Welcome to the August 2022 Round Up of the Fulbright REVIEW Blog

Welcome to our annual “Back to School” edition of the Fulbright REVIEW!

We are so excited you’re here and to share all of our amazing Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences news and happenings with you. We’re also excited to be heading back to our beautiful campus and to welcome the largest incoming Freshman class we’ve ever had.

I also wanted to introduce myself as Fulbright College’s new Interim Dean. Filling the shoes of my dear friend and colleague Todd Shields won’t be easy, but I’m so honored for this opportunity.

And I’m excited, too, because this truly is a homecoming for me – after all, Fulbright College has been my academic home and family since 2004 and this college means so very much to me.

Fulbright College is a place where I grew as a teacher, scholar, colleague, mentor, and leader.

It’s where I’ve thrived as a researcher and professor of Mexican history, gender, and culture.

It’s where I served first as a director, and then as an associate dean and founder of a new center.

But most of all, it’s where I made lifelong connections with many of the folks who are reading this note right now. For all of those and for all the new friends and colleagues I’m looking forward to making in this role, I will be forever grateful.

Most recently, I’ve been serving the U of A in the Provost’s Office, as Interim Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, but I am delighted to return to Fulbright College as Interim Dean. As the academic heart and soul of the U of A, our college is poised for remarkable influence and impact as we embody our mission of “peace through education.”

It’s inspiring and exciting work, and I’m excited to join you in it.

So, thank you for welcoming me back, and thank you for your confidence in my ability to lead the college during this pivotal time.

Thank you also to Dean Shields for all he’s done for the college and to help make it the wonderful place that it is, and thank all of you, for being a part of Fulbright College’s next chapter as we look to the future and write it together!

In other big news, we have an amazing new associate dean to introduce, and we recently named the 2022 recipients of our college’s top endowed faculty awards, as well as our top teaching and research awards.

On the student front, we’ve got some top tips for success to share, and are so excited to introduce five of our talented, driven new incoming freshmen from Arkansas who have been named 2022 Sturgis Fellows!

Our college has also been hosting eight students from the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, and our talented UATV journalism students recently received multiple Mid-America Emmy awards.

Additionally, 11 public art projects created by our students are now on display through a Smithsonian Institute outdoor exhibition, two recent graduates earned Distinguished Dissertation Awards, and another doctoral candidate just won an NSF award to see how ancient raised field systems can contribute to modern sustainable development.

In other news, this physics duo made a discovery that could improve data storage in electronic devices, and these world languages and music faculty were recognized for their excellence creatively using technology to teach!

On the research and innovation front, this spotlight video features a special ceramic, mixed-media sculptural installation, and these interdisciplinary researchers created a novel concrete beam design that uses 40% less materials.

Then, help congratulate this communications scholar for winning a grant on the rhetoric of dress codes and misogynistic culture, this Grammy-winning music educator who was selected for a prestigious conducting fellowship, and this talented data scientist for being elected to serve on a prominent national committee!

Finally, if you’d like to learn more about the extraordinary people, initiatives, projects and activities that make up Fulbright College, please visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. Our handle is @uarkfulbright on all three.

And, as always, we’ll keep providing you with more new stories at fulbrightreview.uark.edu. We hope you’ll stay tuned

In the meantime, please keep in touch, take care and be well!

Sincerely,

Kathryn Sloan
Interim Dean, Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences