University of Arkansas

Over several weeks during the fall 2023 semester, Andrew Ruegsegger spent much of his free time exploring a small, undeveloped area on the south end of campus in search of plants. A fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in anthropology and minoring in philosophy, biology and natural resources management at the University of Arkansas, was interested in learning more about botany, diverse native plant communities of the area and the process botanists use to document plants by collecting and preserving specimens in a herbarium.

The University of Arkansas Speech and Debate Society competed in the final tournament of the fall semester this past weekend, entering competitors at the University of Jamestown's "Jimmie Jingle Virtual Tournament." Competing against 18 schools across 12 states, the U of A Speech and Debate Society saw Hadley Adkison, Matthew Cook, Megan Dial, Maddie Fritz, Max Green, Austin Keefe, Jaci Sabatini, Benjamin Shoptaw and Aubree Watkins positively represent campus and bring home plenty of accolades.

Two legal communication students from the Department of Communication in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas won an award at the most recent meeting of the National Communication Association. Alondra Gilbrech and Reaves Robinson were named as the runners-up for the James L. Golden Outstanding Student Essay in Rhetoric Award. This highly competitive award honors the best student essay on the history, theory, or criticism of rhetoric.

Ten University of Arkansas graduate students competed at the annual 3 Minute Thesis competition earlier this month, where they were asked to present a simple and compelling speech about their research and its significance in just three minutes. Mostafa Mahmoudi, a doctoral student in chemistry, placed first; Christina Barnes, a doctoral student psychology, placed second; and Kindler Norman, a doctoral student in physics, won the People Choice Award.

Ani-ya Beasley, a senior majoring in African and African American studies and history at the University of Arkansas, has been awarded a Curtis H. Sykes Memorial Grant of $4,000 from the Black History Commission of Arkansas. Beasley competed alongside professional researchers and large community organizations to win this grant, her first, to support research in the Arkansas State Archives. Beasley's research focuses on the Black community in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in the 19th and early 20th century.

Nine University of Arkansas students - all of whom are native Arkansans - were recently awarded scholarships thanks to the generosity of the Charles Thomas and Mary Alice Pearson Educational Foundation. The organization, founded by local attorney and businessman Thomas Pearson and his wife, Mary Alice, annually supports students in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media and the School of Law. In 2022, their support also expanded to the Department of Philosophy.

This past weekend, the University of Arkansas Speech and Debate team traveled to Shreveport, Louisiana, to compete in the 47th annual Red River Classic hosted by Louisiana State University, Shreveport. The team broke numerous records they had set previously, sending the largest number of competitors (15) and breaking nine out of those 15, the highest since the team's reactivation in spring of 2021. This marked a level of success for the team that they had not seen at a given regular-season tournament, bringing home a total of 16 awards across the group.

Senior Grant Viscardis has been selected as the Student Leader of the Month for October 2023. Originally from Hot Springs, Viscardis came to the U of A to study biology. He is the president for EMPOWER RSO, leads the Global Brigades to Panama as the medical chairman, volunteers at the Full Circle Food Pantry, a Patient Care Technician at CHI St. Vincent Hospital in Hot Springs and is a research assistant in assistant professor Joisah Leong's FullStackNeuro Lab addressing the causation of substance use and early life stress on the mesolimbic pathway in the brain. Viscardis is also a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity. Viscardis said he got involved in these organizations mainly to learn how to network and communicate with others while expressing his deepest passions.

Nine music students from the University of Arkansas' Department of Music, part of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, competed at the statewide Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Competition hosted at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. The Young Artist competition is open to students ages 19-26 who are currently enrolled in collegiate programs. The winners will have the opportunity to compete at the national level against winners from other states.

Six undergraduate students from the Department of Sociology and Criminology - Chase Freeman, Brooke Poe, Miya Fillmore, Mia Hadzidelimovic, Abby Hudson and McKenzie Taylor - attended the Southwestern Association of Criminal Justice annual conference Oct. 11-13 in Little Rock with their faculty adviser, professor Lauren Copley Sabon. The students were able to network with faculty and students from universities around the Southwest and learn about the research being done in the region. In addition, they participated in the regional crime scene investigation competition and Quiz Bowl. They were very successful in their endeavors and showed off their knowledge and critical thinking skills.

