a PDF of the Spring/Summer 2014 Issue
Transcription
a PDF of the Spring/Summer 2014 Issue
Today A biannual magazine for alumni and friends of University of the Ozarks Volume 33 * Number 1 Spring/Summer 2014 University Administration Richard L. Dunsworth, J.D. President Travis Feezell, Ph.D. Provost Jeff Scaccia, MBA Chief Financial Officer Joe Havis, MS Vice President of Enrollment Production Staff Larry Isch, MS Director of University and Public Relations Editor Vinnie Tran, BA Publications Coordinator, Photographer Design and Layout Photo and editorial contributions by: Bristle Shook, Josh Peppas and Carmen Castorena For more information, please contact the: Office of University Advancement University of the Ozarks 415 N. College Avenue Clarksville, AR 72830-2880 (479) 979-1230; Fax (479) 979-1239 Website: www.ozarks.edu University Directory (479) Area Code Academic Affairs Admission Advancement Alumni Relations Athletics Business Office Financial Aid President’s Office Public Relations Registrar Student Life 979-1431 979-1227 979-1230 979-1234 979-1483 979-1208 979-1221 979-1242 979-1433 979-1212 979-1321 ON THE COVER: The University of the Ozarks does not discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, color, national or ethnic origin, age, or physical handicap in the administration of its educational policies, programs or activities. Richard L. Dunsworth, J.D., was officially installed as the 25th president of University of the Ozarks during an Inauguration ceremony held April 11, 2014, in Munger-Wilson Chapel. See Story, Page 4 CONTENTS 9 Athletic Program Adds New Sports 14 GENEROUS GIFT TO BENEFIT CHAPEL 16 The Legacy of Parks 22 A Melted heart 30 A LOOK back Wrestling, Cheer/STUNT provides new opportunities for student-athletes. Donation from Mrs. Frances Wilson of Tulsa, Okla., will aid in renovation efforts. In 50 years of teaching at Ozarks, Professor Gilbert Parks has positively impacted thousands of young students. Alumna now understands University constraints of almost 50 years ago. 1940 graduate Billie Burnett King recalls campus life nearly 75 years ago. Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 1 Graduation 2014 Degrees awarded to 120 graduates University of the Ozarks awarded degrees to 120 graduating seniors d u r i n g t h e U n i v e r s i t y ’s 1 8 0 t h Commencement ceremony, held May 17, 2014, on the campus mall. The Class of 2014 included 28 graduates who received their diplomas during the Fall Commencement in December Retiring U of O Provost Dr. Daniel Taddie served as the keynote speaker during the address. Taddie, served as the chief academic officer at Ozarks from 2002-2014, a tenure exceeding that of all others in the position since at least the 1940s. Tom Riddle, a mathematics major from Magazine, Ark., was also recognized during the ceremony as the recipient of the 2014 Hurie Award, which is given to the outstanding member of the graduating class and is considered the highest honor an Ozarks senior can receive. Riddle graduated with Magna Cum Laude honors and was president of the Student Foundation Board for two years. Senior Whitney Lewis of Clarksville was elected by her classmates to provide the student’s welcome and Board of Trustees President Doug Black presented commendations from the trustees. Among those graduates who were recognized for earning Summa Cum Laude (3.85 grade point average or higher) honors were: Fatima Aguero, Adriana Beltran, Laura Duran, Jordyn Ferrell, Madeline Hutson, Whitney Lewis, Mario Lopez, Maria Montero, Justin Ontiveros, Jessica Temple, and Megan Whorton. 2 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 Nitza Vara, a biology major from San Antonio, Texas, had a large and supportive group of family and friends in attendance to celebrate her graduation. Education major Amelia Huddleston (above photo) of Springdale, Ark., shows her excitement after receiving her diploma. Chris McIntyre (above, left photo), a marketing major from Dallas, and Abigail Kern, (left photo) an art major from Wichita, Kan., enjoyed the special day with family members. University of the Ozarks Class of 2014 Ala’A Abu Rmaileh, Little Rock, AR Jefferson Adams, Houston, TX Vanessa Aguero, Nicaragua Michael Alfaro, Costa Rica Alejandro Andino, Honduras Abraham Arias, Mexico Joshua Atkinson, Clarksville, AR Andrea Avalos, Costa Rica Dylan Ballard, Ponder, TX John Bannon, Dallas, TX Whitney Bateman, Clarksville, AR Maegan Bell, Dallas, TX Adriana Beltran, El Salvador Marcus Bobb, Ponder, TX Molly Bowman, Springdale, AR Katrina Bradley, Bentonville, AR Nicholas Brill, Siloam Springs, AR James Butler, Harrisburg, AR Karina Calderón, Guatemala María Calderón, Guatemala Chloe Chrimes, Lewisville, TX Andrew Clark, Elkins, AR Cameron Coker, Russellville, AR Alejandro Cordoba, Costa Rica Kenneth Crook, Junction City, AR Clayton Crouch, Wichita Falls, TX William Davenport, Deer, AR Kindra Davis, Fort Smith, AR Cole DeVoss, Paris, TX Eugene Downs, Nicaragua Laura Duran, Honduras Callie Edwards, Bentonville, AR Tyler Erickson, Cabot, AR Jordyn Ferrell, West Fork, AR Luis Fiallos, Miami, FL Stephanie Figueroa, Honduras Kylee Firkins, Clarksville, AR Matthew Friant, Conway, AR Kelly Gorny, Clarksville, AR Colleen Guillory, Lafayette, LA Seanan Heaney, United Kingdom Christopher Hilgendorf, Fort Smith, AR Amelia Huddleston, Springdale, AR Madeline Hutson, Rogers, AR Tyler Hydrick, Jonesboro, AR Kayla James, Lamar, AR Peyton Johnigan, Fort Worth, TX Calvin Jones, Conway, AR Macie Kelley, Kaufman, TX Abigail Kern, Wichita, KS Katie Kloepfer, Lafe, AR Eston Klutts, Mena, AR De’Andre Knight, Star City, AR Karl Kreitlein, Clarksville, AR Whitney Lewis, Clarksville, AR Olivia Logan, Banner Elk, NC Mario Lopez, El Salvador Rafael Luna, Brazil Eddwing Madrigal, Nicaragua Hunter Maggio, Dallas, TX Steven Martin, Star City, AR Nadesha Martinez, Nicaragua Allison Mathis, Hemet, California Casey Mays, Fort Worth, TX Tabitha McClane, Flippin, AR Christopher McIntyre, Dallas, TX Evan Meagher, Lafayette, LA Maria Montero, Costa Rica Tess Montgomery, Anna, TX Sequoia Moore, Pine Bluff, AR Antonio Morales, Fayetteville, AR Malorie Moreland, Rogers, AR Sarah Nehus, Paris, AR Ariel Nichols, Clarksville, AR Adrian Nuñez, Flower Mound, TX Tyra Omeir, Nicaragua Justin Ontiveros, Grand Prairie, TX Christian Pedroza, México Estrella Perez, Panama Julie Petz, Shannon Hills, AR Ryan Pitchford, De Queen, AR David Pluebell, Plano, TX Mitchell Powers, North Little Rock, AR Jessica Prater, El Dorado, AR Frederick Prince, Jonesboro, AR Colton Qualls, Clarksville, AR Tori Rhein, Corpus Christi, TX Tara Richards, Henderson, NV Thomas Riddle, Magazine, AR Kourtney Risher, El Dorado, AR Heather Roberts, Crossett, AR Lakyn Robinson, Oark, AR Laryn Robinson, Oark, AR Caleb Rohde, Havana, AR Richard Rumpf, Paron, AR Rikki Runyan, McGehee, AR Eloy Salgado, Mansfield, AR Robert Sarber, Allen, TX Monica Seiler, Rogers, AR Kurt Shemanske, Bixby, OK Tiffany Sirratt, Clarksville, AR Corey Snyder, Clarksville, TN Danessa Stewart, Ozone, AR James Storer, Shreveport, LA Jessica Temple, Benton, AR Boulton Thomas, Gamaliel, AR Karlye Tolley, Houston, TX Emily Toombs, Lamar, AR Alexandria Turner, Jonesboro, AR Trent Ueunten, San Jose, CA Nitza Vara, San Antonio, TX Meiko Warren, Scranton, AR Adam Waynick, Fort Smith, AR Megan Whorton, Manassas, VA Tamara Wilkett, Garland, TX Kara Willbanks, Fort Smith, AR Ashley Wilson, El Dorado, AR Jeffrey Works, Fordyce, AR Ethan Young, New Orleans, LA Riley Young, Mountain View, MO Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 3 4 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 The Inauguration of President Richard L. Dunsworth Richard L. Dunsworth, J.D., was formally installed as the 25th president of University of the Ozarks during a special Inauguration Ceremony on Friday, April 11, 2014. The ceremony, which was the culmination of a week-long celebration involving numerous campus events, was attended by more than 500 students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends in historic Raymond Munger Memorial Chapel. The theme for the Inauguration was, “A Celebration of Students, Past, Present and Future.” Dunsworth, 45, was selected by the U of O Board of Trustees to lead the University on Oct. 6, 2012, and began his presidential term in June 2013. He came to Ozarks from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, where he spent most of the past 22 years, serving most recently as interim president and vice president for enrollment. As vice president for enrollment at Millikin from 2004-2013, Dunsworth oversaw numerous departments, including academic development, admission, athletics, financial aid, institutional research, marketing, media relations, registrar, and student development. A native of Colorado, Dunsworth earned a bachelor of arts in political science from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, becoming the first person in his family to obtain a college degree. He went on to earn a master’s Continued on Page 6 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 5 degree in education in 1994 from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston and a juris doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2002. “It is especially humbling, as more often than not when I look in the mirror I see a fairly simple country boy from the plains of Colorado,” Dunsworth said. “I see someone who but for some key relationships in my life, would probably not have a college degree, let alone three. And I surely would not be leading such a special place as this.” During his Inauguration remarks, Dunsworth referenced the 180-year-old University’s tradition as a trend-setter in higher education, citing the fact that the college was the first in the state to admit women, the first predominately white college in the state to graduate African-Americans and among the first in the nation to establish a center for students with learning disabilities. “Isaiah 1:17 says, ‘Learn to do right. Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow,’ ” Dunsworth said. “What is the next area of justice we might tackle? I believe it is in the area of economic equality. I believe that our size, our location and our current position could allow us to pivot and do something. I accept the challenge to go where others have not. I appreciate that boldly going where no institution has President Dunsworth’s parents, Leroy and Wanda Dunsworth, traveled from Colorado to join the new University president, his wife, Holly, and their children, Matthew, Emma and Nicolas, for the special ceremony. 6 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 Christian singer Matthew West, a long-time family friend of the Dunsworths, performed a special concert in the Seay Theatre for the Ozarks campus community as part of Inauguration Week. West won the 2013 American Music Award for Best Contemporary Inspirational Artist. gone before requires us to break from the pack and to lead. It requires that we create a new path, a new business model, new ways of connecting with each other and possibly new ways to do old business.” Dunsworth stated that making the cost of attaining a college degree affordable to more students would be a priority of his administration. “What if in honoring our past, we rediscover and truly live our mission?” he said. “What if we could find ways of delivering a premier undergraduate education by optimizing our cost and resource structure? What if we could find a way to promise a family that they would not be asked to leverage their future, or the future of their child, by burdening a graduate with more debt than he or she can possibly pay back?” Doug Black, chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees, said the search committee and board’s selection of Dunsworth was unanimous. “In conducting our search for the next president, it was the sincere and earnest desire of the board and the search committee that we be led by God’s Inauguration Traditions providence to discover and recognize clearly the man or woman that He called to lead Ozarks,” Black said. “After much prayer and serious discussion it became clear to all of us that Rich Dunsworth was that person and our decision to ask him to come was unanimous. When I spoke with Rich after he had accepted, I asked him what was the single most important thing for him to consider in making his decision to join us. He told me that he and Holly had been praying that God would lead them to the place they were to serve Him and they knew in their hearts that Ozarks was that place.” Black said he has been impressed with Dunsworth’s leadership since he took office last June. “Rich does not look upon his job here as a position of great authority or celebrity, but instead as his calling,” Black said. “In the short time he has been with us, he has proven that he possesses the unique professional skills and experience we need to lead and guide us through the days ahead in addressing the challenges with which we are faced. In Rich, God has brought to us a humble man, possessed of great character, integrity and a deep and abiding faith that is the basis of his leadership. We are indeed fortunate to have this gentleman who is sincerely and genuinely dedicated to serving our students and our University family.” Several former Ozarks presidents and first ladies joined Richard and Holly Dunsworth at the Inauguration, including Dr. Rick and Sherée Niece (left), Juanita Ehren and Dr. Gene and Lynda Stephenson (right). The Presidential Medallion was designed as a symbol of the authority vested in the President by the Board of Trustees of University of the Ozarks. The medallion bears the official presidential seal of the University and depicts the logo that symbolizes the University’s Christian foundation. The medallion was designed and produced by alumnus James Edward “Ed” Martin ’68 of Oklahoma City. The Chapel Bible used during the inauguration was formally presented to University of the Ozarks by the Class of 1962 in memory of their classmate, Tommy Lee King, who fell ill and passed away during the 1961-62 school year. The 1962 Aerie Yearbook was dedicated in memory of Mr. King with a Memoriam that included: “In the science of biology, growth is an evidence of life. An increase in the appreciation of a person in the opinion of his associated is an evidence of spiritual growth. This is the kind of light that never grows dim and is never extinguished. The true Christian is a shedder of light. Christ put it this way when he said: ‘Ye are the light of the world.’ ” The two hymns performed during President Dunsworth’s inauguration service, “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” by Ludwig van Beethoven and “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” by Martin Luther, were chosen not only because they remind us that our true joy and hope resides in God, but because of the history these two particular hymns have at Presidential Inaugurations at Ozarks. These hymns were sung as congregational hymns or used as an instrumental anthem at the inaugurations of President Ehren (1983), President Stephenson (1991), and President Niece (1997). Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 7 AROUND CAMPUS Chamber Honors University University of the Ozarks was named the Corporate Business of the Year at the 2014 Clarksville-Johnson County Chamber of Commerce’s 93rd annual Awards Banquet, held March 14 in the University’s Rogers Conference Center. D r. B i l l C l a r y, associate professor of Spanish and coordinator of the Walton Arts & Ideas Series, was also named U of O Educator of the Year during the awards banquet. Clayton Caldwell, chamber vice president, praised the volunteer efforts of Ozarks’ faculty and staff in announcing the corporate award. “The faculty and staff at University of the Ozarks are very involved in our community, whether it is through service organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, Lion’s Club, Rotary Club, Kiwanis Club, the local churches, or other groups and organizations,” Caldwell said. Feezell Named New Provost The University has named Dr. Travis Feezell as its new provost. Feezell was most recently an associate professor of business and chair of the Department of Sport and Motorsports Management at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C. He began his new duties at Ozarks on June 16. Following a nationwide search, Feezell was selected from a pool of more than 70 candidates. He succeeds Dr. Daniel Taddie, who retired after 12 years as the university’s chief academic administrator. Feezell holds an Ed.D. in education and has more than 20 years of experience in higher education as an academic administrator, faculty member, athletic director and baseball coach. He also served as special assistant to the president for strategic planning at Belmont Abbey and previously served as interim chair for the Department of Business and interim director of athletics at the college. Feezell and his wife, Carol, have four children. CAMPUS ENHANCEMENT New pedestrian zone improves safety A new pedestrian improvement area on College Avenue has enhanced the safety and aesthetics along the University’s east side of campus. The pedestrian area, which was completed in November, is made up of six traffic calming areas, or “islands,” that stretch approximately a quarter of a mile along College Ave., also known as Highway 103. The heavily traveled Highway 103 is one of the main north-to-south arteries in Johnson County. Highlighting the pedestrian area are 16 light poles adorned with University banners welcoming guests to campus. The $300,000 project was funded through a joint effort from the University, the City of Clarksville and a federal grant through the Arkansas Highway Transportation Enhancement Program. 8 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 AROUND CAMPUS Programs Added in Athletics The University’s athletics program has added two new sports and also expanded its shooting sports program in an effort to provide more opportunities for students. Ozarks will begin competing in men’s wrestling and competitive cheer/STUNT in the 2014-15 academic year. The University will also add men’s and women’s archery as part of an expanded shooting sports program that includes clay target shooting for both men and women. During a June news conference, the athletics program introduced (pictured, right) Jason Zastrow as the new head coach of the wrestling program and Tori Cox to lead the cheer/STUNT program. In addition, the University has made significant renovations to Mabee Gymnasium to accommodate the new sports, including converting the indoor pool to a practice facility. Ozarks will have the first cheer/STUNT program in the state. “The addition of these sports will allow students the opportunity to compete at the NCAA Division III level while earning a degree and developing their personal and professional calling,” said U of O President Richard Dunsworth. “Student-athletes at Ozarks experience academic success and professional preparation, increasing further educational opportunities as well as greater job placement. It is a perfect time to create additional opportunities for young people to experience that success.” Fast Facts About Ozarks’ Newest Sports Programs Archery * The United States Collegiate Archery (USCA) Association, based in Davis, Calif., is the governing body for the sport and official competition is restricted to USCA-sanctioned events. The U.S. Intercollegiate Archery Championships are held in Long Beach, Calif. * According to the USCA, there are approximately 60 universities in the country with active archery teams that compete in national events. Cheer/STUNT * Head coach Tori Cox was a former cheerleader at the University of Northern Iowa. * STUNT competition is comprised of four quarters: 1) Partner Stunts, 2) Team Tumbling/Jumps, 3) Pyramids/ Basket Tosses, and 4) Team Performance. Within each quarter, teams perform skill sequences of varying levels of difficulty. Two or four teams compete at a time in head-tohead competition. Shooting Sports * In 2010, Ozarks became the first college in Arkansas to compete in the Association of College Union’s Intercollegiate Clay Target Championships, which is considered the premiere shooting event in the country for colleges. * Arkansas leads the nation in youth shooting participation with more than 7,000 youth involved, according to the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation. Wrestling * Ozarks is the sixth college in Arkansas to offer wrestling and the first NCAA Division III program in the state. * Head coach Jason Zastrow is a native of Minnesota and was a four-year letterman at NCAA Division III Wartburg College in Iowa. He served as an assistant coach at Wartburg from 2010-2013 and helped the Knights win three national championships and post a 56-1 record. Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 9 AROUND CAMPUS FACULTY NEWS Assistant Professor of Art Dawn Holder took home top honors at the 66th annual River Valley Invitational, announced June 5 at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum. The River Valley Invitational was open to professional artists nationwide and there were 52 works submitted by 43 artists in the competition. Holder’s winning artwork was a largescaled installation called “Suburban Lawn Iteration III.” The piece is an installation made of porcelain featuring about 75,000 blades of grass. Holder, who earned her master of fine arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design, has taught at Ozarks since 2011. Dr. Robert Hilton, professor of management and business, was presented with the prestigious John L. Green Award for Excellence in Business Education at the annual International Assembly of Collegiate Business Education’s (IACBE) Conference in San Diego in April. The award honors individuals who make significant contributions that advance the cause of academic quality in business education in a manner consistent with the IACBE’s “characteristics of excellence in business education.” This is the most prestigious annual award given by the association. Hilton served as chair of the IACBE board of directors in 2004 and 2010 and led the University’s efforts to earn initial IACBE accreditation in 2004. Associate Professor of Spanish Dr. Bill Clary presented a paper at the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Congress in May in Chicago. Clary’s paper focused on Salvadoran writer Roger Lindo’s 2006 novel “El perro en la niebla.” Clary also chaired a panel discussion at the annual conference for the ninth time. In addition to the LASA conference, Clary has taught at U of O since 2006. Professor of Political Science Dr. Stewart Dippel recently completed his third book, “The Fast Day Sermons before the Long Parliament (1640-1660): Their Role in Shaping Intellectual and Political Life in 17th Century England.” The academic volume is published by The Edwin Mellen Press. Considered a leading academic in 17th Century religious history, Dippel said his latest publication is intended for professional and graduate-level scholars of early modern religious history. Dippel, who earned his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, has taught at Ozarks since 1992. He has authored two other books. 10 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 Making History The 2013-14 men’s tennis team made history in 201314, advancing to postseason play for the first time. The Eagles, under head coach Shaun Wiseman, qualified for the six-team American Southwest Conference Tournament in Tyler, Texas, after finishing third in the league standings. The Eagles defeated Mary HardinBaylor 5-1 in the first round of the tournament before falling to top-seeded UT-Dallas. The Eagles finished the season with a 12-5 overall record. “Qualifying for the playoffs is a sign of our progression the last few years,” said head coach Shaun Wiseman. “It is big for our program. We have been building for this. Our guys have gained experience against strong opponents and that has helped us win some close matches.” Faculty, Staff Awards The University’s Board of Trustees presented its annual faculty and staff awards during the 2014 Trustees’ Awards Banquet in April. Among the recipients for 2014 were (pictured, from left) Aramark Catering Manager Amanda McCartney, Assistant Professor of English Dr. Amy Oatis, Director of Information Technology Rick Otto, Associate Professor of Life Science Education Dr. Kim Van Scoy, and Jones Learning Center Testing Coordinator Tricia Meek. Oatis and Van Scoy each received the Richard and Katherene Bagwell Outstanding Faculty Award. Meek was honored with the Arnold G. Sims Outstanding Support Staff Award and Otto earned the Alvin C. Broyles Outstanding Professional Staff Award. McCartney was presented the 2014 President’s Above and Beyond Outstanding Service Award. AROUND CAMPUS THE LESSONS OF DR. SEUSS Education Major Uses Author’s Books to Reach Her Students “I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.” — Dr. Seuss Monica Seiler grew up with Dr. Seuss books, gaining a deep appreciation and love for the colorful imagery and life’s lessons that the famous children’s author imparted in his books. As a budding elementary school teacher, she’s now making it a point to ensure today’s young children know about Dr. Seuss. S e i l e r, a n e a r l y c h i l d h o o d education major from Rogers, Ark., who graduated in May, completed her student-teaching this past semester at Elgin B. Milton Elementary School in Ozark, Ark. As part of her work with the third-graders in her class, Seiler developed a two-week project that incorporated Dr. Seuss readings with lessons in literacy, math, science, social studies, art and health. “Each lesson of that day had a specific theme to it that correlated to the Dr. Seuss book that I was reading that day,” said Seiler. “For example, in the book ‘The Lorax,’ the message is all about recycling and taking care of the world we live in. Therefore, I connected it to science material on reducing, reusing, and recycling. In ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go!’ the message is all about finding positivity, even when times get hard, and to never give up and to persevere.” The students especially liked one of Seiler’s favorite Dr. Seuss books, “Horton Hears a Who.” “The message in this book touches my heart every time and I think it is because I have a soft spot in my heart for young children,” Seiler said. “The theme, ‘A person’s a person, no matter how small,’ is a great theme.” Seiler even went as far as dressing up to match the theme of the book, including donning a red and white striped hat and bowtie for “The Cat in the Hat” theme. “For the book, ‘Wacky Wednesday,’ I mismatched my clothes and shoes and the students loved that,” Seiler said. “When they saw me each morning, they tried to guess which book we would be reading that day. It just made them much more enthusiastic about the lessons.” Even on the sad day that the Dr. Seuss project ended, Seiler was able to incorporate an important message into the theme. “One of Dr. Seuss’ famous quotes is ‘Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened,’ and we talked about what that meant,” Seiler said. “The students understood what that meant and how it applied to the ending of that unit.” Seiler said she was surprised how many of the third-graders had never heard of Dr. Seuss and that the ones who were familiar with him had only heard of one or two of his books. Born in 1904, Theodor Seuss Geisel published 46 children’s books before he passed away in 1991. “In my opinion I think Dr. Seuss is a genius,” Seiler said. “His poetic play with words and the lessons that he weaves into his books are amazing. Dr. Seuss created such deep messages within his text that can reach and touch people of all ages. I was surprised that so many children had not read his books or knew who he was. It was a great feeling to see the children connect with his books and learn something from them.” Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 11 AROUND CAMPUS A Shining Example Incoming SGA president will be first in his family to earn college degree Daniel Garcia’s goal of being the first person in his immediate family to earn a college degree isn’t just about him. “I have two younger sisters and I want to show them that you can achieve your goals with hard work and dedication,” said Garcia, a junior mathematics major from Clarksville. “I hope I can be an example for them and that they will keep up their grades and go to college as well.” Garcia’s family moved to the United States from Mexico when he was just 3. Not only did his parents not attend college, even in his extended family very few of his relatives have pursued higher education. “There’s just not a lot of tradition of our family going to college, so I want to begin a new tradition where college is expected,” he said. “I’ve always made pretty good grades and I always knew I was going to go to college.” Garcia has shined both inside and outside the classroom since arriving at Ozarks. He’s made the academic honor roll numerous times and last summer he spent six weeks studying biostatistics at the prestigious Columbia Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics (CSIBS) at Columbia University in New York City. Outside the classroom, Garcia was recently elected by the student body to serve as the Student Government Association president for the 2014-2015 academic year. “It’s a great honor to represent the students at Ozarks,” Garcia said. “It’s an important responsibility and I want 12 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 to do my best for the entire student body.” Serving in SGA since his freshman year, Garcia said he’s learned that he has a knack for listening to his classmates. “I enjoy listening and hearing the thoughts and concerns of other students,” said Garcia, who served as SGA vice president in 2013-14. “I think I’m a good listener because people seem to be comfortable talking to me. I also like being involved in the process of government and helping different organizations and groups on campus.” Garcia said his goal is to help make SGA more efficient. “I’d like to see the whole SGA process be a little easier for students and organizations,” he said. “I’m looking into maybe some training conferences and events this summer for SGA members. I’d also like to look at the student governments at other schools and see if there are things we can learn and pick up from them.” With a love of mathematics, Garcia is earning minors in computer science and physics with the goal of becoming an engineer. He credits Ozarks for helping him grow both inside and outside the classroom. “I’ve had some tremendous opportunities to learn and increase my knowledge and my confidence,” Garcia said. “When I went to Columbia, I realized that I was just as prepared and knowledgeable as students from larger, more well-known universities from throughout the country. That’s a great feeling.” AROUND CAMPUS PBL team takes top honor at state meet Members of the University of the Ozarks’ Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) team took home nine first-place, five second-place and seven third-place finishes to capture the overall Sweepstakes title in the 2014 Arkansas FBLA-PBL State Leadership Conference, held in Little Rock in April. Competing against teams from 15 other state colleges and universities, the U of O team earned top individual category honors from Mary Wolfe and Megan Stewart (Chapter Theme: Scrapbook); Ryan Holt (Contemporary Sports Issues); Kurt Shemanske (Future Business Executive); Gabriela Pena (Public Speaking); Mandy Paz (Impromptu Speaking); Andrea Chamorro, Andrea Villafranca and Brianny Pupo (Marketing Analysis and Decision Making); Yeraldine Thomas (Marketing Concepts), Whitney Lewis (Organizational Behavior and Leadership); and Bryant Ford, Catalina Chen, Fernando Valenzuela, Liliam Lopez and Sierra Bates (Parliamentary Procedure). The five U of O students who finished second in their respective categories were, Catalina Chen, Gerarado Navarrette, Phillip Jenkins, Ryan Smith, Ryan Pitchford and Mike Alfaro. “We are so proud of everyone that attended and participated in this year’s PBL State Leadership Conference,” Weaver to lead student life Steven Weaver has been named the new dean of students at Ozarks. Weaver most recently served as director of residential life and housing at Carroll University in Wisconsin. Weaver will oversee all areas of student life, including residential life, campus organizations, student development programming, and student conduct. He earned his undergraduate degree from Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., and a master’s degree in counseling and student personnel from Minnesota State University. He has worked in higher education student affairs for 18 years, including the past six years at Carroll, where he led residential life, housing and student conduct. said Ozarks Business Professor and PBL Faculty Advisor Cynthia Lanphear. “There were 32 Ozarks students that attended and a total of 46 students that actually competed. Winning the Sweepstakes trophy signifies that our chapter is the top chapter in Arkansas, which is a testament to how dedicated our students are to their academic disciplines and to their local PBL chapter. In addition to winning the academic competitions, there were awards of recognition and certificates of excellence given to the Community Service project, the chapter Scrapbook, and the Annual Business Report. Ozarks students work hard and they were duly recognized and rewarded.” A BIG Fish Tale Paul Jarvis, a sophomore from Milton, Ga., and his father, Ron, were featured in numerous newspaper and TV reports in June after they caught an 880-pound sturgeon on the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. The 11-8 foot fish is one of the largest white sturgeon ever caught in B.C. Sturgeon are a protected species and it was released after the two posed for pictures with it. “In the first few minutes I had it on the line, I couldn’t believe the weight and power of the fish. I am a big guy and I could barely hold on to the rod let alone begin to reel the fish,” Paul said. “When I saw that head come out of the water, it was massive.” Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 13 Munger-Wilson Memorial Chapel A Gift From the Heart R aymond Munger Memorial Chapel at University of the Ozarks will benefit from a variety of renovations and improvements over the next year-and-half thanks to a $2 million gift to the University by Frances E. Wilson of Tulsa, Okla. The University’s Board of Trustees formally accepted the gift at its Spring Board Meeting on Saturday, April 26. Wilson made the gift to the University in memory of her late husband, Thomas D. Wilson. In accepting the gift, the board unanimously voted to express its appreciation to Wilson by re-naming the building Munger-Wilson Memorial Chapel. 14 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 The gift actually contains two components, the first being the funding for immediate renovations. Another portion of the donation has been set aside to create the Thomas D. and Frances E. Wilson Chapel Endowment Fund. The annual distributions from this fund will be used to maintain and update the Chapel over time. “Our chapel is the physical representation of our Christian foundation,” said Ozarks President Richard L. Dunsworth. “We are deeply touched that Mrs. Wilson would share of her resources to ensure that our Chapel will always be a beautiful and appropriate representation of our commitment to education in the Presbyterian tradition.” “It is my hope that I have appropriately memorialized my husband, Tommy, that I have helped strengthen the spiritual lives of students, and that I have honored God in a fitting way.” Mrs. Frances E. Wilson In making her gift to the University, Wilson said, “When I became aware of the important needs in the chapel it just struck me that this was the perfect way for me to achieve many things that are important to me. It is my hope that I have appropriately memorialized my husband, Tommy, that I have helped strengthen the spiritual lives of students, and that I have honored God in a fitting way.” The University’s board resolution accepting the gift specifically stated: “The University honors the memory of Raymond Munger and honors the Munger Family that provided the resources that enabled the Chapel to be built in 1932, and honors the generosity and memory of Thomas D. and Frances E. Wilson who have made the gift herein described to ensure the integrity and high quality of this landmark place of Christian worship and learning from this date forward.” According to Steve Edmisten, special assistant to the president at Ozarks, the Chapel was originally built in 1932 and dedicated in 1933. “It was built with the help of Ozarks students, and is, of course, the spiritual heart of our campus,” Edmisten said. He added, “The sanctuary seats 600 to 700 congregants in beautiful hardwood pews, beneath a vaulted ceiling rising high above, upheld by flying buttresses with detailed wood carvings. There are stainedglass windows throughout, with the most magnificent being above the chancel area, behind the pulpit and lectern. The setting sun shining through those windows is particularly inspiring, and when our university organist is playing our world-class Reuter pipe-organ, the effect is exactly what was intended—deeply, movingly, spiritual.” Edmisten said that funds from the gift will be used for many improvements, the most noticeable being in the lower level of the Chapel where student meeting and fellowship areas will undergo a “fairly dramatic” facelift. He said that, “less noticeable, but very important improvements will be made to the building’s infrastructure, including electrical, mechanical, plumbing and audio/ visual elements. The sanctuary and exterior of the Chapel will undergo a great deal of restoration and replacement of structural elements to preserve the historic look and spiritual feel of what is an iconic landmark in this area.” Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 15 16 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 The Legacy of PARKS Over the past half century, Gilbert Parks has etched an indelible legacy as an educator and mentor. Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 17 Sam Meredith, a 1966 graduate of Ozarks, has spent the past 45 years fully immersed in higher education, obtaining two master’s degrees, a Ph.D., teaching undergraduate students for more than four decades, and serving as a division chair as well as a dean of faculty. He’s worked with and studied under some of the nation’s top professors, but he still ranks the best a young social sciences and history professor, fresh out of graduate school, that Meredith was introduced to at Ozarks in the fall of 1964. “I was a junior at Ozarks when Gilbert Parks arrived,” Meredith said. “I was treading water academically. The first classes I had with him introduced me to a whole new world of concepts. History was no longer boring. It was not simply description and memorizing names and dates. It was about concepts, linkages, and processes that explained what, how and why. I learned so much just sitting in class and watching him think. I tried to model myself after him.” “To this day, Gilbert Parks is the best professor I ever had.” Parks retired from Ozarks in May, ending a remarkable 50-year teaching career at the college. Over the past half a century, Parks has been a guiding presence in the academic halls of Ozarks, helping to educate and mentor hundreds of young college students, many of whom developed a love of law, politics and public service under his tutelage. Meredith recently retired from full-time teaching after a 35-year stint as a political science professor and administrator at Blackburn Today, SPRING/SUMMER 18 Today, SPRING/SUMMER2014 2014 College in Illinois. He said he is still grateful for the lessons that Parks taught him five decades ago. “I would not have grown the way I did working with a lesser intellect,” Meredith said. “I will always be grateful that he forced “The Rise of the West” by William H. McNeill on me my senior year. I have spent most of my career trying to fully understand it.” That Parks even ended up at Ozarks was a strange twist of fate. A son of an educator of the deaf, he had moved around the country extensively as a youngster before graduating from Little Rock Central High School. He left Arkansas for college and never planned to return. That changed when Parks, who had recently earned his graduate degree from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts, visited with then Ozarks Dean Dr. Jim Roberts in the summer of 1964. “We talked for about 45 minutes about education and the opportunity to affect some social change,” Parks said. “He really made an impression on me.” After accepting the job at Ozarks, Parks was initially disheartened by the poor shape of the academic facilities he saw on campus as well as the fact that the college did not have North Central accreditation. But he was energized by the students and faculty he would soon encounter. “I was very impressed with the credentials of the faculty at Ozarks and the dedication and commitment they had for students,” he said. “People like Dr. Erwin Bohm, President Don Davis, and Rev. Bill Lytle were tremendous educators, and I consider them my mentors. The quality of the students also surprised me. These were students, many of them from very poor backgrounds, who wanted to learn and better themselves.” It took Parks just one class to know that he had found his true calling. “I really wasn’t convinced I wanted to be a teacher, but after that first class, I knew it was for me,” he said. “The funny thing was that I started out with 30 kids in that class and it finished with eight. I think at one point after that Dean Roberts said I should back off a bit. But I just knew in that first year that I loved teaching and I loved the role and mission of this school.” Kendra Akin Jones, an attorney in Little Rock and a 2001 Ozarks graduate, was typical of many students who found a calling for the law after taking a class under Parks. “Professor Parks changed my path,” Akin said. “I took my first class with him and enjoyed it so much I ended up taking another one the next semester. He pushed us to challenge and examine our beliefs and what supported those beliefs and where those beliefs were formed. It was a different way of thinking and approaching an issue. It all turned me into getting a political science degree and going to law school. His influence on me was instrumental in becoming a lawyer.” Richard Averwater, a 1985 graduate who worked for both the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security before opening up a private law practice in Memphis, said Parks “set an example of scholarly thought and academic excellence which I have tried to follow since then.” “I also currently teach at the University of Phoenix and during our annual faculty meeting recently, they asked us who the teacher was who had the most influence upon us. Mr. Parks immediately came to mind as my most important influence,” Averwater said. “He was witty, intelligent, and had a great sense of humor. I could never hope to match up to his superior intellect, but his example inspired in me the desire to have a good work ethic, academic honesty, and personal integrity in everything I do. These goals have served me well in my legal career, even 25 years later. Mr. Parks set a wonderful example of how students could be inspired to learn, by a teacher who truly led by example.” Matt David, a 2001 Ozarks graduate who has gone on to a successful career as a political consultant, campaign manager and communications director, said Parks’ teaching style was conducive to learning. “No matter how much we wanted it, Professor Parks would never tell us the answer to a question,” said David, who is currently a partner in a marketing firm in Los Angeles. “Whether it was school related or personal, he taught us to find the answer. That was frustrating early on but has served me well throughout life. Many of us who had the opportunity to grow up with the guidance of Professor Parks owe him a great deal of gratitude for his selfless service to us and our University.” Parks’ classes were a mix of professor-student dialog that inspired his students to think beyond the obvious and understand how political science prepares them to be responsible and effective citizens of their society and the world. “I owe a lot to Professor Parks,” said Shawn (Sibley) Look, a 1986 Ozarks graduate who works as a legal counsel for Bank of America in Bonham, Texas. “He taught me critical thinking skills that made me successful in law school and beyond. He has a true talent for stating things in a way that requires you to delve further to figure out what he might be talking about and in doing so, developing skills that other students missed out on. As we were trouping out of his class on to our next, he might shout, ‘Tomorrow we will discuss the Indian.’ It left you wondering what did he mean by that? Did he mean a Native-American? Did he mean a person from India, perhaps Ghandi? Was one of the motorcycles in ‘Zen and the Art of Continued on Page 20 Today, SPRING/SUMMER SPRING/SUMMER 2014 2014 19 19 Today, Motorcycle Maintenance’ an Indian? I knew I had to do a lot of research to cover all the bases.” Look, whose d a u g h t e r, A n d r e a ( M u ff u l e t t o ) C o o p e r and son-in-law, Tristan Cooper, are both 2012 graduates of Ozarks, said she remembers herself growing intellectually in Parks’ classes. “When I was in my freshman year, there were a lot of things that Parks discussed that I had a hard time following and I nodded a lot pretending to understand,” she said. “When I was in my sophomore year, I was beginning to get a clue. By my senior year, I could practically finish his sentences. He was the best teacher that I have ever had, and anyone who took more than just the required classes from him will all say the same. I am deeply grateful for all that he did for me during my time at Ozarks.” Clarksville attorney Rick Weaver, a 1971 Ozarks graduate, credited Parks’ influence for a successful career in law. “My major in history, as it turned out, was very instrumental in my successes in law school because of the amount of writing we had to do in the various history courses,” Weaver said. “Being able to write down and convey your thoughts logically was a skill honed in college and then carried on to law school. By way of example, in law school we had one exam for each subject at the end of the semester. The exam might only consist or four or five essay questions, which together, covered the entire content of what was taught in that particular course. The ability to write became extremely important.” Joni (Marvel) Teddleton, a 2001 Ozarks graduate, remembers taking a Parks class as a freshman. “On my very first day of college, I walked into American National Government, not knowing what to expect,” Teddleton said. “About halfway through the roll call I finally heard my name: ‘Marvel, didn’t I have your aunt in class about 20 years ago? She was the one that I made cry in every class. Please tell me that you 20 Today, SPRING/SUMMER2014 2014 Today, SPRING/SUMMER are not a crier too.’ This one statement created an instant bond with Dr. Parks that continued throughout my entire undergraduate career. He pushed me to do and try things I thought I would never be capable of accomplishing. For this, I am eternally grateful and would not be the person I am today without his influence. I want to thank him for being the best mentor, advisor and friend that God could have ever placed in my life.” Parks has impacted countless numbers of students outside the classroom as well, encouraging and sponsoring study abroad and internship opportunities, funding scholarships, purchasing professional clothing for students who were preparing for job interviews, and serving as a tireless counsel to students needing direction. “Professor Parks’ constant pursuit of sending students abroad and to Washington, D.C. is really a hallmark of his career,” said Aaron Coats, a 2002 graduate who is a freshly minted MBA working as a manager for Accenture in Washington, D.C. “He made opportunities available for many who would not have otherwise had the means or the vision to take on such foreign challenges. For me, personally, I still remember the day in late November before the final semester of my senior year, when during a long talk in his office, he informed me that I was going to France for the Spring semester. It was an avenue I never would have considered, but also one that had a signification impact on my career and personal development.” Current senior Stephen Houserman said he considers Parks more a mentor and friend than his professor. “While his classes are engaging and thoughtprovoking, the most cherished time I had with him consists of the hour-long discussions we would have after class,” Houserman said. “He has helped me discover who I am and what I am capable of. As a freshmen, he pressured me to take on an internship in Washington D.C. that is typically reserved for upper-level classmen. With his encouragement and guidance, I confidently flourished in an environment I had never experienced before.” Parks loves to talk about his former students almost as much as he loves to discuss politics. He’ll tell you about the corporate lawyer from Kansas City who is also an accomplished artist; the shy, timid “wet nose” freshman who grew up to be a high school principal in Chicago; the former basketball player from Mulberry who went on to run an orphanage in Cape Cod, Mass.; and the 7-footer who started out with a 2.2 grade point average before going on to finish third in his class at Notre Dame Law School and becoming a successful corporate attorney in Miami. “I am inspired when a student takes a risk, endures the pressures and demands that go with accomplishing that vision and comes away from the endeavor having grown intellectually to the point that the next step takes them to a new vision,” Parks said. “To see creation recreate is breathtaking. The reach beyond the expected once again convinces me humans can learn to be creative in a positive way.” Tabitha (Reed) Leeds, a 2007 graduate who works as a human resource manager at a domestic violence shelter in Minneapolis and who serves as an advocate for abused children, said Parks inspired her professional calling. “To this day, I tell people that Professor Parks inspired me to walk the path that led me to where I am now and where I will end up,” Leeds said. “I was going to be an accountant or do corporate law. I now use my accounting degree and my master’s degree in conflict resolution to work in domestic violence and other advocacy areas to help children involved in conflict. The day I changed my mind on my career path was in an International Relations class. Parks showed us a video on child soldiers and then asked us why we thought it was relevant. I started thinking about things differently and ended up more political science than business. My career goal is to continue to work in reintegration. This includes helping victims, perpetrators, soldiers, and communities learn to live with one another again after conflict has happened.” Parks is quick to deflect any praise that his former students might send his way. “The students are the learners, not the professors, and we as educators need to always remember that,” he said. “I don’t like it when students say that because of me they were successful. I think if it were in them to achieve success, they would have gotten there with or without me. I look at it as encouraging them and helping them to take control of their own learning.” Parks was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University in 1990. His fellow faculty members selected him as the University’s Bagwell Outstanding Faculty Member award in both 1988 and 1992. He often keeps in touch with his former students, much like a proud uncle to an extended family of highly successful nephews and nieces. “Whenever we would exchange e-mails over the years I would always smile at his level of knowledge about a wide range of topics,” said Coats. “His e-mails would remind me of classes I took with him where he could go off in a hundred directions about world events, often leaving the rest of us behind. But his emails would also provide encouraging success stories of his students. Even though I did not know all of them, to Professor Parks we were all part of the same family and so he spoke as such.” Coats summed up the feelings of hundreds of Ozarks graduates when he discussed the impact that Parks has had on his life. “He had a significant impact on my career and I am not sure I would be in the same place had he not made a personal investment in my future,” he said “I think that is something that resonates. For most of his former students, he was not only a great professor, but a teacher and individual who truly cared about his students. He has invested so much in ensuring his students’ success—not only in the classroom but in life.” Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 21 Today, Dorothy (Dodson) Marcy ’62 More than four decades later, what once seemed like harsh constraints are now viewed as acts of compassion by one former student T he feelings of negativity and puzzlement that Dorothy (Dodson) Marcy harbored against her alma mater lasted more than four decades, until an event in 2007 helped change her feelings and her heart. As a 17-year-old freshman from Fort Smith, Ark., in 1958, Marcy was one of the first black female students to enroll at what was then The College of the Ozarks. Two of her older brothers, Jon and Ted Dodson, were among five young African-Americans who had integrated the college a year earlier in 1957 as Ozarks became the first predominately white undergraduate college in Arkansas to enroll blacks. During a time of racial unrest and violence throughout the South, then Ozarks President Winslow Drummond and his administration decided to take a low-key approach to integration, which meant that the 22 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 black students were not afforded some of the same opportunities that their white classmates had. “I was angry because there were so many things we weren’t allowed to do,” Marcy said in a recent interview from her Fayetteville, Ark., home. “We were not allowed to live in the dorm. My brother was a quarterback in high school and they wouldn’t let him play football. I was a majorette in high school and I wasn’t allowed to be a majorette for the band. We were so restricted in what we could do, and the only answer we ever got was, ‘we’ve never done that before.’ I just never understood it.” The feelings of negativity stayed with Marcy for almost 50 years, even as she built a career as a successful educator and licensed professional counselor in Northwest Arkansas. “For years, the alumni office would send me information about Homecoming or requests for donations and I had no interest in staying in touch with the college,” she said. “With how I perceived we were treated, I had no positive feelings toward the school.” All that changed in 2007 when the University held a ceremony recognizing the 50-year anniversary of the pioneers who help integrate Ozarks. Though Marcy was not able to attend the ceremony, her brother, Jon, told her about the ceremony and gave her a program from the event. “When I saw that program and talked to Jon, I began to see things in a different light,” Marcy said. “Dr. Drummond had decided to do the right thing in a time and atmosphere of cruelty and hostility that was going on in the South. He knew that they had to go about desegregation in a different way. They didn’t want to attract attention or expose us to possible violence by putting us in a position of high-visibility, like the quarterback of That protection felt harsh at the time “ because we didn’t understand it. But once I learned about the reasons behind those decisions, that melted my heart. the football team or a majorette.” “That protection felt harsh at the time because we didn’t understand it. But once I learned about the reasons behind those decisions, that melted my heart.” Marcy, one of six children, grew up poor in Fort Smith as the daughter of a railroad porter and housewife. But the children had the support of parents and teachers that imparted the importance of education. All six of the Dodson children would go on to earn college degrees and most would even obtain master’s and doctorate degrees. “We had old textbooks and rundown equipment, but we had excellent teachers in the segregated schools that really prepared us and my mom really wanted and expected all of us to go to college,” Marcy said. “We knew education was a way to escape that kind of poverty.” Marcy said she remembered being extremely poor during her time at Ozarks. She made many of her own clothes and a pair of shoes often had to last for several years. “Halfway through the school year I noticed a white girl who had the same pair of shoes I had and I remember telling my brother, “Look, her shoes look almost brand new and mine are worn out,’” Marcy