Welcome to the September 2024 Round Up of the Fulbright REVIEW Blog
Hello Fulbright College friends, supporters, families, faculty, staff, alumni, and students,
It’s shaping up to be a fantastic fall here at the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, filled with student success, research progress, alumni engagement and much more news that we’re excited to share with you in the September Fulbright REVIEW.
The weather is starting to really cool off, college football is finally back, and campus is bustling with activity. Last week we hosted the first Old Main Open House as part of Family Weekend. We also celebrated welcoming a record 33,610 students to campus this fall, and the Chancellor announced that the U of A’s economic impact on the state of Arkansas has increased to $3 billion annually.
Over the summer I worked with the Associate Deans in Fulbright College to examine their roles and responsibilities, and now I’m excited to reintroduce our Associate Deans and share the responsibilities and focal points each has – all with the goal of providing high levels of support to our college.
The Associate Deans and I have kicked off our college listening tour, where we are meeting with the faculty and staff of every department and school in the college, as well as with many alumni, donors, and community partners, too.
More on that in a future message.
On a personal note, my family and I are having so much fun getting settled into our new hometown. We have explored the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, thoroughly shopped the Farmer’s Market, and had a great experience at Family Weekend.
We met many students and their families as well as connected with our loyal and enthusiastic alumni base. We capped it all off with cheering the hogs on to victory! #WPS
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me and my team via fulbright@uark.edu.
Sincerely,
Brian E. Raines
Dean, Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
HIGHLIGHTS:
In addition to our recent campus successes and reintroducing our Associate Deans, in the September 2024 Fulbright REVIEW we also feature a Grammy Award-winning educator selected for a prestigious Cambridge fellowship.
Readers can also get to know four International Engineering Dual Degree program students pursuing degrees in both German and Engineering, who recently completed impressive study abroad internships.
Then, check out this scientist’s work studying the skin microbiomes of marine animals that won an NSF grant and will be part of a documentary, and get the inside scoop on our upcoming One Book One Community events.
We also recently announced the 10th Anniversary Season of our Jim and Joyce Faulkner Performing Arts Center, debuted a new national TV commercial, and released a new podcast episode on the life of music legend and native Arkansan Johnny Cash.
Next, be sure to learn about an award-winning experimental film our communication students created, and meet a young alumni duo who taught in Italy this summer, and three more current students successfully who interned abroad.
You can also help us congratulate this history doctoral candidate whose research has garnered more than $30,000 in funding, and this student duo who represented Arkansas at the 2024 Local Conference of Youth.
In more news, our biological scientists are determining how scorpion venom could lead to new pain treatments, our interdisciplinary Data Science Program is beginning its search for a new leader, and our Crime and Security Data Analytics Lab named its new leader.
One of our physicists was also named an associate editor of a prestigious journal, while another researcher received multiple teaching awards for her dedication to students, and a third published a book about the Olympics on the heels of the Paris games.
Finally, help us congratulate an associate dean named a fellow of the competitive 2024 Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development Program, an administrator named an employee of the quarter, and a faculty member selected to peer review Fulbright U.S. Program applications.
And, 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 / X, Instagram or LinkedIn social media channels. Our handle is @uarkfulbright on all.
As always, we’ll keep providing you with more new stories at fulbrightreview.uark.edu. We hope you’ll stay tuned.