pay Dues Again! www.ArkansasAlumni.org/join

THANK YOU New Life Members ✪

By becoming Life Members, the University’s friends and alumni help form a strong foundation on which to build the future of the Arkansas Alumni Association. We welcome the newest Life Members, listed in order of membership number: 9464 Darynne Dahlem ’19

9657 Cloann Butler ‘87

9692 Dan Loc Wallace ‘98, ‘01

9623 Amy Marconi

9658 Edward Alan Tillman Fowler ‘19

9693 Dr. Charlotte S. Bull ‘78, ‘83

9624 Michael Marconi

9659 William C. Moss ‘80

9694 Janice Barclay ‘87

9625 D. Scott Tatman ‘79

9660 Janice M. Moss

9695 Brian T. Williams ‘95

9626 Kim Tatman

9661 Devin Collins ‘17

9696 Pamela Nickle

9627 Mark Dellinger ‘84

9662 Stephen T. Crowe ‘75

9697 Charles R. Nickle ‘74

9628 Kelly Dellinger

9663 Rachel D. McGavern

9698 Charles T. Sloan ‘51

9629 Mary Carol Poole ‘84

9664 Vicki Lynn Anderson ‘72

9699 Kate Truitt

9630 Yolanda D. Amos ‘01

9665 Dr. Dennis W. Jacks

9700 Jared Alan Pinkerton

9631 Bill Fisher ‘58

9666 Liz Jacks ‘84

9701 Laura A. Inman Stone

9632 Bill Fisher

9667 Steven Lelus Cochran ‘85

9702 Vincent J. Jones ‘95

9633 Caleb Thomas Marconi ‘19

9668 Spencer Dierks Sutherland ‘16

9703 Cheryl Jones

9634 Sherry L. Srygley ‘83

9669 Dr. Jim Beckman Jr. ‘65

9704 Mark Roger St. Onge ‘90

9635 William M. Srygley Jr.

9670 Charley Kay Beckman

9705 Annette M. St. Onge

9636 Sasha Jackson

9671 Philip Randolph Tardy ‘93

9637 David G. Jackson Jr. ‘89

9672 Courtney Tardy

9638 Hannah Finley McNeill-Ritter ‘90

9673 Greg Morris

9639 Dr. Gary Ritter

9674 Cara Cavender Wohlgemuth ‘87, ‘88

9640 Robert Lyon Massengale ‘82

9675 Lance Wohlgemuth ‘88

9641 Myrna G. Massengale

9676 Ernest P. Hagan Jr. ‘71

9642 James E. McClelland Jr. ‘67

9677 Donna J. Hagan

9643 Pat Finley McClelland

9678 David W. Ozbirn ‘85

9644 Mario Ramirez ‘89

9679 Connie L. Ozbirn ‘83, ‘86

9645 Laura Dockery Ramirez ‘90

9680 Valerie D. Whitson ‘06

9646 Ruth H. Whitney ‘86

9681 Christopher J. Whitson ‘09

9647 Lance Whitney

9682 Brian Lee Taylor ‘95

9648 Clay W. Lance ‘09

9683 Stephanie Gibson Taylor ‘97

9649 Ann Marie Hecksher ‘08

9684 Cathy Stevenson Long ‘71

9650 Ray L. Marple ‘93

9685 Everette J. Long II

9651 Dr. Elecia Cole Smith ‘00, ‘14

9686 Garrett Pettus ‘96

9652 Henry Smith

9687 Julie Pettus

9653 Jacqueline Rosewell Witt ‘57, ‘62

9688 Donna C. Brown

9654 Charles F. Witt

9689 Dr. Donna P. Brown ‘95

9655 Jody F. Fish Jr. ‘89

9690 Dr. Columbus Brown IV

9656 Stephen Wayne Butler ‘87, ‘90

9691 Amber J. Kandur ‘00, ‘10

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 53

Yesteryear 1880

• Saul Bertig, a European student from Galicia, Austria, enrolls in the university. He was also an early Jewish student of the university and appears to be the first international student. He came to Arkansas because an older brother had immigrated and started a business in Little Rock.

1890

• The U of A chapter of the Kappa Sigma fraternity is chartered and becomes the first men’s fraternity on campus.

• Students at the university, particularly those from the southern part of the state, suffer from pneumonia and influenza during April, a factor leading residents of the southern part of the

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A group of students converted the Chi Omega Fountain in front of the Arkansas Union into “Lake Chi-O” for a beach party in 1980, complete with snorkels, fins, suntan lotion and air mattresses.

state to begin agitating for a university further south.

1900

• Professor Ernest Walker speaks to the Arkansas State Horticultural Society about the best methods for stopping insects and fungi from damaging fruit trees.

1910

• The Department of Art installs an exhibition of works from the Art Institute of Chicago.

• Professors John Hugh Reynolds and David Yancey Thomas publish a History of the University of Arkansas, the first comprehensive history of the university.

1920

• The Engineering Experiment Station is

established by the state legislature to investigate and study engineering problems of general interest to Arkansas.

• The first greenhouse built on campus, known for many years as the Conservatory, burned to the ground. It was north of Old Main, near the present site of Memorial Hall.

• A student group proposes to abolish objectionable dances including the “shimmie,” the “camel walk,” the “tickle toe,” the “cheek dance” and the “scissors.”

• The U of A Golf Club is started.

1930

• The Chi Omega Greek Theatre is built on Dickson Street. The theatre was

donated to the university by the national Chi Omega Sorority to honor the founding of the first chapter at the University of Arkansas. It seats as many as 1,600 and has played host to commencements, concerts, pep rallies and the Panhellenic Council’s bid day.

• Professor Samuel Dellinger and Harvey Couch put together an exhibit of relics from archeological digs to depict what the “Arkansas Caveman” was like.

• Baseball is removed from the athletic lineup because of poor attendance and financial losses the previous seasons.

• The radio station, KUOA, presents a student talent

Razorback Yearbook

Yesteryear

show during a weekly broadcast. Singers and musicians seemed to do better on the radio than did jugglers.

1940

• Reba Gray is the first female editor of the Razorback yearbook. She also served as president of Pi Kappa, the honorary society for women journalism students.

• Jimmy Dorsey and his band play in the Field House, now known as the Jim and Joyce Faulkner Performing Arts Center.

• The student newspaper editorializes in favor of the United States avoiding the war going on in Europe.

Sentiment changed the next year when Pearl Harbor was bombed.

• Five hundred and twentyfive men on campus register for military conscription.

1950

• Hayden C. Nicholson is named dean of the Medical School at Little Rock.

• Alumnus Edward Durell Stone designs the Fine Arts Center for campus, bringing the fine arts of theatre, painting, sculpture, music, dance and architecture under one roof.

• An elevator is installed in Old Main.

