University of Arkansas

Tanmaie Kalapala, a University of Arkansas poultry science Ph.D. student, has been awarded a Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education 2025 Graduate Student Grant. This grant is awarded to graduate students at accredited institutions across the Southern region to conduct research projects on a wide variety of sustainable agriculture production, marketing and social science topics.

With a background in exercise physiology research at the University of Arkansas and over a decade of experience in strength training, PJ Koopmans found himself interested in learning more about muscle function in the context of exercise, aging and disease.

Rachel Siemens, a graduate student in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Program within the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, has been awarded the Benjamin Franklin Lever Tuition Fellowship. This fellowship recognizes graduate students who contribute to the university community through their diverse backgrounds and insights while demonstrating academic excellence and professional growth.

Wendell Scales, a University of Arkansas doctoral student in Bumpers College's agricultural, food and life sciences program, was one of eight students from across the country selected to present at the first Farm Foundation Round Table meeting led entirely by Ph.D. students. Scales, whose Ph.D. concentration is agricultural leadership, brought a distinct voice rooted in community, youth development and the urgent need to reimagine how the next generation of agricultural leaders is prepared.

Civil engineering students from the University of Arkansas received high honors at the 2025 Texas Asphalt Pavement Association Asphalt Road-Eo event in Buda, Texas. The U of A team placed first in the rutting category and fourth overall at the regional competition.

University of Arkansas poultry science students Eniola Betiku, Seth Adesope, Luke Parisi and Adeola Abe were honored with Certificates of Excellence in Oral Presentation Awards for their research presentations at the 2025 Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting, held July 14-17, 2025, in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The University of Arkansas Speech and Debate Society finished the 2024-25 season on a high note as sixth overall, fifth in the Scholastic Division, sixth in the Founders Division and first in the state of Arkansas for the fourth consecutive year.

Student journalists from the University of Arkansas earned top honors and professional recognition at the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists Diamond Awards. Students representing UATV and The Arkansas Traveler were honored in both student and professional divisions across multiple categories.

University of Arkansas Recreation and Wellness recently recognized the academic and occupational success of more than 300 of UREC's student employees. The group holds an average cumulative GPA of 3.5. Fifty students were recognized as UREC Aces, an honor awarded to employees with the highest cumulative GPAs. In addition, each UREC program area recognizes student employees who demonstrate excellence in their job responsibilities and serve as role models and connectors among their peers.

The University of Arkansas honored its most recent graduating class with a series of spring commencement ceremonies. Recordings of ceremonies are available on the U of A YouTube channel, and printed program books are available online. For more information, please visit commencement.uark.edu.

Main Hill Media, the student-run advertising agency at the University of Arkansas, won eight awards from the Associated Collegiate Press, and Hill Magazine, the student-published feature magazine, was second nationally in best of show.

University of Arkansas debate team members Hadley Adkison, Carter Stainton, Daisy Rehbock, Hannah Morris, Jaci Sabatini, Jonas Lansford, Matthew Cook and Megan Dial brought home four awards from a virtual tournament in late February.

The Mid-America Arts Alliance announced the 2023 Artist 360 Awards and the University of Arkansas School of Art in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences celebrates the art graduate students and an alumna undergraduate student as grant recipients and student grants. Recipients include graduate students Ana Buitrago, Melissa Loney, Larissa Ramey, Jocelyn Reid and recent alumna Augusta Zuerker, who graduated with an art history and studio art degree.

In November 2023, 14 students from the University of Arkansas competed at the International Model United Nations conference held in Erfurt, Germany, and left with five top honors. The students, mainly from the Sam M. Walton College of Business and the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, are majoring in economics, international studies, political science and biochemistry. At the conference, the Arkansas teams represented the United Kingdom and Bolivia delegations and competed with 40 other colleges and universities with some 450 students from around the world.