said. “And I remember him telling me that it was because she had more than one pair. I didn’t know that people owned more than one pair of shoes.” During her years at Ozarks, Marcy said she experienced both racism and compassion from classmates, teachers, administrators and townspeople. One of her vivid positive memories was being called into the office of a female administrator. “I think her name was Dr. Harris and I thought I was in trouble,” Marcy said. “She opened the door to a room adjacent to her office and it was a room full of clothes. She said take your time and take anything you want. I was humiliated at first, but I was also grateful. I took shoes and clothes. She never mentioned it again. There was no discussion and it was never referred to again. To me, that was true compassion.” “She and other teachers and Dr. Drummond changed my life. There was some racism and hateful things being said and done at the time, but there were also rays of light in a dark time. As I look back now, I don’t feel the hostility that I once did. I look at ” all the positive things that were done and I see that they were functioning within a ray of light that I couldn’t see at the time.” Marcy transferred from Ozarks in 1962 after the school lost its accreditation. She went on to graduate from Northwestern Oklahoma State University, becoming the first black graduate at that college in Alva, Okla. After teaching junior high and high school English for 24 years in Kansas, she moved back to Arkansas, earned a master’s degree in counseling in 1991, and began a successful career as professional counselor. “I initially got into counseling because I have a son who was autistic and that was a way to better understand his behavior and human behavior in general,” she said. “I have found that I love being a counselor. I really feel like this is what I was put on earth to do. As a mental health professional in a general practice, she works with children, couples and individuals out of her home office. Though she rarely advertises, her docket remains full as she has gained a reputation in Northwest Arkansas as a top-notch counselor. And, at the age of 73, she has tried to retire at least twice but found that her talents are very much still in demand. “I love being my own boss and I feel like I do it well and that I make a real difference,” she said. “It’s a way I can leave this earth better than how I found it.” Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 23 in child care with Baptist Health Medical Services. She recently welcomed a new great granddaughter to the family. David Pridgin ’71 of Scranton, Ark., was named to the Arkansas Association of Public Transportation Hall of Honor during a June 26 ceremony in Hot Springs, Ark. Pridgin is the retired director of maintenance and transportation at Clarksville High School, where he spent 17 years. Herman Houston ’72 of Clarksville was elected county judge of Johnson County during the May 20 election. Houston has served on the Johnson County Quorum Court for 30 years. He will begin his new duties as county judge on Jan. 1. Ben F. Lewis ’75 of Fort Smith, Ark., earned a doctorate in theology from North Carolina College of Theology on June 6, 2014. After a 37-year career in private and public education, Lewis was accepted into the doctoral program at NCCT in 2013 and completed the two-year program in one year. Louis Whorton ’76 of Fort Smith, Ark., reached a coaching milestone this past season when he won his 600th college game as a women’s basketball coach. Whorton has compiled a record of 606-259 in 28 seasons as the women’s coach at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, formerly Westark College. Bev (Walker) Ramsey ’88 is the new owner of Pink Ribbon Boutique in Russellville, Ark., and Fort Smith, Ark. The boutique is a “post mastectomy shop that meets the needs of women undergoing breast cancer treatment.” Ramsey is a two-time breast cancer survivor. Her business can be found at www. pinkribboninc.com. Back-to-Back State Champions Billie (Page) Johnston ’72 is retired and living in North Little Rock, Ark., with her husband, Ray. She retired after a 25-year career Marissa Merritt ’10 and Brandon Pierson ’09 were married on June 7, 2014, in Munger-Wilson Chapel on the Ozarks campus. The Piersons are living in Oklahoma City. 24 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 Leonel Cantu ’99 of Clarksville was named the 2014 Business Leader of the Year by the University of the Ozarks Division of Business, Communication and Government in April. Cantu is the branch manager for Regions Bank in Clarksville. He earned a master’s degree in information technology in 2002 from Arkansas Tech University. Issac Middlebrooks ’06 accomplished a rare coaching feat this past spring when he led the Cedar Ridge High School boy’s basketball team to its second consecutive Arkansas Class AA State Championship. Middlebrooks has compiled a coaching record of 121-14 in four years at the school. He is 161-58 in seven seasons as a high school coach. Jason Blevins ’91 of Miami, Okla., has been named to the board of directors of First National Bank Miami. Blevins operates three Ace Hardware Stores, including one in Miami. He also serves on the Miami Area Economic Development board. Charlie Melton ’91 was named the new girl’s basketball coach at Dover (Ark.) High School in June. Melton had previously coached girl’s basketball and softball at Scranton (Ark.) High School where he won state championships in both sports. Before coaching at Scranton, Melton coached at Western Grove, Ark. Lance Pillstrom ’91 is living in Tulsa, Okla., where he coaches cheerleading, pom and tennis at Memorial High School. He also teaches pre-AP English and is the junior class sponsor. Ryan Smith ’15 and Jessica Yates ’15 were married on May 31, 2014, in MungerWilson Chapel. Smith is a management and marketing major from Springdale, Ark., and Yates is an environmental studies major from Magnolia, Ark. Dr. Brent Thomas ’91 was recently named the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Emporia (Kan.) State University. Thomas had served as the chair of Department of Biological Sciences at ESU since 2008 and has taught at the university since 2006. Brandy (Rhodes) Cox ’99 was named the new associate vice chancellor for alumni and executive director of the Arkansas Alumni Association at the University of Arkansas in April. She was previously the senior director of Continued on Page 26 Among the alumni who attended President Dunsworth’s Inauguration in April were Brandon Carlson ’10 and C.J. Smith ’06. Carlson is living in College Station, Texas, where he works as a residential hall community director at Texas A&M University. Smith is living in San Antonio, Texas, where he works for the FBI. Brick Ceremony One of the newest traditions on campus is the Brick Ceremony, sponsored by the Alumni Association. The annual Spring ceremony allows graduating seniors to place bricks with their names etched in them in the Alumni Plaza in front of Munger-Wilson Chapel. Among the 60 members of the Class of 2014 who placed bricks were (from left) Monica Seiler, Tamara Wilkett, Kendra Davis and Mollie Palmer. For more information on how you can purchase a brick for the Alumni Walkway, please contact the Alumni Office at 479-979-1234. Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 25 university programs for the OSU Foundation at Oklahoma State University. Karen (Hernandez) Presnell ’99 is a brand manager at ConAgra Foods in Omaha, Neb. She earned her MBA from St. Louis University in 2003. Jeff Jackson ’01 of Tulsa, Okla., was recently featured in TulsaBusiness.com. for his success in the finance profession. Jackson was recognized for being named one of LPL Financial’s top 40 producers of LPL Insurance Associates, an affiliate of LPL Financial LLC. Dr. Charles Oates of Pottsville, Ark., was featured in the June 2014 edition of ABOUT...the River Valley magazine for the recent recognition of his family farm as an Arkansas Century Farm by the Arkansas Century Farm Program. The Oates family farm was established in 1895. He founded C and D Drugstore in Russellville and worked as a pharmacist there for several decades before retiring. He and his wife, Jean, have been married for more than 60 years. (Photo courtesy of Liz Chrisman and ABOUT...the River Valley.) 26 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 Eric Steinmiller ’02 was named principal of E.H. Sutherland Elementary School in Chicago, Ill., in July. He previously had teaching positions in Texas, Louisiana and Illinois. Steinmiller is working on his Ed.D. in urban education and leadership at UI-Chicago. Eutisha “Tish” (Pennington) Hawkins ’04 graduated from William and Mary Law School in May. Carlos Gonzalez ’03 was recently promoted to regional marketing franchise manager at Johnson & Johnson in Panama. Gonzalez has worked for the company since 2011. Dr. Kendall Wagner ’06 was recently hired at Mercy Clinic Internal Medicine and Pediatrics in Fort Smith as a new internal medicine/pediatrics physician. Wagner completed his residencies at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Michelle Simpson ’03 is a legal counsel and director of government contract compliance for Windstream Communications in Little Rock. She earned a master’s in public history from UA-Little Rock in 2005 and her juris doctorate from UALR in 2011. Dr. Jordan Bass ’07 is an assistant professor and executive director of the laboratory for the Study of Sport Management at University of Kansas. He completed his Ph.D. in sport management from Florida State University in 2013. Brigitte Bridoux ’11 married Zeeshan Pervaiz on March 28, 2014, in Drogheda, Ireland. The couple resides in Dublin, Ireland, where Brigitte works for a youth arts program. Among those alumni who were recognized during the 2014 Alumni Weekend Awards Banquet were (from left) Evan Hoffmeyer ’07, Dr. Rickey Casey ’77, and Dr. Danny Aquilar ’90. Hoffmeyer won the Young Alumni Service Award, Casey was presented with the Faculty Enrichment Award and Aquilar was given the Alumni Achievement Award. Also honored during the annual ceremony were Ivan Quant ’98 with the Alumni Merit Award and Catherine “Bitsy” Rogers Bumpers ’47 with the Legacy Award. Shannon Wells ’07 graduated with a medical degree from Louisiana State University Health Medical Center in May and began a pediatric residency at the medical center in July. Dr. Joel Chan ’09 is a postdoctoral research fellow at Carnegie Melton University in Pittsburgh, Penn. He earned a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2014. Wilson Jones ’09 was named assistant men’s soccer coach at University of the Ozarks in June. Jones, who played for the Eagles from 2005-08, served as an assistant coach at NCAA Division II Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 2013. Prior to MSU, Jones served as the assistant men’s and women’s coach and recruiting coordinator at Ouachita Baptist University. From 2010-2011, Jones was the assistant men’s coach and recruiting coordinator at Howard Payne University. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in exercise physiology from MSU. He and his wife, Rachel, were married in 2012. Continued on Page 28 Katie Shay ’05 and Mark Schneider ’04 were married on June 21, 2014, in Branson, Mo. The Schneiders honeymooned in Cabo, Mexico. King ’64 hits 50-year teaching milestone Burnett King ’64 has been a high school teacher and coach for 50 years, and he has no plans on slowing down anytime soon. King will begin his 51st year of teaching in August when he reports to Clarksville High School, where he teaches history and social studies. He has taught at Clarksville for the past 38 years. “At my age, I’m just taking it one year at a time,” said King. “I still enjoy teaching and I feel like I’m still good at it, so there’s no reason to stop now.” Before coming to Clarksville, King coached and taught at several small school districts in Arkansas, including Lavaca, Oark, Magazine and Fourche Valley. “It’s been a very gratifying career because you feel like you’re helping make a difference in the lives of young people,” King said. “I’ve gone to reunions the last few years and I’ve had people tell me that I helped them get through school and go on to college and things like that. That’s very satisfying.” He has been teaching so long that he’s taught generations of families. “I used to think it was pretty neat when I had children of parents I had taught in my classroom, but now I’ve got grandchildren of former students,” he said. “I’m very proud of that.” King met his wife, Sharon (Varner) ’64, at a winter formal on campus. “She was from Ohio and had never been to Arkansas and came to Ozarks on a Presbyterian scholarship,” King said. “We met at the winter formal and the rest is history.” The Kings will be celebrating their 50-year wedding anniversary this summer. “We got married on August 18, 1964, in Ohio and I reported to my first day of teaching school at Lavaca three days later, on August 21st,” King said. “Our honeymoon was driving from Ohio to Lavaca.” Burnett and Sharon King, both 1964 graduates of Ozarks, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Aug. 18. For the past 34 years, King has also served as a Baptist pastor of a small church in Johnson County, Union Grove Baptist Church. “I’ve been blessed to have been able to be a teacher and a pastor for the last 34 years,” King said. “I’ve had the opportunity to help people and that’s the best feeling in the world.” Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 27 Janine Armstrong ’10 is working as an instructor at Pulaski Technical College in Little Rock. Armstrong earned a master’s degree in speech communication and rhetoric from the UA-Little Rock in 2013. Jaime Flores ’10 and his wife, Cyndi, are living in McKinney, Texas, where he is a business development manager for In-Com Data Systems. Zi Jian Khor ’10 is living in Irvine, Calif., and working as a statistician for Kelley Blue Book. He earned a master’s degree in statistics from UC-Irvine in 2013. Lakaen (Maddox) Schluterman ’11 and her husband, Cody, welcomed their first child, Emery Ann, to the family on June 26, 2014. The family lives in Subiaco, Ark., where Lakaen teaches 4th grade at Paris Elementary School. David James ’13 was named Mount Judea (Ark.) Elementary School Teacher of the Year for 2013-14. James teaches physical education and health. Cole DeVoss ’14 is attending the doctoral program in physical therapy at Trine University in Fort Wayne, Ind. He was one of 30 selected out of 300 applicants for the program. Luis Fiallos ’14 was recently hired by the Florida State Attorney’s Office in Miami as a child support enforcement case analyst. Mitchell Powers ’14 was hired in June as head baseball coach and assistant junior high football coach at Clarksville High School. Shayla Morrow ’12 married Rodolfo Montelongo in Bella Vista, Ark., on June 21, 2014. Morrow, who recently earned a master’s degree in Spanish from the University of Missouri, is a high school Spanish teacher in Hot Springs, Ark. 50-Year Club Honored Matt Arant ’12 is working as a tennis instructor in Lexington, Ken., while also pursuing a master’s degree from the University of Kentucky Martin School of Public Policy and Administration. He earned a law degree from Mercer University in 2014. Tadera Garland ’12 married Shaun Wiseman on June 21, 2014. Garland is a teacher for the Lamar (Ark.) School District. Kayla Casey ’12 married Halstead Dixon on May 24, 2014.The couple lives in Clarksville, Ark. Melody Cochran ’13 is living in Tulsa, Okla., where she is a program assistant for the National Resource Center for Youth Services. 28 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 The Class of 1964 was formally inducted into the University’s 50-Year Club during Alumni Weekend 2014. Among the members of the class who took part in the ceremony were, (front row, from left), Mary “Kay” (Trotter) Benbow, Catherine “Pat” (Voeller) Laster, Lois (Hanes) Sheets, Mary Jane (Hayes) Russell, Wanda (Warren) Tolbert, Helen (Bryant) Gammill, (back row, from left), Ron Laster, Clyde Garrett, Joe Bagwell, Everett Kendrick, George Tolbert, Carl Hunter, and Philly Plunkett. Upcoming Alumni Events Wayne Benbow ’65 and Kay (Trotter) Benbow ’64 of Baton Rouge, La., visited campus in April during Alumni Weekend. The Benbows, who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year, have two children and four grandchildren. Aug. 12 Aug. 26 Aug. 28 Sept. 9 Sept. 16 Sept. 18 Sept. 26 Sept. 30 Tulsa, Okla. (Spaghetti Warehouse), 6 p.m. Ozark, Ark. (Rivertowne BBQ), 6 p.m. Springdale, Ark. (Jose’s restaurant), 6 p.m. Fort Smith, Ark. (Rolando’s restaurant), 6 p.m. Branson, Mo. (Montana Mike’s restaurant), 6 p.m. St. Louis, Mo. (St. Louis Alumni restaurant), 6 p.m. U of O Alumni Golf Tournament (Clarksville CC), TBD Little Rock, Ark. (Bravo Italian Restaurant), 6 p.m. For more information about any of these events, or to inquire about scheduling an event in your area, please contact Alumni Director Ashley Senter at 479-979-1234 or [email protected]. Marlow ’84 pens novel on early Arkansas University of the Ozarks Professor Dr. Greta Marlow ’84 took advantage of the latest publishing techniques to self-publish her first novel, “His Promise True,” a work of historical fiction that takes a look back at the pioneer days of Arkansas. Marlow, an associate professor of communication, has taught at her undergraduate alma mater since 1990. After establishing her own publishing company, she released “His Promise True” in November 2013 after developing the story for several years. “I’ve been working on the book for nearly 10 years, with about seven of those years spent editing and trying to find an agent or publisher,” Marlow said. “Several times I thought I should just make this a ‘drawer novel’ and move on to something else, but I just couldn’t do it.” Marlow said she decided to publish the book after receiving encouragement from Nancy Dane, another Ozarks alumna and the author of the “Tattered Glory” series of Civil War novels. “Nancy read the book and then invited me over to her house and spent more than an hour convincing me I should go forward with publishing,” Marlow said. Marlow set up her own publishing company, EMZ-Piney Publishing, and set about self-publishing “His Promise True.” While the process was not always simple, Marlow said she enjoyed every minute of it. “I loved doing the research for the historical background of the story, about everything from the territorial papers for Arkansas Territory to what kind of underwear people wore in 1820,” she explained. “I loved the writing and getting to know the characters. I loved editing and seeing just how lean and efficient I could make a paragraph or sentence without losing meaning or emotional impact. Although the publishing aspect had some real frustrations for someone like me who is not a good ‘details’ person, I loved doing the layout and getting a glimpse of what the final product would look like. I loved designing a cover. I loved holding the proof copy in my hands.” She has already started writing a second book, which will follow the lives of the same characters. She is also considering ideas for a third book. “I have ideas for probably eight other stories in my mind. If you see me on campus and I don’t seem to notice you, don’t take it personally; I’m probably in the nineteenth century!” she joked. Marlow’s book is available for sale on Amazon. Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 29 Ozarks circa 1940: A LOOK BACK By Billie Burnett King ’40 I can still see them clearly in my mind’s eye: the buildings that stood on the campus of the College of the Ozarks in 1940, the year I graduated from college. I was reminded of them as some of them appeared on the cover of the recent Today magazine that celebrated the 175th anniversary of the college. Cumberland Hall burned in 1934, but the rest were still there. Only two of these buildings still stand today: Munger Memorial Chapel and Marie MacLean Hall. All the others have been swept away by the events of history and the investments of benefactors in the construction of more permanent structures. As a student I had many occasions to be in all the buildings except one. It seems to me 30 Today, SPRING/SUMMER2014 2014 Today, SPRING/SUMMER to be important to recall what I remember about them, lest they be forgotten forever. The focal point of the campus was the Science Hall, built in 1923. The science building was an impressive red brick building with steep steps leading to a portico with four white Grecian columns and two pilasters supporting the roof. It had three stories – four with the basement which was only partly underground. After Cumberland Hall burned, major adjustments were made to accommodate all of the services the college offered. In thinking back over how the existing facilities were used, it is obvious that a major juggling act was required. The front doors of the Science Hall opened to a sizeable lobby with stairs to the back of the entrance and stairs to the second floor. Administrative offices occupied most of the south side of the southwest corner room, which was used as a classroom for philosophy and religious education. Dr. Hurie’s office suite was at the back of this section. Through the back and side window of his office he could see a large portion of the campus. A large area to the left of the entrance housed the college library. It occupied a large portion of that part of the first floor. The Science Hall had extremely high ceilings – probably sixteen feet high-, and the library stacks went high, consequently. Clara Earle, daughter of Fountain R. Earle, president of Cane Hill College and of Arkansas Cumberland College was the librarian. She was quite elderly and many students were a little intimidated by her. She lived in a white frame house just north of the chapel. It was the one building on campus I never entered. According to Ella Mallory Langford’s About the Author Billie Burnett King of Clarksville is a 1940 graduate of Ozarks and an emeritus professor of English at the University. Mrs. King, who turned 94 on Jan. 8, taught English at Ozarks from 1969 to 1984 and also served as chair of the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts. She and Burly King ’40 were married for 65 years before he passed away in 2007. Mrs. King has written all of her life and is currently working on a book of essays of literary criticisms. She has two sons, Burnett (see page 27) and Robert, seven grandchildren, and 12 great grandchildren. “History of Johnson County,” she was teacher of modern languages in the first faculty of the College of the Ozarks. In preparation for this task she studied French at the Sorbonne in Paris and Spanish in Madrid. Classrooms for English, history, and sociology occupied most of the second floor. However, a large section of the south side was a well – planned Department of Home Economics aimed at teaching skills for home making and for training teachers of Continued on Page 32 Today, Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 31 home economics. Entrance to the facility was through a tastefully furnished living room, an adjoining dining room, kitchen, rooms with cutting tables, sewing machines, and a lecture room. Lena Gilbert, who had also been manager of the cafeteria and food and food services, was the instructor. The third floor contained classrooms as well as laboratories for biology, chemistry, and physics. It was here that Thomas Latham (“Prof”) Smith carried out his genetic research concerning drosophila (fruit flies). He was known internationally for his work. Access to the roof of the front portico was available through the third floor windows. Robert Fulton, who became a nationally known sports announcer for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks described the activities for Sadie Hawkins Day in the spring of 1941 from this roof. The basement was the site of the basketball court. It was used for other athletic activities, as well. Since it was only partly underground, it received natural sunlight through windows on the north, west, and south sides. The college clinic and some showers and dressing rooms were also located in the basement. The basement could be accessed from the small portico on the back of the Science Hall. The door opened on to a landing with one set of steps which ascended to the lobby and another which descended to the basement. Two –level concrete steps led to an opening on the south side of the gymnasium. There was no space for bleachers. Spectators watched events from platforms around the court. Possibly the most creative use of space in the Science Hall was the area beneath the front portico. It had been enclosed with a door on both sides. It served as the bookstore, the post office and a snack bar. After the morning chapel service students could buy glazed donuts brought up from the bakery in town and a small bottle of milk. A tasty treat for a dime. Buildings facing the Science Hall were Grove Hall, two white frame buildings and the Dining Hall. Grove Hall had been built in 1914 to serve as a girl’s dormitory. It had been condemned for use as a dormitory and after Cumberland Hall burned was used as the vocal music facility. The large lobby had become Blanche Kelley’s studio and classroom. A grand piano and rows of folding chairs served as the place where she gave both private and class voice lessons and where men’s and women’s glee clubs practiced. She was a strong-minded woman with an impressive SPRING/SUMMER2014 2014 32 Today, 32 Today, SPRING/SUMMER training for her work. She was a member of the first faculty of the College of the Ozarks and was probably, because of the events of world history, near the end of her teaching career. Through the years of her work, she had trained many gifted soloist. The chapel choir she directed went on spring tours to perform at churches in in the presbytery and synod–an important part of the college’s public relations. In some of the rooms on the second floor were practice pianos where vocalists and their accompanist practiced, and, possibly, also, piano students. In the basement at the rear of Grove Hall was the college bakery where student-workers baked bread for the cafeteria. The tempting smell of baking bread pervaded that area of the campus at night. The white frame house next to Grove Hall was Miss Virgie (Virginia) Poyner’s piano studio. The front room of the house contained a grand piano and several folding chairs. Here Miss Virgie gave piano lessons. She also gave pipe organ lessons at the chapel. Her playing was very beautiful. Musically inclined, she played at the daily chapel services. One of her students, John Stilley, was an exceptional organist. At his senior recital, he played a Cesar Franck’s composition I can still hear. Both Blanche Kelly and Virgie Poynor had studied at music conservatories and under master teachers. They were both near the end of their teaching careers in 1940, but they were still at their best as musicians and teachers. Directly across from the Science Hall was the Dining Hall. It was arranged to take full advantage of the space within its two levels. The upper level contained the dining rooms, serving line, kitchen, and an apartment for the cafeteria manager. At meal times students entered the door to the right and exited the door to the left. Tables were arranged to seat groups of various sizes – small to large. At the back of the dining area was the serving line, staffed by students, but supervised by the cafeteria manager. Behind the serving line was a row of refrigerators with glass doors reaching upward above head high. A pass through and a door connected the dining area to the kitchen –again staffed by well-trained student workers. Outside doors to the dining room were kept locked until the meal was ready to be served. Menus for the three meals a day varied, with traditional items for breakfast; soup entrées, vegetables, salad, dessert at lunch; more selections of entrées at dinner, and always homemade ice cream made from milk from the college farm, which was just across Spadra Creek down from Marie MacLean Hall. The basement of the Dining Hall contained a cooler for fresh fruits and vegetables, a storage room for canned foods, and a butcher shop where cuts of meat were sliced from farm animals butchered at the college farm. Student workers carried out all the tasks centered around the Dining Hall basement. The food was good and the servings were generous. A concrete walk intercepted by a fish pond led from the Dining Hall to the Science Hall. One of the traditions strictly adhered to was the