• A U.S. Army colonel claims that officials are worried about a communist cell at the University of Arkansas.

• The Fine Arts Center opens with a staging of the play Acres of Sky, written by alumnus Charles Morrow Wilson.

• The university announces that it will begin offering graduate programs leading to a Doctor of Philosophy and a Doctor of Education.

1960

• Frances Russell is named dean of the School of Nursing.

• The U.S. Supreme Court rules Arkansas Act 10 unconstitutional, which required all state employees to list under oath all organizations to which they belong.

• Donna Axum serves as the regimental honorary major for Company D of the Pershing Rifles, one of the ROTC companies on campus.

• A flu scare delays the start of the spring classes for two days.

• World famous pianist Jose Iturbi performs at the Men’s Gym, now known as the Jim and Joyce Faulkner Performing Arts Center.

1970

• Duke Ellington and his orchestra play at the Men’s Gym, now known as the Jim and Joyce Faulkner Performing Arts Center, and Ellington signs autographs for students after the performance.

• The “lost” presidential portraits of John C. Futrall, J. William Fulbright, Arthur M. Harding and Lewis Webster Jones, all painted

by Lewis Freund, are rediscovered. The portraits now hang in the main hallway of Old Main with their predecessors and successors.

• The actress Jane Fonda speaks on campus.

• A black studies program is started at the university.

• Comedian Pat Paulsen entertains a large crowd of students, citing the three reasons he should be elected president, all the while holding up two fingers as a peace sign.

• Coretta Scott King gives the keynote address during Black Awareness Week.

• Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, receives an honorary doctorate during commencement.

1980

• Chip Hooper and Diann Ousley become the first male and female African American athletes to win individual national championships, Hooper in tennis and Ousley in the 600-meter outdoor track.

• A student named Stephen E. Young files a reversediscrimination lawsuit arguing that he was not chosen as a Razorback cheerleader because he is white.

• The war between Iraq and Iran spills over to confrontations on campus between Iraqi and Iranian students studying at the U of A. • A trio of conservative organizations from outside campus — a group called FLAG, which stood for Family, Life, American and God; the Moral Majority; and the Third Congressional Pro-Life group — protested in front of the Administration Building and arguing that the campus Association for Women Students had been taken over by lesbians, hardcore feminists and sympathizers.

• Brian Wellman becomes the NCAA champion in the triple jump.

1990

• Roderick McDavis is appointed the first African American dean on campus, leading the College of Education.

• The Associated Student Government requests that a teacher-evaluation form be required in all classes.

• The Arkansas Traveler prints an edition before spring break that is dedicated to education about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and the related human immunodeficiency virus.

2000

• Seven students receive scholarships from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

• Researcher Steven Beaupre uses radio transmitters to track rattlesnakes in Arkansas.

• The men’s track and field team won its third triple crown with a national championship in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship, held at the university.

• A $20 million gift from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation allows expansion and renovation of Razorback Stadium, which is renamed Reynolds Razorback Stadium in honor of the gift.

• The university offers its first online course, one appropriately about the history and foundations of vocational education.

2010

• The student newspaper, The Arkansas Traveler, is selected as one of the three national finalists in the Best All-Around NonDaily Student Newspaper category by the Society of Professional Journalists.

• Law students Ashley Driver, Taylor Mattson and Allison Waldrip win the National Moot Court Competition held in New York City.

• The $5,000 Arkansas Challenge Scholarship, funded by sales of lottery tickets, is awarded for the first time to students who have a 2.5 GPA in high school and a 19 on the ACT. • Students under the direction of mathematics professor Chaim GooodmanStrauss build the world’s largest omnitruncated dodecaplex in the atrium of the east entrance to Mullins Library.

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 55

Photo by University Relations

Senior Walk

From Senior Walk Let us know about your milestones and anything else you would like to share with your classmates — births, marriages, new jobs, retirements, moves and more. Please include your degree, class year, and when applicable, your maiden name. To provide the most thorough coverage of alumni news, we publish notes about members and non-members of the

Class Notes 1960s Becky Wardlow Johnson ★ BSE’65 and Jack Johnson ★ BSEE’66, Lake Jackson, Texas celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary June 20, 2020.

Howell F. Wright ★ BSE’65, Estes Park, Colorado, co-authored a book titled Guidebook to Whiskey and Other Distilled Spirits in 56 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

Arkansas Alumni Association and will indicate membership status for reference. You may send us news or simply update your information.

Since the next issues of Arkansas are already in production, it may be a few issues before your item appears.

Submit your news online at www. arkansasalumni.org/classnotes; by mail: From Senior Walk, Arkansas Alumni Association, P.O. Box 1070,

Colorado, New Mexico & Wyoming. The book covers products from over 100 distilleries.

Vernon Dutton ✪+ BA’67, Little Rock, published the second volume of his series, Assassins of History, on Amazon.

1970s

Greg W. Lee ✪+ BSBA’70, Fayetteville, was named

Fayetteville AR 72702; or by email: records@arkansasalumni.org.

These symbols indicate Alumni Association membership: ✩ Student Member ★ Member ★+ Member, A+ ✪ Life Member ✪+ Life Member, A+

the outstanding volunteer fundraiser by the Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas chapters of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Ann Henry ✪+ BA’61 MA’64 JD’71 and Dr. Morriss M. Henry ✪+ JD’71, Fayetteville, were honored with the lifetime achievement award for their philanthropy by the Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas chapters of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Gerald Alley BSBA’73, Arlington, Texas, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Walton College.

Jane Dunlap Christenson ★ BSBA’74, Harrison, is chair of the Arkansas State Police Commission. This will be her 14th year as a governor’s appointee.

Kevin W. Ferguson ✪ MA’75, Naples, Florida, has retired from the National

Geospatial Intelligence Agency.

David W. Hunton ✪+ BS’76, Fort Smith, is president of Mercy Clinic in Fort Smith.

Christy D. Jones ✪ BA’74 JD’77, Madison, Massachusetts, is honored with the Gayle Pettus Pontz Award from women law students.

Catherine Crouch ★ MED’95 and James E. Crouch ★ JD’77, Springdale, were honored with the legacy award by the Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas chapters of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Robert G. Kolf ✪+ BSCE’78, Chesterfield, Missouri, partnered with recruiting company, Aerotek, to help place construction, architectural, engineering and environmental recruited candidates with companies primarily in St. Louis, Missouri.

Leslie F. Belden ✪+ BARCH’79 PHD’05 and Ted Belden ✪+ BARCH’81, Fayetteville, were recognized as outstanding philanthropists in Northwest Arkansas by the Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas chapters of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

1980s Dwayne R. Edwards BSAGE’84 MSAGE’86, Lexington, Kentucky, is head of Virginia Tech Department of Biological Systems Engineering.