This weekend, the University of Arkansas' Mock Trial teams showcased their legal prowess at two separate tournaments. Teams Sandy and Patrick traveled to St. Louis, Missouri, for the WashU's Arch Invitational, while Teams Plankton and Squidward ventured to Oxford, Mississippi, to compete in the Chucky Mullins Invitational at Ole Miss. The U of A Mock Trial team is a trial simulation-based RSO that competes in tournaments across the nation.

The Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas recently named their 2023-24 Fulbright College Student Ambassadors, which is part of the college's Inclusive Excellence initiatives. The Fulbright College Student Ambassador Program, which began in 2021, selects high-achieving undergraduate students to aid the college in its recruitment efforts, student outreach programs, community engagement and professional development opportunities. The program has grown to include 15 qualified undergraduate student ambassadors for the 2023-24 academic year.

The University of Arkansas Speech and Debate Society continued their overwhelming successes recently at the University of Central Missouri's Missouri Mule Tournament in Warrensburg, Missouri. Twenty-one U of A students attended the tournament and strongly represented the university with an overall win percentage of 63 percent, in which all students won at least one round.

More than $1.6 million in scholarships was awarded to 960 undergraduate and graduate students in Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas this fall. These scholarships are made possible by the support of donors, who include alumni, faculty, staff and friends of Fulbright College, and aid students across the college's four academic disciplines: arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences.

The Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences recently welcomed more than 1,800 first-year undergraduate students to the college and to the greater University of Arkansas campus community for the fall semester, adding to the 6,344-person university-wide freshman class and to the more than 32,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students at the U of A.

University of Arkansas Honors German and engineering student Roman Dowling recently completed a highly competitive international fellowship with Research Internships in Science and Engineering Germany, or RISE. Once accepted into the program, students are matched with German host universities and institutes that align with their technical interests.

Five incoming freshmen from Arkansas will join the distinguished list of Sturgis Fellows in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences this fall. The Sturgis Fellowship is one of the oldest, most esteemed fellowship programs at the University of Arkansas. It awards each fellow $80,000 during their four years to cover tuition, room and board, and educational tools such as computer hardware and software, high-quality musical instruments, access to professional journals, and participation at academic conferences.

Senior Joanna Resendez has been selected as the Student Leader of the Month for August 2023. Originally from Richardson, Texas, Resendez came to the University of Arkansas to study political science with minors in English and legal studies. She is currently the Senior Resident Assistant of Maple Hill West and a member of Alpha Phi Omega, a national service organization that builds leadership and community through service and fellowship to all. Additionally, she is an advisoe for Lead More, which empowers upperclassmen in the development of their personal leadership styles through various initiatives throughout the year. She is also a member of the Pre-Law Society and works at the Young Law library.

Twenty-nine recently graduated Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences students were selected to be part of the latest class of top graduating seniors by the University of Arkansas Alumni Association. The "Seniors of Significance" recognition is part of the Arkansas Alumni Association's Senior Awards Program, which honors students' excellence in leadership, academics and co-curricular activities.

More than 2,000 students were named to the Spring 2023 Dean's List in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. To qualify for the Dean's List, students must achieve at least a 3.75 GPA for the semester while completing at least 12 credit hours. More than 8,000 students call Fulbright College home with areas of study and research across the fine arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences.

More than 900 undergraduate students earned nearly 1,200 bachelor's degrees this spring in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. These undergraduate students earned their degrees in areas of study that span across one of four academic disciplines: fine arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. The commencement website includes a complete list of our Spring 2023 graduates. Videos of the live-streamed 2023 spring commencement ceremonies are also available on the U of A's YouTube channel. Printed program books were handed out to graduates and are available online.

Sophia McAdara, a junior honors political science major in the University of Arkansas' Fulbright College, has been selected as a finalist for the 2023 Harry S. Truman Scholarship. McAdara, who is from Branson, Missouri, joins just two other students from the U of A who were named finalists.

Nearly 2,500 students were named to the Fall 2022 Dean's List in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. To qualify, students must achieve at least a 3.75 GPA for the semester while completing at least 12 credit hours. More than 8,000 students call Fulbright College home with areas of study and research across the fine arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences.

More than $3 million in scholarships were awarded to 700 Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences students this school year at the University of Arkansas. These scholarships are made possible by the support of donors, who include alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of Fulbright College, and aid students across the college's four academic disciplines: arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences.