Gift from Acxiom to fund scholarship
FAYETTEVILLE -- A $100,000 gift from Little Rock-based Acxiom Corp. will establish scholarships for business students at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
The Jones Family Endowed International Experience Scholarship will help students looking to study abroad or pursue an international experience, UA said in announcing the gift.
The scholarship is named for Jerry and Judy Jones and their children, Grant and Barret. The gift is in memory of Barret Jones, who, according to obituary information, died last year at the age of 28.
"My family and I are honored that Acxiom established this scholarship in our name, and we're grateful that they chose such a meaningful way to honor Barret," Jerry Jones, chief ethics and legal officer, executive vice president and assistant secretary for Acxiom, said in a statement released by the university.
Both Jerry and Judy Jones earned bachelor's degrees from UA.
City workshop use in program's plans
FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas students in a new science program will this fall begin using a downtown community fabrication workshop as part of an agreement with the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce.
"The UA STEAM-H program will collaborate with the NWA Fab Lab to actively promote undergraduate educational experiences and community engagement," states a memorandum of understanding signed this month by UA officials and Steve Clark, the chamber's president and chief executive officer.
The Science, Technology, Engineering, Architecture/Arts, Mathematics and Health program, set to begin this fall, provides academic credit for students in various disciplines. Undergraduate students will work in teams for up to three years with graduate students and faculty who have "expertise in research, product development, and entrepreneurship," the agreement states.
The chamber last year opened the NWA Fab Lab.
Search is underway for agriculture dean
FAYETTEVILLE -- The University of Arkansas has begun a search for its next agriculture dean.
In addition to being the chief academic and administrative officer for UA's agriculture college, the dean also serves as "the major administrative link between academic activities at the Fayetteville campus and the University of Arkansas System's Division of Agriculture," according to a job ad published on the university's website.
The previous dean, Michael Vayda, left UA last year to be chief academic officer at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Vayda was paid $231,980 at UA, including a contribution of $103,619 from the Agriculture Division, which includes the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and the UA Cooperative Extension Service.
Interim dean Lona Robertson began June 1 as leader of UA's Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. She is expected to remain interim dean until a permanent hire is made, with finalists tentatively scheduled to visit campus in September, UA spokesman Steve Voorhies said in an email.
A 13-person search committee chaired by Matt Waller, dean of UA's Sam M. Walton College of Business, has been appointed by Jim Coleman, UA's provost, and Mark Cochran, the Agriculture Division's top administrator, Voorhies said.
Mental health post planned for dorms
FAYETTEVILLE -- A new mental health position at the University of Arkansas will focus on helping students in campus residence halls, a spokesman for UA's Pat Walker Health Center said.
"This is the first time that we'll have a full-time embedded mental health clinician within housing," said spokesman Zac Brown. Doctoral students have worked as part-time counselors in residence halls for several years, Brown said.
A job ad published by UA states that the position has an expected start date in July. Once the hire is made, UA will have 16 mental health clinicians on staff, Brown said, adding that the campus health center is expanding in part to accommodate a larger counseling area.
UA campus housing has a capacity of about 5,700 students, according to the university's housing website.
"With freshmen being one of the highest users of mental health services on our campus, we really want to make sure they have access," Brown said of the new housing-based position.
NW News on 05/15/2017