Ron Duncan ★ BSPA’86, Lewisville, Texas, is Assistant Vice President of Contract Administration at DFW International Airport.

Lisa Pruitt ✪ BA’86 JD’89, Fair Oaks, California, received the 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award from University of California Davis’ School of Law.

Dina C. Wood ✪ BA’85 JD’88, Springdale, was named the outstanding fundraising executive in Northwest Arkansas by the Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas chapters of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

DSCS Dickson Street Creative Suites

1990s

William Clark ✪+ BSBA’91 and his wife, Christy, Little Rock, paid tribute to their family legacy at the U of A by pledging $60,000 for an Advance Arkansas scholarship.

Heath Allen Ward ✪ BA’91, Springdale, is president of the Springdale Rotary Club.

OFFICE SPACE AVAILABLE NOW

Blake James ★ BSBA’94, Little Rock, is a partner and director of business development with Stephens Group Asset Management LLC. Dustin Blake McDaniel ✪ BSPA’94, Little Rock, established McDaniel, Wolff & Benca PLLC, merging three Arkansas law firms.

David Dickson Neal ✪ BSME’94, Collierville, Tennessee, is the commanding officer and professor of naval science at Navy ROTC Mid South Consortium.

Heather R. Nelson ✪+ BSBA’94, Jonesboro, was appointed to the UA Little Rock Foundation Board of Directors.

Shared Common Space & Conference Room

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Just show up and take care of your business. We handle the rest.

Heather R. Nelson ✪+ BSBA’94, Jonesboro, is a finalist for the Arkansas Business of the Year Award.

Karen Lynn Roberts ★ JD’95, Rogers, was honored with the Gayle Pettus Pontz Award from Women’s Law Student Association.

Brandie Vanwinkle Martine BSA’96 MAT’97, Bentonville, recently had an article, “’The Cliff’ Between My Son With a Disability

Shared Breakroom & Bathroom Facilities

The Dickson

For more information or to arrange a tour, call The Dickson office at 479.287.4599 or email shanna@oldbuildingsllc.com 609 W. Dickson Fayetteville, AR The-Dickson.com

Senior Walk

and Community Inclusion,” published by The Mighty.

Tennille S. Adams BA’99, Muncie, Indiana, is an honoree to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2020 Silver Anniversary Team. Adams is honored for her accomplishments as a senior basketball player 25 years ago.

Jane P. Henry BSBA’99, Kingwood, Texas, was given the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Sam M. Walton College of Business.

Cassandra Paige LaFrance JD’05 and Jason LaFrance BSBA’99, Little Rock, were named outstanding volunteer fundraisers in Arkansas by the Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas chapters of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Alison R. Williams ★ BA’99, North Little Rock, was selected for this year’s Presidential Leadership Scholars program.

Scott M. Noblett ✪ BSBA’04, Dallas, Texas, joined the board of directors for Dallas City Center, Realtors.

2000s

✪ BSBA’05 MBA’10,

Kenneth B. Biesterveld

Duane Adkins Kees BA’97 JD’00, Bentonville, is U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.

Russ W. Martin Jr. BSA’01 MS’04, Little Rock, is senior vice president and chief credit officer for Relyance Bank.

Laura S. Phillips MBA’01, Rogers, received the Outstanding Service Award from Walton College.

Steven Christopher Cullen ✪ BSA’02, Rogers, is vice president of retail poultry at Tyson Foods.

Centerton, is senior director for Segment FP&A at Walmart.

Stephanie L. Biesterveld ✪ BSBA’05 and Kenneth B. Biesterveld ✪ BSBA’05 MBA’10 announce the birth of their daughter, Laura Blake, January 3, Centerton.

Thomas R. Lashlee BSBA’06, Dallas, Texas, is offensive coordinator at the University of Miami.

Christopher Allen Carland FS’07, Little Rock, is a broker with Hathaway Group.

Charles Watson Van Ness BSBA’07, Fayetteville, is market president of Simmons Bank for Northwest Arkansas. Van Ness will oversee strategy as well as loan and deposit growth for the region.

William B. Hoofman ✪ BSBA’08, Little Rock, opened Sound Capital, a wealth management firm.

Brian E. Rohlman BSCE’08, Morrilton, is a nationally certified Associate Design Build Professional.

2010s Kim K. McComas ✪ PHD’11, Fayetteville, is co-author of a new book in mathematics education.

Jessica Anne Cohen M.AT.’13, Atlanta, Georgia, is the assistant athletic trainer for the Portland Trail Blazers.

She is among the select few women trainers in the NBA. Susan Alicia Moreno ★ BA’13 MAT’14, Dallas, Texas, was awarded the Milken Educator Award and $25,000.

Joshua Bertaccini MA’14, Springdale, was named a finalist for the 2019 National Sports Media Association Sportscaster of the Year.

Anna O. Coleman BA’14, Overland Park, Kansas, graduated medical school and is in her first year at the Wichita Family Medicine Residency Program.

Alex Cope BSBA’15, Little Rock, is a broker with Hathaway Group.

Claire Catherine Strutzenberg BSHES’16 MA’18, State College, Pennsylvania, was named the winner of the National Communication Association’s Master’s Education Division’s Top Thesis Award.

Brock Reed Haegele ★ BA’17, Lincoln, is featured in the January 2020 issue of Hunting Retriever.

Addison G. Warren BLA’18, Ann Arbor, Michigan, is staff landscape designer with Quinn Evans, one of the nation’s leading architecture and design firms.

Brandon Nathaniel Chapman BA’15 JD’19, Kansas City, Missouri, joined law firm Lathrop Gage. His focus is defending corporate clients in mass tort, toxic tort, product liability and environmental litigation matters.

In Memoriam 1940s M. Jane Jackson Rankin ★ FS’40, Russellville, Feb. 16.

Gordon G. Wittenberg FS’40, Little Rock, Jan. 8.

Harvey Morgan Jr. ✪ BSBA’41, Hoover, Alabama, March 9.

Jean Bateman Walt Stallings BA’42, Morrilton, Jan. 5.

Lois Cooper Dalak BSHE’43, Montgomery, Texas, Nov. 28, 2019.

Clemon W. Bedwell ✪+ BSA’47, Cleveland, Tennessee, Aug. 23, 2019.

Veda Freuler Carroll ✪+ BSSW’47, Lamar, Missouri, Nov. 21, 2019.

Correction Arkansas magazine incorrectly listed an alumnus as part of the In Memoriam section in the spring edition who shouldn’t have been. Alan Cox, B.S.’71, is still very much alive. We regret the error and wish for Alan a very long life.

Jean Elizabeth Perdue ✪+ BSBA’47, Panorama Village, Texas, Dec. 15, 2019.

Virginia Harris Hagemeyer BS’49, Indian Land, South Carolina, Jan. 4.