dunking in the pond of any new bridegroom after the morning chapel service. Dr. Harmon, a faculty member who had married shortly after coming to the college, outmaneuvered the system. He came dressed for the occasion and jumped in. Memorable and corny. Some distance north of the Dining Hall was a deep rectangular hole said to have been dug by some optimistic alumni to serve as the basement of a new president’s home to replace the white frame structure on the south slope of the campus where the Hurie family lived. Just beyond this area was a clay tennis court and next to that the street that connected Johnson Street to College Avenue. Across this street stood—and still stands—Raymond Munger Memorial Chapel, dedicated in 1933. It was built through a gift of $75,000 from Miss Jessie Munger to honor her father. The chapel was designed by the prominent architect, Albert O. Clark of Rogers, Arkansas. It was built by Clarksville contractor Gomer Kraus with a great deal of help in digging the basement and hauling materials by student-workers. The exterior of the chapel is limestone trimmed with Nucarth Stone. It has been the spiritual center of the college from its beginning. Attendance at the chapel service at 10 o’clock was mandatory. Students were assigned specific places in alphabetic order by classes. Students from the dean’s office checked attendance from the balcony. Chapel services began with an organ prelude played by Miss Virgie Poynor. Following the prelude, the chapel choir dressed in black choir robes and standing on the steps leading to the basement sang “the Lord is in His Holy Temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.” Then as the opening hymn was sung the choir processed to the choir stalls in the chancel. Programs were diverse and usually interesting. One of the most memorable was Dr. Bohm’s explanation of a possible reason for Adolph Hitler’s complete conquest of Czechoslovakia. As he marched in dressed in his doctoral robes, seemingly led by his strong Continued on Page 34 Today, Today,SPRING/SUMMER SPRING/SUMMER2014 201433 33 aquiline nose, he was a dramatic figure. Of course, as Hitler continued his conquest of Europe, Dr. Bohm’s reasoning didn’t quite suffice. When the daily chapel service ended, the choir recessed following the last hymn, as the postlude was played. Students, beginning with the first rows, fell in behind the choir and exited the chapel. For most of the alumni of that era, the beauty of the chapel, the music, and the programs were all a meaningful part of college life. Next to the chapel stood a white frame house where Clara Earle, the librarian lived. She seemed to be a very private person, possibly because of what we perceived to be her great age. Just beyond Miss Earl’s house was the women’s hockey field. Although we were to study the Book of Rules for Field Hockey, our class never mastered the terminology and strategy of the game. We ran up and down the field trying to get control of the puck, but we never won a game. At the end of the street was the house where Zelgar Pitts, building superintendent and night watchman, lived with his family. I knew his youngest daughter, Imogene, a college student. I remember nothing about the house, except that I attended a bridge party there. Two buildings belonging to the college were on Johnson Street. One was a sizable white frame house for faculty occupation. In 1940, Isabell Ward, a retired English teacher, lived there. She retained contact with students through her sponsorship of the Muse Clerk for upper-class women and the Chesterfieldian Clerk for upper-class men. The purpose of the clerks was to provide students social activities within a formal setting. At a short distance up the street was a two-story house containing four apartments, housing for members of the faculty and staff. Across the street was an attractive two-story house owned by Dr. T.L. (‘Prof”) Smith and his wife, Lois Agrant Smith. They were very hospitable. Students were always welcome there. Through the years a number of alumni, no one knew how many, stayed there when they visited Clarksville. The chapel basement had been put to important use. A Little Theatre had been created in the south side. Roberta Northrup was director of a very active program that involved a large number of students in all aspects of play production. Contemporary, as well as, classic plays were performed. A memorable production of Our 34 SPRING/SUMMER2014 2014 34 Today, Today, SPRING/SUMMER Town was performed in 1939. Susie Maude Poyner Pittman, who later had a very successful career in the Speech and Drama Department, played the feminine lead role. The Clarksville Junior-Senior High School building burned in 1939. During its re-building, classes were held in several Clarksville churches and in other facilities. A classroom was set up in the north side of the Munger Chapel basement. Classes were taught by college seniors to satisfy the requirement of student teaching for teacher certification. The class was supervised by Frank McAnear, the college registrar and instructor of education. The second structure of the 1940 college campus still standing is Marie MacLean Hall, built in 1927 through a gift of Marie MacLean of New Jersey. It was built to house male students, but in 1939, after Grove Hall was condemned for use as a dormitory, the north living section came to be used for female students. The windows of both wings facing each other were boarded up partially for privacy. MacLean was probably the premier dormitory in the state at that time. The arrangement of suites with a central room for study and for social activities and a small bedroom with a bed, chest of drawers, and closets on either side was an ideal design for space to be shared with a roommate. A number of rooms for single occupancy were also available. A large, well-furnished lobby faced the entrance to the building. An apartment for the hostess of the women’s dormitory, Mrs. Harriet Johnston, and for the men’s dormitory, Mrs. M.A. Pinkerton, were on the first floor near each side of the entrance. Two cooperative houses for female students, Crawford Hall and Smith Hall, supervised by Mrs. Elsie Maxwell and Mrs. Naomi Bryan, respectively, were set up so that young women could bring some food items from home and do the cooking and housekeeping and thus defray a part of their expenses. Crawford Hall was a few doors from MacLean Hall. Smith Hall stood on the corner of where the president’s house now stands. The basement of MacLean Hall was put to good use. An apartment was set up for John Bohannon, a Native-American from Oklahoma, and his wife and children. Through special arrangements with the Presbytery of Western Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma, he took courses that led to his ordination to serve as pastor to his people. The space in the northwest corner of MacLean Hall basement served as the print shop. C.M. Threadgill, a master printer who had his own business in Clarksville, supervised student-workers in the publication of The Mountain Eagle student newspaper and any other items needed for special occasions. While they worked, they listened to a radio program of organ music and poetry, “Moon River.” The soothing sounds drifted up to my second-floor bedroom. The campus was completed by two outdoor athletic facilities: the football field, now Hurie Field, and the outdoor swimming pool. The football field and track, with its bleachers, was considered to be one of the best in the state at the time. The swimming pool, which was on Johnson Street, was built by students and was as good as any such facility at the time. It was open only at specific times, and was always staffed by student lifeguards. When Mabee Gym was built with its initial open pool, the swimming pool was filled in to create the parking lot next to Voorhees Hall. Construction of Voorhees Hall began in the spring of 1940. A government grant provided funding for the project. An NYA (National Youth Administration) program made it possible for young men to take two college courses and to provide the labor needed to build Voorhees. A contractor from Stuttgart, Arkansas, supervised the work. It was said at the time that it would be used as an education center for student teaching. It has been used in innumerable ways since it was built 74 years ago. That it was well-built is obvious. Major changes took place in the buildings found on the campus following World War II. As military bases were dismantled, many buildings were acquired that made possible the expansion of the college curriculum, especially in business education, music education and physical education. The Little Theatre was used for an outstanding program of speech and drama, until the building of the Walton Fine Arts Building in the 1980s. Memorable performances of Mice and Men and Hedda Gabbler, and so on, were given there. The college acquired several houses used for faculty housing. A number of these moved away when they were no longer needed and still stand in various places as homes. Gradually, through the years, permanent structures funded by generous benefactors have replaced the little frame buildings. However, it should give us pause to remember that dedicated teachers transformed the young people who transcended the strictures of the Great Depression to answer the call of the college to, “Come on. We’ll help you find a way.” Many of these young people postponed their plans to become doctors, lawyers, ministers, and missionaries to serve in all branches of the military, to suffer as prisoners of war, even to give their lives to help save the world in World War II and thus become a part of what has been called the “Greatest Generation.” Raymond Munger Memorial Chapel and Marie MacLean Hall still stand as vital reminders of that time. Today, Today, SPRING/SUMMER SPRING/SUMMER 2014 2014 35 35 Conet (Smith) Colwill ’32 Conet (Smith) Colwill ’32 of Shawtown, Penn., died Feb. 9, 2014, at the age of 102. She was a retired social worker. The Rev. James Earl Westbrook ’39 James Earl Westbrook ’39 of Russellville, Ark., died June 7, 2014, at the age of 98. He was a veteran of World War II and served as a Presbyterian pastor in several churches in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Dr. Elbert A. McCracken ’42 Dr. Elbert A. McCracken ’42 of Springdale, Ark., died April 24, 2014, at the age of 94. He served as a physician in eastern Arkansas and Clarksville, delivering more than 4,000 babies in his career. Dr. Roger Browning Bost ’43 Dr. Charles Bishop Jean Shouse Berry Dr. Roger Bost Dr. Roger Browning Bost ’43 of Little Rock, Ark., died on Nov. 19, Barbara Ann “Bobbi” (Dobbs) Hosley ’61 2014, at the age of 92. He was a veteran of World War II, a retired Barbara Ann “Bobbi” (Dobbs) Hosley ’61 of Titusville, Fla., died physician and advocate in the state for children’s care and public and April 29, 2014, at the age of 75. mental health issues. He was a member of the Board of Trustees. Melba Ruth (Cole) Fisher ’46 Melba Ruth (Cole) Fisher ’46 passed away on April 15, 2014, in Little Rock, Ark. She was a retired teacher and accomplished artist. Grace (Cowan) Mayo ’50 Grace (Cowan) Mayo ’50 of Sallisaw, Okla., died Aug. 23, 2013, at the age of 85. She was a retired school teacher. Etta Lee Jordan ’50 Etta Lee Jordan ’50 of Piggott, Ark., died May 28, 2014, at the age of 84. Howard F. Brown ’64 Howard F. Brown ’64 of East Greenwich, R.I., died on March 6, 2014, at the age of 96. He was a retired U.S. Army colonel and a veteran of World War II. Emma Louise Banks ’67 Emma Louise Banks ’67 of Fayetteville, Ark., died April 9, 2014, at the age of 67. She served 43 years as a school teacher and counselor in Arkansas and Missouri. Jessie Noreen (Lowe) Payne ’67 Terry Younts, Jr., ’50 of Fayetteville, Ark., died May 31, 2014, at the age of 85. He was an Army veteran. Jessie Noreen (Lowe) Payne ’67 of Oark, Ark., died May 16, 2014, at the age of 87. She was a piano teacher, retired school teacher and business owner. Carol (Taylor) Mohlman ’51 of Pacific Palisades, Calif., died Nov. 13, 2013, at the age of 83. She was a retired music teacher. John Carroll Bradley ’71 of Fort Smith, Ark., died April 27, 2014, at the age of 65. Dr. Charles “Chuck” Bishop ’52 of Dover, Ark., died Feb. 13, 2014, at the age of 88. He was a veteran of World War II, a retired pharmacist and long-time member of the Alumni Board. Colin Joe Funderburg ’73 of Van Buren, Ark., died Jan. 31, 2014, at the age of 63. He was a retired teacher and coach. Terry Younts, Jr. ’50 Carol (Taylor) Mohlman ’51 Dr. Charles “Chuck” Bishop ’52 Truman Lee Owens ’58 Truman Lee Owens ’58 of Russellville, Ark., died Nov. 29, 2013, at the age of 78. He was a retired teacher and church music director. John Carroll Bradley ’71 Colin Joe Funderburg ’73 Harold Ray Travis ’76 Harold Ray Travis ’76 of Williston, Fla., died Jan. 12, 2014, at the age of 68. He was an insurance agent. Douglas Shelby McKenzie ’85 Douglas Shelby McKenzie ’85 of Baton Rouge, La., died March 1, Herman B. Bowery Jr., ’59 of Bentonville, Ark., died March 6, 2014, 2014, at the age of 51. He was a business owner. Sandra “Sandy” Roberts ’93 at the age of 81. He was an Army veteran and retired engineer. Sandra “Sandy” Roberts ’93 of Deer, Ark., died Nov. 15, 2013, at Billy Morgan Hall ’61 the age of 41. She was a nurse. Billy Morgan Hall ’61 of Portland, Texas, died Jan. 26, 2014, at the Herman B. Bowery, Jr. ’59 age of 80. He was a veteran of the Korean War and a salesman. Ben Pearson ’61 Ben Pearson ’61 of Rudy, Ark., died April 20, 2014, at the age of 74. He was a retired teacher in Van Buren, Ark. 36 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 Jean Shouse Berry Jean Shouse Berry of Dallas, Texas, died March 4, 2014, at the age of 92. She was a former chair of the Board of Trustees at Ozarks and received an honorary doctorate from the University in 1990. Sept. 14, 2013 through May 15, 2014 Charles Angell Barbara Angell Marilyn Jones ’80 Mary Ellen Waychoff ’78 John Eugene Armstrong ’59 John T. Armstrong Trust Donald Keith Atkins Diane Cater Gaspar Homer and Emma Atkinson Naomi Atkinson Newman Richard and Katherene Bagwell Bagwell Foundation James “Chigger” Ball Steve and Dorinda Edmisten Deborah Batson ’86 Lee Batson Jane and Brent Cater Raymond Bean and Lorena Bean ’41 Arvid Bean ’78 and Sharon Jones Bean ’78 