Maxine Lipke Polk BS’47, Little Rock, Dec. 31, 2019.

Winford A. Hoover ★ BSA’49 MS’52, Russellville, Oct. 6, 2019.

Joe L. Sparks FS’47, Rogers, Feb. 9.

Bob Spitze ✪+ BSA’47, Urbana, Illinois, Jan. 22.

Adele Graves Jackson ★+ BSSW’48, Fort Smith, Dec. 4, 2019.

Ed C. Cox Jr. BSME’49, Durango, Colorado, Jan. 7.

In Memoriam

Charles Portis B.A. ‘58 Charles “Buddy” Portis, best known for his frontier novel True Grit, died Monday, Feb. 17, at Little Rock.

He was 86.

Portis earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from the University of Arkansas in 1958 and then worked as a newspaper reporter for several years, but he was best known for his novels of wry wit, comic storytelling and earthy pathos.

“Portis was a great novelist, and before that, a first-rate reporter,” said Larry Foley, chair of the School of Journalism and Strategic Media. “His journalistic skills, learned here at the University of Arkansas, resulted in an acclaimed career highlighted by one of the best-ever penned tales of the American west, True Grit.”

Portis wrote for the student newspaper, The Arkansas Traveler, and served as the Photo Submitted

Tyler Avery BSCE’12, Rogers, was named the 2019 Young Engineer of the Year by the Arkansas Society of Professional Engineers.

Ernestine Kohl ✪ BSBA’49, Fort Worth, Texas, Dec. 6, 2019.

R. Raymond Kurzner ✪ MD’49, New York, New York, March 1, 2018.

Guy H. Lackey Jr. ✪+ BSBA’49, Mountain View, Nov. 20, 2019.

feature editor during his senior year. He also worked at the Northwest Arkansas Times while in college as well, where he handled articles sent to the paper by rural correspondents, said to be part of the inspiration for the unshaded narrative of Mattie Ross, the protagonist of True Grit.

In 2010, Portis was honored with the Oxford American’s first Lifetime Achievement in Southern Literature Award. In 2014, the Porter Prize presented its 30th Anniversary Lifetime Achievement Award to Portis. In 2016, the Lemke Alumni Society of the Arkansas Alumni Association inducted Portis into Hall of Honor along with alumni Susan Walk Burnett and Ron Robinson. The University of Arkansas awarded Portis an honorary Doctor of Art and Humane Letters in 2018.

Chancellor Joe Steinmetz said at the time: “If you love to read, and love Arkansas, you have to treasure the work of Charles Portis, a U of A graduate and author and one of Arkansas’ finest writers.”

Portis died of complications of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. He is survived by his brothers, Richard Portis and Jonathan Portis.

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 59

Senior Walk

Diane M. Wilcox Lawrence BA’49, Crownsville, Maryland, Jan. 21.

Sara Covey Meeks BSE’49, Little Rock, Jan. 23.

Charles B. Mott LLB’49, Little Rock, Feb. 22.

Lloyd T. Rutledge BSBA’49, Greenwood, Indiana, Nov. 29, 2019.

Rose Anne Sanderson BSBA’49, Texarkana, Dec. 1, 2019.

Lavonne Gibson Thomas BA’49, Springdale, Jan. 27.

William R. Welch BSBA’49, Austin, Texas, Sept. 9, 2019.

1950s Austin Leroy Brooks Sr. ✪ BSCHE’50, Loveland, Ohio, Oct. 30, 2019.

H. Dean Browner BSCE’50, Columbia, South Carolina, Sept. 25, 2019.

Walter L. Butler BSA’50, Bloomfield, Missouri, March 31, 2017.

Thomas G. Churchill Jr. BS’50 MS’55, Newark, Delaware, July 20, 2018.

Louis H. Fish BSEE’50, Mabelvale, Jan. 7.

In Memoriam

Robert H. Biggadike ★+ B.S.M.E. ’58, M.S.M.E. ’61 Robert H. Biggadike of West Covina, California, died on March 26, 2020. He was 85.

He was born on Dec. 29, 1934, in Little Rock to Roy C. and Josephine Holden Biggadike of Newport. Mr. Biggadike was a 1953 graduate of Newport High School. Mr. Biggadike received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1958 from the University of Arkansas, where he was a member of the Army and Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps and Sigma Chi fraternity.

After serving in the U.S. Army and beginning a career in the aerospace industry, Biggadike returned to the university and obtained a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1961. His career in the aerospace industry was primarily in California. He worked for Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Boeing and other companies. His work

as a control systems engineer led him to develop rigid and elastic body simulations and auto-pilot system designs. He also worked on the Apollo program in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Biggadike was a strong supporter of the University of Arkansas and its engineering program. In 1983, he established a scholarship endowment in the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas in memory of his father. That gift is used to support Juniors and Seniors majoring in mechanical engineering. In 2014, he made an estate gift to the University of Arkansas to establish the Robert H. Biggadike Endowment for Teaching in the College of Engineering. Because of his philanthropy, the University of Arkansas recognized Biggadike as a member of the Towers of Old Main, a society that honors the university’s most generous benefactors.

Biggadike was an active member of the Arkansas Alumni Association, a donor to the Alumni House campaign and had previously served as a chapter board member.

He is survived by a sister, JoAnn Drew II, of Little Rock.

Ernest E. Jacks Jr. BARCH’50, Fayetteville, Feb. 14.

Harry M. Hill BSEE’51, Jonesboro, Dec. 11, 2019.

Dude Crain FS’52, Fort Smith, April 15, 2017.

Betty Ragan Paterson BSBA’50, Leawood, Kansas, July 14, 2019.

Robert Carnahan Hudson ★ BSBA’51 MBA’52, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Feb. 19.

Marvin L. Demuth BSBA’52, West Memphis, Nov. 30, 2019.

Arlee Pollard BSA’50, Little Rock, Feb. 12.

Russell H. Kehn BSA’51, Lindsay, California, April 13, 2018.

Jodie Halk Dugan ★+ BSHE’52, Mountain Home, Dec. 13, 2017.

Eugene G. Rapley ✪+ BSBA’51, Fort Smith, Nov. 23, 2017.

Barbara Blackburn Henry BA’52, Conway, Jan. 7.

Anne Cox Fincher FS’53, Denton, Texas, Sept. 7, 2016.

William B. Holt Jr. ★ BSBA’52, Houston, Texas, Nov. 2, 2019.

Burnal Ray Knox BS’53 MS’57, Bella Vista, Sept. 20, 2019.

Chester D. McKeon Jr. ★ BSCE’52, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Sept. 15, 2019.

George C. Cavaness BSCE’54, Batesville, Jan. 22.

Frank D. Slavens BSA’50, Wichita Falls, Texas, Sept. 13, 2019.

Frank Owen Snyder BSA’50, Green Forest, Oct. 12, 2019.

Kenneth E. Walden BSME’50, Richmond, Virginia, Feb. 2.

Connie Lane Fernald BA’51, El Dorado, Dec. 7, 2019.

Elmer Flucht FS’51, Maumelle, Dec. 25, 2019.

60 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

William C. Story BS’51, Jackson, Tennessee, Feb. 9.

Neil Thornton ★ BSBA’51, Texarkana, Texas, Jan. 1.

Bill A. Tully BSCE’51, Little Rock, Oct. 5, 2019.

Robert J. Williams ★ BSE’51, Mobile, Alabama, Sept. 22, 2019.

Barbara Jean Newtown MED’52 BSHE’52, Little Rock, Dec. 4, 2019.

James Ronald Perceful BSBA’52, Jenks, Oklahoma, Dec. 17, 2019.

Patricia A. Weis BSE’52, Austin, Texas, Feb. 9.

Alfred L. Edwards BSE’53, Sherwood, Sept. 29, 2019.

Jim A. Collier ★ BSIE’54, Rogers, Oct. 7, 2019.

Elizabeth Holmes Lancaster MS’54, Sheridan, Dec. 20, 2019.

David H. Manson BSA’54 MS’58, Little Rock, Jan. 23.

Thomas J. Savary BSBA’57, Little Rock, Oct. 2, 2019.

Barbara Burge Scott ★ BSE’54, Conway, Nov. 10, 2019.

Charles T. Berry BSA’58, Robinsonville, Mississippi, Feb. 29.

Mary Lewis Wesson BSHE’54, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Jan. 25.

Gaines C. Bonner BSBA’58, Hot Springs Village, Feb. 26.

Susie Batson ✪+, FS ‘50, Eureka Springs, May 20, 2019.

Calvin R. Cassady ✪+ BA’58, Van Buren, Dec. 7, 2017.

William F. Arnold MED’56, Rogers, Nov. 21, 2019.

Teddy N. Cooper ✪ BSE’58, Sierra Vista, Arizona, Dec. 30, 2019.

Jimmy Cross ★ BSBA’56, Springdale, Dec. 6, 2017.

Jo Dobson MED’58, Little Rock, Dec. 12, 2019.

Jimmy Lee Estes BA’56, Little Rock, Sept. 30, 2019.

Eldridge P. Douglass Jr. ✪ BSIE’58 MSIE’82, Dallas, Texas, Jan. 27.

Bobby L. Fincher BS’56, Denton, Texas, Nov. 20, 2019.

William H. Hays BSBA’56, Fort Worth, Texas, Nov. 29, 2017.

Thomas W. Johnson MED’56, West Memphis, Dec. 16, 2017.

Walter Monroe Lambert BSE’56, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oct. 7, 2019.

Joseph L. Mashburn BS’56, Rogers, Dec. 10, 2019.

Mary Bess Mulhollan ★ BSHE’56, Fayetteville, Sept. 30, 2019.

Thomas J. Epperson ✪ BSEE’58, Shreveport, Louisiana, Feb. 13.

Roderick Fitzgibbon BSPH’58, Alexandria, Virginia, Dec. 19, 2019.

Jerry D. Gibson ✪ BSEE’58, St. Ann, Missouri, Sept. 29, 2017.

William W. Love ✪+ FS’58, Montgomery, Texas, Dec. 5, 2017.

Stanley McNulty Jr. BSBA’58, Pine Bluff, Jan. 16.

Charles M. Portis BA’58, Little Rock, Feb. 17.

Betty A. Natzke MED’56, Lake Zurich, Illinois, Oct. 11, 2019.

Irma L. Boyer ✪+ BSE’59 MED’60, Fayetteville, Dec. 18, 2019.

Mamie Jo Taylor ★ MED’56, Chidester, Sept. 18, 2019.

Kenneth L. Cobbs BSBA’59, Rogers, Sept. 20, 2019.

Phyllis Brandon BA’57, Little Rock, Jan. 10.

Clois L. Coon MBA’59, Blair, Nebraska, Nov. 7, 2019.

John M. Goggans FS’57, Little Rock, Jan. 2.

Herbert E. Crites ✪+ MBA’59, Harrisburg, Oct. 19, 2019.

George L. Morris BSA’57 MS’66, Sherwood, Feb. 20.

Joy M. Huckaba ★ BSE’59, Cabot, Dec. 25, 2019.

Ann Kuykendall Parker ★ BA’57, Germantown, Tennessee, Sept. 11, 2019.

Alfred A. Tennison Jr. BSBA’59, Texarkana, Sept. 14, 2019.

James L. Rakes BSME’57, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Jan. 10.

Bill L. Thompson BSPH’59, Jonesboro, Dec. 30, 2019.

Jim R. Ralston ✪ BS’57 MS’64, Richland Springs, Texas, Oct. 15, 2019.

Dick Wilson BSA’59, Joiner, Dec. 10, 2017.

1960s Glen D. Allen BSME’60, North Little Rock, Feb. 14.

Guy W. Blevins BSE’60 MED’63, Elkins, Dec. 9, 2019.

Charles Turner BSEE’60, Fayetteville, Oct. 5, 2019.

Peggy Bess Cantrell BA’61, Knoxville, Tennessee, Nov. 15, 2019.

Buford Raymond Conner MED’61, Star City, Feb. 13.

Ernestine Teeter Friedman MS’61, Scottsdale, Arizona, Dec. 4, 2017.

Charles W. Ward ✪+ BSME’62, Rogers, Nov. 27, 2019.

Paul D. Liles BA’63, Fort Smith, Feb. 12.

Cathie Remmel Matthews

✪ BA’63, Little Rock,

Feb. 22.

Morris A. Morgan BSPH’63, Bryant, Dec. 22, 2019.

Gaylon Smith Simpson MBA’63, Sherwood, Jan. 9.

Richard M. Smith LLB’63, Englewood, Florida, Jan. 10.

Harrell E. Ferguson BSPH’64, Bryant, Feb. 13.

Daniel I. Hall ✪+ BSCE’61 MSCE’67, Lakeway, Texas, Feb. 5.

Jack Scott Haynes BSEE’64, Del City, Oklahoma, Dec. 16, 2019.

Caroline S. Hamilton BSE’61, Hot Springs, Sept. 21, 2019.

Shirley Canerday Pickle BSHE’64 MED’74, Atkins, Dec. 7, 2017.

Raebern B. Hitchcock BSBA’56 LLB’61, Saint Paul, Minnesota, Dec. 12, 2019.

Sharon Y. Jones ★ BA’61, Roanoke, Virginia, Jan. 8.

John L. Philpot MS’61 PHD’65, Liberty, Missouri, Oct. 1, 2019.

Jim C. Rieff BSBA’61, Prairie Grove, Sept. 19, 2019.

Benny O. Trusty Jr. BSCHE’61, Lakeland, Florida, Oct. 20, 2015.

Nancy K. Allen ✪+ BA’62, Fayetteville, Feb. 23.

Kathryn Barnett Ames BSE’62, Dallas, Texas, Dec. 22, 2019.

Charles D. Daniel ★ BA’62, Marshall, Sept. 11, 2019.

William R. Hass LLB’62, Springfield, Missouri, Dec. 30, 2019.

Deanna Moore Haynie BSE’62, Rogers, Dec. 5, 2019.

Wanda L. Kent BSE’62 MA’68, Fayetteville, Dec. 3, 2019.

Benson G. Nash MED’62, El Dorado, Oct. 16, 2019.

Anthony P. Scherrey ★ BSE’64 EDD’89, Fort Smith, Sept. 18, 2019.

Dorothy Dean Tipton MED’64, Benton, Jan. 16.

John W. Fulton III BSBA’65, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dec. 6, 2017.

James R. Rhodes III BSBA’62 LLB’65, Devalls Bluff, Feb. 17.

James B. Sikes BA’65, Orlando, Florida, Feb. 5.

Jack W. Briley ★ BSE’66, Pinehurst, North Carolina, Jan. 6.

Helen P. Goff BA’66, Nashville, Tennessee, Dec. 18, 2019.

Thomas J. Kirk ✪ BSIE’66 MSIE’67, Paragould, Nov. 24, 2019.

Jerry Don Lamb ★ BSBA’66, Little Rock, Dec. 16, 2019.

Joseph Carson Brady Jr. BSBA’67, Monroe, Washington, Sept. 27, 2019.

Alice Bell Cranston MM’67, Kansas City, Missouri, March 17, 2019.

Carutha E. T. Creggett MED’67, Vallejo, California, Feb. 2.

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 61

Senior Walk

James C. Fine BSEE’67, Owasso, Oklahoma, Jan. 16.

Walt Jennings Jr. BSIE’67, Little Rock, Oct. 2, 2019.

Mary Evelyn Purselley ✪+ BSE’67 MED’70, Harrison, Dec. 29, 2019.

Damaris Rainwater ✪ BSE’67, Denver, Colorado, Jan. 7.

Tommy R. Young II MA’67, Mount Carmel, Illinois, Sept. 18, 2019.

G. W. Adkisson III BSA’68, Conway, Feb. 8.

Lucile R. Cathcart BSE’68, Bella Vista, Nov. 22, 2019.

Bill Wayne Lewallen BSA’68, Hot Springs, Oct. 6, 2019.

Linda Cloyd Miller ✪ BSEE’70, Siloam Springs, Feb. 19.

Earnestine B. Russell MS’70, Forrest City, March 13, 2018.

William Robert Fields BSBA’71, Austin, Texas, Feb. 16.

George Stewart Kopp JD’71, Fairfax, Virginia, Feb. 1.

Beverly Moore ✪+ BSBA’71, Little Rock, Feb. 24.

Barry L. Winningham BSBA’71, Hot Springs, Oct. 2, 2019.

Sammy F. Fiser BSBA’72, Springdale, Jan. 31.

E. Morris Long BSE’68, Magnolia, Dec. 5, 2019.

Byron Lee Burch BSBA’73, Memphis, Tennessee, Feb. 21.

Barbara Chenault Shepherd MED’68 EDS’84, Russellville, Jan. 9.

James Keith Carroll PHD’73, Bolivar, Missouri, Jan. 15.

Frank M. Bray Jr. BSEE’69, Bentonville, Feb. 20.

Jim W. Edwards BSE’73, Springdale, Jan. 20.

Shirley Ann Hill BSE’69, Little Rock, Feb. 16.

Peter Estes Jr. BSBA’68 JD’73, Fayetteville, Oct. 9, 2019.

B. Kenneth Johnson JD’69, Monticello, Oct. 13, 2019.

Jean Morgan BSE’69, Oak Grove, July 24, 2019.

Margaret C. Shehane MED’69, Little Rock, Dec. 11, 2019.

1970s John T. Gilmore Jr. MSIE’70 PHD’72, Pine Bluff, Dec. 5, 2017.

Jerry Fly ★ BSA’73, DeWitt, Jan. 25.

Mary Lu Gatewood ADN’73, Juno Beach, Florida, Feb. 20.

Stanley R. Collins MS’74, Hot Springs, Dec. 8, 2019.

Diane Chowning Delone ✪ BA’74, El Dorado, Jan. 8.

Irvin F. Kimmer BSPH’74, Batesville, Feb. 15.

Orby G. Gregory MED’70, Monticello, Dec. 7, 2019.

Lewis Thompson See Jr. BSPA’74, Batesville, Oct. 14, 2019.

Aileen Page Kimbrough BSE’70, Fayetteville, Jan. 14.

Joe M. Chambers MED’75, Monticello, Oct. 11, 2019.

Dick Latta BSBA’70, Fayetteville, Feb. 11.

Phillip R. Embry BS’75 MBA’84, Fayetteville, Dec. 21, 2019.

Marilyn Bonner Layton BSHE’70, Starkville, Mississippi, Feb. 7.

Steven K. McKinney BSBA’62 JD’70, Fayetteville, Sept. 6, 2019.

62 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

D. Neill McDonald BA’75, Sheridan, Nov. 30, 2019.

Marjorie Sloat Treece BSDH’75, Collierville, Tennessee, Sept. 30, 2019.

Othello O. Faison MED’76, Little Rock, Feb. 17.

Cynthia Collins Pharr BSA’76 MS’79, Lincoln, Jan. 23.

Susan Hannah Welch BA’81, Macon, Georgia, Dec. 2, 2019.

Carol Hartley Allie ✪ FS’81, Fayetteville, Oct. 4, 2019.

Steve Rice ✪+ BSBA’76, Bella Vista, Dec. 30, 2019.

Betty J. Duke MED’82, Arkadelphia, Dec. 8, 2019.

Tracy W. Swaim ✪+ BA’76 BSPH’79, Perryville, Nov. 16, 2019.

Carol G. Hopkins ADN’82 BSN’98, Springdale, Feb. 6.

Linda P. Coleman MS’77, Conway, Jan. 15.

Alta Delores Shaddox MED’82, North Little Rock, Dec. 15, 2019.

Shirley S. Davis MED’77, North Little Rock, Sept. 19, 2019.

David R. Vruwink PHD’82, Onalaska, Wisconsin, Jan. 17.

Charles H. Terry BSE’77, Jefferson City, Missouri, Jan. 4.

Mark A. Thompson BA’77 BARCH’78, Benton, Dec. 17, 2017.

Ron E. Austin Sr. EDS’78 EDD’88, Allen, Texas, Dec. 21, 2019.

Bobbie J. Causey MED’78, Crossett, Jan. 18.

William A. Davidson BARCH’78, Olive Branch, Mississippi, Feb. 7.

Louise Parker Newcomb BSE’78, Little Rock, Feb. 1.

Margaret L. Perrin BSE’78, Jensen Beach, Florida, Nov. 28, 2017.

Steven M. Schratz BS’78, Maumelle, Sept. 21, 2019.

Drew Basham BSBA’79, Little Rock, Jan. 21.

Joe T. Simpson EDS’79, Altheimer, Oct. 12, 2019.

George B. Spencer III JD’79, Fayetteville, Dec. 11, 2017.

Phillip D. Summers BSPA’79, Little Rock, Feb. 23.

1980s

Gerre R. Walker MED’82, Fort Smith, Dec. 3, 2019.

R. Lee Edrington Jr. BSIE’83, Charleston, South Carolina, Sept. 16, 2019.

Judy Kuharick AS’83 BSE’05 BSN’19, Prairie Grove, Feb. 28.

Michael J. Ptak BSBA’83, Little Rock, Jan. 24.

Matt J. Whitworth JD’83, Smithville, Missouri, Oct. 8, 2019.

Cozette J. Caron ✪ BSE’84, Springdale, Feb. 6.

Scott Simmons BARCH’84, Southlake, Texas, Nov. 20, 2019.

Lindy Long Avocette AS’85, Portland, Oregon, March 31, 1997.

Edith L. McAllister MED’85, Farmington, Dec. 25, 2019.

Larry L. McAlister MED’85, Winthrop, Oct. 1, 2019.

Jacquelyn G. Reynolds BA’85, Fayetteville, Dec. 22, 2019.

Kenneth Dean Williams BSBA’85, Jacksonville, Jan. 16.

Jill Marie Cornish BSHE’86, Hot Springs, Jan. 17.

Cindy Lou George ✪ BSBA’80, Berryville, Dec. 7, 2019.

David Wayne Glasgow BSBA’86, Moline, Illinois, Dec. 6, 2017.

Leonard G. Matthew BSBA’81, Garfield, Oct. 4, 2019.

Charles Danny Hilburn BSBA’86 MS’90, Cabot, Jan. 15.

Jerome Arthur Witt MBA’86 PHD’90, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Sept. 18, 2017.

Michael Hendry Hutchison MED’87, Springdale, Oct. 1, 2019.

In Memoriam

Don Edmondson ✪+ B.S.B.A.’58

Carol W. Nichols MED’87, Siloam Springs, Sept. 30, 2019.

Denise Curtis BSCSE’88, Sherwood, Oct. 15, 2019.

Robert Eugene Edwards BA’88 MPA’92, Fayetteville, Dec. 9, 2019.

Alice R. Floyd MS’89, Locust Bayou, Jan. 16.

Julia GuernseyPitchford MFA’89 PHD’96, Monroe, Louisiana, Feb. 4.

Paul R. Hairston ★ MS’89, Fayetteville, Jan. 27.

Mary C. Willis ✪ BSBA’89, Fayetteville, Jan. 7.

1990s Howard Joseph Goode JD’91, Texarkana, Texas, Oct. 7, 2019.

Thurman Edward Shaw BSE’91, Pine Bluff, Dec. 6, 2019.

Brad E. Braughton BSBA’92, Hot Springs, Sept. 22, 2019.

Gianpaolo Danti BA’92, Fayetteville, Feb. 10.

Scott Daniel Shumate BSBA’93, Houston, Texas, Jan. 25.

Tracy Samuel Bevill BSA’94, Lonoke, Jan. 2.

Danny Nelms BSBA’94, Green Valley, Arizona, Jan. 22.

Michelle L. Merrill ✪ BA’96 JD’00, Fort Smith, Sept. 27, 2019.

Andrew Alexander Ormsby Jr. MS’96, Sikeston, Missouri, Sept. 15, 2018.

University Relations

John D. Ufer BSBA’87, Rowlett, Texas, Oct. 23, 2019.

The University of Arkansas community is mourning the loss of Don Edmondson, a 1958 graduate of the Sam M. Walton College of Business, who

passed away on April 2.

He spent his professional career in the hospitality industry. He was an owner of and investor in motels, hotels and restaurants in Forrest City and throughout the southeast United States.

Edmondson and his wife, Ellen, who preceded him in death in July 2019, were long-time supporters of the university, particularly for the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, and were known for giving back to their community and their state.

“The Edmondsons left a lasting influence on the University of Arkansas and the state, thanks to their generosity and their involvement,” said Chancellor Joe Steinmetz. “They were engaged volunteers and always gave to the initiatives that meant the most to them.

The university treasured Don as an alumnus and friend, and I know the entire state will mourn his loss. The transformations he and Ellen put into motion on our campus will continue for decades to come.”

Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, said, “Don and Ellen Edmondson’s philanthropic gifts to the Fay Jones School, Garvan Woodland Gardens and the University of Arkansas fundamentally transformed the school, catapulting the excellence of the school’s programs into national prominence. Their benevolence

and generosity allowed for the school to be named for Arkansas’ most significant 20th century architect, E. Fay Jones, and for the school to recognize now Arkansas’ most significant 21st century architect, Marlon Blackwell, as a distinguished member of our faculty.

“The Edmondsons’ vision — of a school of architecture and design of national and international reputation and reach — is a charge to all in the Fay Jones School community, our faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends, to continue our ambitions and to realize our outreach. Don Edmondson was more than a benefactor to the school; he was a counselor to the school’s deans and faculty over many years, and a friend to many who gathered in the cause of Fay Jones and the school.”

Don Edmondson was generous with his time as well. He and his late wife served as honorary chairs of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design Campaign Committee and were both members of the school’s Dean’s Circle. Don was a member of the Campaign Arkansas Steering Committee, as well as the Board of Advisors and Campaign for the TwentyFirst Century Steering Committee. He was a A+ life member of the Arkansas Alumni Association, a former member of association’s National Board of Directors, and was counted as a Thoroughred for his 32 years of consecutive giving to the university.

The Edmondsons were members of the Towers of Old Main at the ruby level and were awarded the Chancellor’s Medal in 2011.

He is survived by two daughters, two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

SUMMER 2020 / ARKANSAS / 63

Senior Walk

Kim Jay Tullis PHD’96, Yukon, Oklahoma, Jan. 17.

Scott Allen Landers FS’04, Little Rock, Jan. 8.

Tabor Alvis BSBA’12, Rogers, Jan. 14.

Nancy Jo Ward FS’96, Kingston, Dec. 28, 2019.

Will Blackshear BSBA’05, Ballwin, Missouri, Feb. 23.