State Farm Companies Foundation Loyce Ann Bean Taylor ’72 and Harve Taylor, III Jean Clark Shouse Berry Rick and Sherée Niece Huie Bird Doris Bird Charles Bishop ’52 Rick and Sherée Niece William Borland Sheila Doss ’80 Roger Bost ’43 Judy Borck Judy Alexander Boreham Catherine Rogers Bumpers ’47 Dawn J. M. Dvoracek Steve and Dorinda Edmisten Paula Glasgow Bill Holder ’52 and Jane Wilson Holder ’55 Flora Eustice Horne ’54 and Charles Horne, III Larry and Cindy Isch Marian Ward Lewis ’74 and Keith Lewis Michael Shannon McBee ’89 and Lori McBee Rick and Sherée Niece Robert Page, Jr. ’52 and Flois Page ’54 Sue Patterson Pine ’57 and Bob Pine Reba Pridgin ’81 and David Pridgin ’71 Lonnie Qualls ’55 and Levada Mathis Qualls ’55 Gaye Strong Taylor ’53 Loyce Ann Bean Taylor ’72 and Harve Taylor, III Ron and Kerry Dillaha Taylor Bruce H. Williams ’43 and Tracy Williams Darrell Williams ’76 and Debbie Tipton Williams ’81 Edna Ralston Bowman ’28 Leonard and Annemarie Ralston Lee Hill Boyer ’39 Elaine G. Boyer Marian Riddell Cargile ’64 John W. Cargile ’61 Betty Emery Carter ’52 Georgia White Johnston ’53 and O.G. Johnston Elmo H. Cater Jane and Brent Cater Willie M. Cater Jane and Brent Cater John Barnes Coleman Sean and Jennifer Coleman Susan Smith Epperson ’62 and Jon Epperson Margaret Condren Steve and Dorinda Edmisten Billie Crites Robert K. Bennett Wanda Dailey Rick and Sherée Niece Floy Dietz Steve and Dorinda Edmisten James Dorman ’57 Anna Blackard Dorman ’58 Maxine Manuel Eggensperger ’41 Steve and Dorinda Edmisten Dr. and Mrs. Albert D. MacDade Michael Shannon McBee ’89 and Lori McBee Rick and Sherée Niece Reba Pridgin ’81 and David Pridgin ’71 Ron and Kerry Dillaha Taylor Fritz Ehren ’53 Mary Inez Henson William Shrigley, Jr. ’69 Elizabeth Eisenmayer ’00 John Frost ’89 and Julia Frost Becky Steele Jorgensen ’74 Edith McChesney Anna Eisenmayer McWillliams ’05 and Toby McWilliams Frank M. and Gladys H. Engle Frances Engle Wilson Michael Farrell Matt Farrell ’98 and Christine Farrell ’96 Marge Figliulo Deloitte Foundation Anna Figliulo Dunker ’87 and Curt Dunker Maura Figliulo Howerton ’80 and Bradley Howerton Sammy Manning ’71 and Virginia Figliulo Manning ’74 Loretta Figliulo Salazar ’78 and Felix Salazar Emily Fontaine Paula Glasgow Helen Rader Fulton ’40 Baker & Hostetler LLP Judy Alexander Boreham Barbara Clegg Denis Durkin Dawn J. M. Dvoracek Pat Farmer Richard and Barbara Fulton Bill Holder ’52 and Jane Wilson Holder ’55 Larry and Cindy Isch Rick and Sherée Niece Don Pennington ’68 Sue Patterson Pine ’57 and Bob Pine Mike and Kathleen Poole Reba Pridgin ’81 and David Pridgin ’71 Ron and Kerry Dillaha Taylor Jim and Jean Vawter Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 37 Bruce and Charlotte Wilson Jonathan and Donna Manley Wolfe Karla Wood Courtney Furman Howell Keeter Rick and Sherée Niece Lonnie Qualls ’55 and Levada Mathis Qualls ’55 Charles White ’71 and InCha White Katherine Rader Garrett ’39 Steve and Dorinda Edmisten Pat Farmer Richard and Barbara Fulton Bill Holder ’52 and Jane Wilson Holder ’55 Rick and Sherée Niece Don Pennington ’68 Lonnie Qualls ’55 and Levada Mathis Qualls ’55 Ron and Kerry Dillaha Taylor Bruce and Charlotte Wilson Jonathan and Donna Manley Wolfe Karla Wood F. D. Goza Angela Wheeler Spencer ’98 and Shawn Spencer Ann Davidson Goza ’69 Angela Wheeler Spencer ’98 and Shawn Spencer Sarah Carlin Graves ’85 Shari Caywood Emily Fry Griffith ’50 William Shrigley, Jr. ’69 James Griffith ’51 William Shrigley, Jr. ’69 Melvin Gullion ’65 Cleta Gullion Quintos Hamilton ’51 Beth Shipman Betsy Snyder Harris Dawn J. M. Dvoracek Verneil Hixson Reba Pridgin ’81 and David Pridgin ’71 Lucille Harmon Hobbs ’45 Jeanne McDaniel Molly Holder Gaye Strong Taylor ’53 Ruth Ann Hudson James Murray ’75 and Debra Murray Donald H. Johnson ’72 Joseph Baker ’69 and Marge Baker Dickie Jones ’72 Pamela Shrigley Jones ’71 Faye Williams Raible ’72 and Gary Raible William Shrigley, Jr. ’69 Lawrence and Ethelda Kauffeld Sylvia Kauffeld Kinnear ’66 Fred A. and Ophelia Jacobs Kauffeld Sylvia Kauffeld Kinnear ’66 38 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 Wanda Kauffeld Shively ’54 De’Ann Veteto Jennie Lucinda Kennedy Keith Kennedy Trust Billy Kimbrell Steve and Dorinda Edmisten Mary Kimbrough Gary Bradley ’84 and Linda Frala Bradley ’84 Burley King ’40 Billie Burnett King ’40 Virginia Leigh King Steve and Dorinda Edmisten Rick and Sherée Niece Ron and Kerry Dillaha Taylor W. E. King, Sr. Kathryn King Bost ’43 Minoru Kiyota ’49 Noriko Kiyota, Yukiko Motoyoshi, Sonoe Motoyoshi and Akiko Ikeda Shelli Stewart Lamberson John Frost ’89 and Julia Frost Tina and Bryan McCain Debbie Stallings Mooney ’82 and Charles Mooney Dody and Jeremy Pelts Harold Lewis Paula Glasgow Robert C. Lowry Dawn J. M. Dvoracek William Lytle Lonnie Qualls ’55 and Levada Mathis Qualls ’55 Jennifer Jean Malin The Thomas Family Jerry Manning Sammy Manning ’71 and Virginia Figliulo Manning ’74 Ruth Bost May ’51 Kathryn King Bost ’43 Margaret Bost Douglass ’41 Elsie Newell Johnson Maynes ’39 Paula Glasgow Mackie McElree Charlene McMillan Watson ’44 Douglas McKenzie ’85 Miriam Chandler Lanty and Margaret Smith James McNeese Ron and Kerry Dillaha Taylor Ruth Eddins McNeilly ’42 Betsy Hagan Lucille Hagan ’51 Herbert Arthur Million Amy Anderson ’97 Steve and Dorinda Edmisten Laurie and Steve Fisher Ada Parks Mills ’33 Mary Tom Mills O’Bar ’54 and Clyde O’Bar Denver Misenhimer Anne and Ben Queen Carol Taylor Mohlman ’51 Gaye Strong Taylor ’53 Helen Marie Smith Moncrief ’35 Linda Moncrief Arthur F. Nichols ’35 James and Catherine Nichols Lou Seale Nichols ’35 James and Catherine Nichols Jon Nyberg ’68 Ruth L. Nyberg Tommy E. Owens ’70 Robert Gibson ’76 and Glenda Gibson Glenda Dennis Owens ’71 and Steve Owens Truman Owens ’58 Bobby and Anne Fincher Roy Horne ’57 Edward Myron Parker Tommy and Judy Parker J. T. Patterson ’38 and Lucile Sanders Patterson Darrell Williams ’76 and Debbie Tipton Williams ’81 Herbert Peek ’50 Kay Allen Hank and Margaret Cutsinger Greg and Jennifer Dunn The Fitch Family Tom and Alyce Guthrie Bill Holder ’52 and Jane Wilson Holder ’55 Ralph Jones Rick and Sherée Niece Regal Entertainment Group Regal Foundation Mary Spruill Debra Ann Perry Ron and Karenree Jones Susie Maude Pittman ’39 Ardith Morris ’73 Imogene Ragon William Ragon, Jr. ’53 and Marnette Ragon Michael A. Rail ’80 Georgia White Johnston ’53 and O.G. Johnston F. Willard Ralston ’29 Leonard and Annemarie Ralston Lily Hulse Ralston ’29 Leonard and Annemarie Ralston Harriet and Joe Reece George Reece, III ’83 James Ring Sheila Doss ’80 Dale M. Sadler Steve and Dorinda Edmisten Ron and Kerry Dillaha Taylor Arlene Schluterman Reba Pridgin ’81 and David Pridgin ’71 Patricia Serio James Murray ’75 and Debra Murray William Shipman ’50 Beth Shipman William Sissel ’28 and Ruth Sissel ’29 Ball Corporation George and Mary Sissel Curtis Lee Spence Dody and Jeremy Pelts Lance Spence ’91 and Virginia Spence Luann Spence Cecil L. Suitt Jane and Brent Cater Euna Lowe Suitt Jane and Brent Cater Larry Taddie Connie and Michael Booty Bill and Kody Eakin Harve Taylor, III and Loyce Ann Bean Taylor ’72 John Talley ’43 Sarah C. Talley Nancy Tamuty ’59 Donald L. Tamuty Jake Tull ’10 Kristine and John Baker Susan Garner Timothy W. Grooms Mary Ellen Richards Sue Tull Harley Wagoner Delores Blackard Wagoner ’56 and Mitchell Wagoner Jerry Wagoner ’58 Delores Blackard Wagoner ’56 and Mitchell Wagoner B.J. Webb ’63 Sylvia Kauffeld Kinnear ’66 Dennis D. Wheeler, Sr. Angela Wheeler Spencer ’98 and Shawn Spencer Guy and Freda Kauffeld Willett ’52 Sylvia Kauffeld Kinnear ’66 Lillian Weishaupt Williams ’1912 Cara Rowbotham Flinn ’85 Virginia Laster Williams ’43 Bruce H. Williams ’43 and Tracy Williams Cy and Imogene Wilson ’35 Bill Holder ’52 and Jane Wilson Holder ’55 Thomas Wilson Frances Engle Wilson Almeta Blackard Yerby ’53 Georgia White Johnston ’53 and O.G. Johnston Sept. 14, 2013 through May 15, 2014 Mark Anis ’00 Mohammed and Elizabeth Anis ExxonMobil Foundation Matthew Arant ’12 Samuel and Teresa Arant Nalisa Brown Carolyn Walker Catherine Rogers Bumpers ’47 Dawn J. M. Dvoracek James “Trey” Butler, III Jim Tom and Connie Butler Karina Calderon Galindo ’14 Deborah Sisson Rickey Casey ’79 Carolyn Walker Tom and Ramona Cogan’s 40th Anniversary Dawn J. M. Dvoracek John Dailey Carolyn Walker Eugene Downs ’14 David Pridgin ’71 and Reba Pridgin ’81 Richard and Holly Dunsworth Dawn J. M. Dvoracek Matt Farrell ’98 and Christine Farrell ’96 The Inauguration of Richard Dunsworth Schuyler Isley John and Rita Mickler Rick and Sherée Niece Linda Slagell Howard Smith and Elaine Goleski Thomas and Nancy Smith Laura Duran Bustillo ’14 Deborah Sisson Dawn J.M. Dvoracek William and Elizabeth Branch Steve Edmisten Connie and Michael Booty Anthony Euculano Katie Thompson Glenda Ezell ’90 Carolyn Walker Patrick A. Farmer Richard and Barbara Fulton Bonnie Guy Flint ’39 Paula Glasgow Matthew Foley Carolyn Walker Monica Frizzell ’02 Carolyn Walker Maxwell and Neva Joyce Greene Robert K. Bennett Brett Hays ’06 Harold and Pam Hays Elissa Heil Larry and Cindy Isch Carolyn Walker Shelli Henehan Carolyn Walker Joe Hoing Dawn J. M. Dvoracek Larry and Cindy Isch Carolyn Walker Karla Wood Sylvia Kauffeld Kinnear ’66 De’Ann Veteto Marilyn Laughbaum Dawn J. M. Dvoracek Mary Lucille Vardaman Martin Arvid Bean ’78 and Sharon Jones Bean ’78 State Farm Companies Foundation Harve Taylor, III and Loyce Ann Bean Taylor ’72 Fiona Murphy Cara Rowbotham Flinn ’85 Rick and Sherée Niece Sherrie Arey Frederick and Janet Drummond Joe Euculano and Linda Phillips Ed Harris, II ’75 and Wilma Kimbrell Harris ’06 Mary Inez Henson Delores Blackard Wagoner ’56 and Mitchell Wagoner Gilbert Parks Elizabeth Rowland Anderson ’72 and King Anderson Larry and Cindy Isch Carolyn Walker Ryan Pitchford ’14 David Pridgin ’71 and Reba Pridgin ’81 Kathy Sexton ’73 Carolyn Walker Ryan Skelly ’07 and Callie Williams Skelly ’07 James and Virginia Skelly Wirt and Torpy Skinner Thomas and Linda Skinner Tom Smith B & H Environmental Services David Strain Eric Steinmiller ’02 and Jaclyn Steinmiller Daniel Taddie David and Teri Daily Larry and Cindy Isch Carolyn Walker Eleanor Thomas Dawn J. M. Dvoracek Alexandria Turner Deborah Sisson U of O Football Teams: 1951, 52, 53, and 54 Bill Alexander ’55 and Linda Alexander Bruce Williams ’43 and Tracy Williams Dawn J. M. Dvoracek Sally Wood Larry and Cindy Isch Carolyn Walker Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 39 “ We were privileged to see students graduate who may have been told college was beyond their grasp for reasons of economics, ability or life circumstance. ” A FINAL WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT It is hard to believe that a year ago we were packing our house in the city we had called home for more than 20 years and preparing for our move to Clarksville. What an amazing year. Holly, Nicolas, Matthew, Emma and I continue to feel blessed by the welcome to University of the Ozarks, Clarksville and the River Valley. You will find in the preceding pages to be part reflection, part celebration, part preview of the future – as is the summer on a college campus. * We are still in awe of commencement, where we were privileged to watch families celebrate the culmination of sometimes generations of sacrifice and commitment. We were privileged to see students graduate who may have been told college was beyond their grasp for reasons of economics, ability or life circumstance. * We are a bit sad, as we are not only saying goodbye to students in whom we have invested our hearts, our love and our intellect, we are also saying farewell to colleagues. Colleagues are retiring after decades of services. Colleagues have been tapped for opportunities to serve other students at other institutions, and we have colleagues who are being called to activities outside of education. * We are also optimistic as it is a time of renewal. This renewal comes with new students, new colleagues and new opportunities to deliver on the mission of the University of the Ozarks. As we prepare for the next year, know that we are committed to serving this amazing institution with all the gifts, strengths and abilities we have. I continue to be thankful for the many stakeholders who have built the University to date, and revel in the opportunity to build, welcome and meet the stakeholders of today, as we prepare for our collective future. Fondly, Rich 40 Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 You May Already Be a Planned Giver… Congratulations! Be a Part of Something Special! Have you ever made a contribution to support a special, charitable cause? Have you given of your own resources to help your church, the victims of a natural disaster, or an annual giving program like the Annual Scholarship Fund at Ozarks? If your answer is “yes,” not only have you made a positive difference in the lives of others, you are a planned giver. Congratulations! If you have ever made a charitable contribution, you had to think about what you were doing, you had to plan your next move…even if that planning took no longer than to write and mail a check or to reach into your pocket and drop coins into a bucket at Christmas-time. You planned to make that difference, and you did. At Ozarks, we give special thanks for the ways you have helped our students achieve their educational dreams. Please continue to make this special difference. If you would like to complete an electronic gift in support of our students right now, just go to www.ozarks.edu/give. The U.S. Postal Service is also very good at delivering your gifts by mail if that better fits your plans. If you would like to make some longer-range plans for Ozarks, such as through a gift annuity, or through your will or trust, we are honored to work with you and your financial advisors to make sure your gifts have the maximum positive impact for our students and achieve your philanthropic goals. If we can be of service, you and your advisors can contact the University’s Office of Advancement at 479-979-1230, or email [email protected]. For more information on how you can make a positive differenence in the lives of students, please contact Lori McBee 479-979-1354 [email protected] Today, SPRING/SUMMER 2014 41 415 N. College Avenue Clarksville, Arkansas 72830 DON’T BE LEFT OUT!
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