Falko Kutzner Fye MA’97 PHD’03, Fayetteville, Jan. 14.

Jerod Daniel Duncan BSA’06, Lincoln, Jan. 14.

Andrew Will Thompson BA’12, Haskell, Sept. 20, 2019.

Michelle Louise Scutary BA’98, Monument, Colorado, Jan. 6.

2000s Patricia Ann Thompson FS’00, Ames, Iowa, Feb. 14.

Traci Yates MA’01, Belmont, North Carolina, Jan. 15.

Nathan D. Hamblen JD’02, Bella Vista, Aug. 26, 2019.

Lester Long Jr. MED’02 EDS’08, West Fork, Dec. 11, 2017.

Erika Antanette Boudreaux JD’03, Pine Bluff, Sept. 12, 2019.

Stephanie B. Price MFA’07, North Little Rock, Feb. 8.

Treva Thoms MM’07, Bronxville, New York, Jan. 9.

William Brooks Bailey BSBA’08, Fordyce, Dec. 9, 2017.

Jeremy Lee Choens BSCMP’08, Carthage, Missouri, Sept. 14, 2019.

Ryan H. Stripling MA’08, Lowell, Dec. 4, 2019.

2010s Casey D. Trainor PHD’11, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Jan. 18.

Bradley R. Hollis BSBA’15, Hope, Jan. 12.

Rachel Shelby Wulz FS’15, Billings, Montana, Dec. 20, 2019.

Shana D. Martin FS’16, Lady Lake, Florida, Jan. 10.

Alison Jayne Welch BSA’16, West Fork, Feb. 2.

Matthew Ryan Liebal MBA’19, Fort Smith, Jan. 17.

Friends

Mary Henry ✪, Little Rock, Feb. 15.

OFFICERS President Teena Gunter ✪ ’92, ’97, Oklahoma City, OK President-Elect Ron Rainey ✪ ’91, ’93, ’01, Little Rock, AR Treasurer Don Walker ✪+ ’74, Fayetteville, AR Assistant Treasurer Kenneth Biesterveld ✪ ’05, ’10, Centerton, AR Secretary Deborah Blume ✪+ ’08, Fayetteville, AR BOARD OF DIRECTORS Class of 2020 John Berrey ✪ ’91, Sperry, OK Tori Bogner ✪ ’13, ’16, Fayetteville, AR LaTonya Foster ✪ ’96, Springdale, AR Cecilia Grossberger-Medina ★ ’08, Fayetteville, AR Steven Hinds ✪ ’89, ’92, Fayetteville, AR Regina Hopper ✪ ’81, ’85, Alexandria, VA Jordan Patterson Johnson ✪ ’00, Little Rock, AR Class of 2021 Kristen Allbritton ✪ ’04, McKinney, TX Ashley Harris ✪ ’95, Fayetteville, AR Chris Johnson ✪ ’93, North Little Rock, AR Bobby Jones ✪ ’84, Savannah, GA Kristin Kaufman ✪ ’83, Dallas, TX Connie Lewis Lensing ✪ ’74, JD’77, Memphis, TN Drake McGruder ✪ ’06, ’12, Fort Smith, AR Dustin McDaniel ✪ ’94, Little Rock, AR Courtney Backus Norton ★ ’07, Fayetteville, AR Class of 2022 Linda Bedford-Jackson ✪ ’80, Austin, TX Ashleigh Buckley ★ ’07, ’10, Fort Smith, AR Sarah K. Hudson ★ ’07, ’10, Washington, DC Paul Parette ✪+ ’89, Dallas, TX Bill Stovall ✪+ ’72, Charleston, SC Richard Welcher ★ ’99, ’04, Fayetteville, AR Brian Wolff ✪ ’89, Washington, DC Kristen Collier Wright ✪ ’98, ’01, Forrest City, AR STAFF Associate Vice Chancellor for Alumni and Executive Director of the Arkansas Alumni Association Brandy Cox Jackson ✪ MA’07 Director of Finance Hal Prescott ✪ Director of Programs and Special Events Deb Euculano ✪ Lisa Ault ★ BSBA’94, Associate Director of Business Operations; Catherine Baltz ✪+ BS’92, MED’07, Assistant Director of Communications; Tim Barker ★, Fiscal Support Analyst; Debbie Blume ✪+ BSBA’08, Board and Campaign Coordinator; Jen Boyer ★ BSBA’19, Special Events Coordinator; Melissa Brawner ★ B.S.B.A.’99, Marketing Coordinator; Florence Galbraith ★, Fiscal Support Analyst; Mercedes Gazaway ★, Assistant Director of Internal Relations; Brock Haegele ★ BA’17, Assistant Director of External Relations; Mary Kate Harrison ★ BA’15, MA’17, Special Projects Coordinator; Evan Hinchliffe ★, Alumni Scholarship Assistant; Ryan Jones ★, Membership and Marketing Assistant; Lisy McKinnon ★ BA’97, Associate Director of Chapter Programs; Emily Piper ★, Administrative Specialist; Patti Sanders ✪+ BSA’08, Associate Director of Alumni Scholarships; Julie Simpson ★, Associate Director of Facilities and Special Events; Elizabeth Lee Shoultz ★ B.A. ’16, MPA ’18, Manager of Affinity Programs and Analysis; Yusra Sultana, Membership and Marketing Assistant

64 / ARKANSAS / SUMMER 2020

Last Look

A screen shot of the video.

Voce E Pluribus Unum Out of Many Voices One

Though studying apart, members of the Inspirational Chorale joined together in recording a song of hope, of joy and of unbound spirit for the end of the semester. The song “Everybody Rejoice” from the musical The Wiz, was written by Luther Vandross, and Jeffrey Allen Murdock, assistant professor of music and director of the Inspirational Chorale, created a new arrangement for the choir.

From the moment the music begins, you’ll want to join with them, too, dance in place with them, sing along with them. Watch on YouTube at bit.ly/inspirational-chorale-2020.

Coming This Fall

Hog Wild Tailgates We are looking forward to Calling The Hogs with our University of Arkansas family at the Hog Wild Tailgates this fall!

All are welcome to stop by the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House and enjoy Hog Wild Tailgates scheduled for Fayetteville home games.* Life members attending the Hog Wild Tailgates are invited to drop by the Life Member Lounge to visit with other life members and enjoy a complimentary beverage.

We will be posting updates at: www.arkansasalumni.org/hogwildtailgates as details become available for the 2020 Hog Wild Tailgate season. capacity, logistics, and protocols will be determined based on the guidelines set forth by the University of Arkansas * Hog Wild Tailgateand the State of Arkansas. The health and safety of our alumni and friends will be a top priority.

arkansasalumni.org/hogwildtailgates 1-888-ARK-ALUM or 479-575-2801