ANNUAL REPORT

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

2004-2005

The Academic Affairs goals for 2004-2005 have been to mesh the missions and efforts of the Provost's Office and the academic units with the overarching goals of the University: enhanced diversity of students, faculty and staff; excellence in teaching, research and service; increasing the numbers and quality of students; enhancing public support; enhancing private support.

These goals have been pursued by the following means:

• Promoting diversity among faculty, students and staff, including targeted salary support and development of the office of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Institutional Diversity and Education;

• Stimulating and providing leadership to evaluating, benchmarking, and enhancing academic quality;

• Promoting strategic planning and assessment in all academic areas;

• Creating strategic initiatives for faculty hiring;

• Articulating these and other visions and objectives through publication and one-on-one and group visits—particularly among the Provost, deans, department heads and faculty members, staff and student groups;

• Effecting implementations through team and collaborative efforts within the Provost's Office and among the leadership of the academic and related units throughout the University.

Accomplishments in Academic Affairs

• Achievements in all colleges and schools were significantly enhanced by the opportunities to select outstanding individuals from throughout the world to receive fellowships and fill faculty chairs supported by funding from the $300-million Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation gift. Similarly, the gift permitted purchase of significant new information resources by the University Libraries. Additionally, through the Walton gift, technology upgrades were completed in more than four-dozen classrooms throughout the campus.

• Faculty members and staff were responsible for record expenditures for research amounting to $108 million, up 12 percent over 2003-2004 and largely funded through extramural sources. The funding and related efforts led to significant published research, service at the highest levels in professional organizations, service to the U of A, community, region, and state, and recognition by professional organizations and peers in the form of awards for achievements.

• Individuals around the world received benefits from applications of knowledge resulting from University research, ranging across new nanomaterials, crop varieties, designs to improve communities, documentary films, and economic analyses, among many other achievements.

• All academic units contributed toward the completion of the record-setting one billion dollar Campaign for the Twenty-First Century, one of only thirteen billion-dollar campaigns at U.S. public universities.

• The 2010 Commission initiative continued to move the institution forward with support throughout the state and acclaim from around the country.

• Students in programs across the campus excelled in their studies by claiming post-graduate awards and entry into the nation's highest ranked institutions for graduate and professional study—including 100 percent placement in medical schools for graduates of the University's three-year-old Honors College.

Details regarding these and other individual achievements are provided in the complete annual reports for 2004-2005 for Academic Affairs units (see excerpts below).

Office of the Provost Activities

The Provost, by virtue of his office and responsibilities, engages each year in academic leadership in budget decisions; in appointment, promotion, and tenure recommendations; in providing direction and support to a large team of deans, directors, and vice provosts; and in consulting and providing guidance on the broad range of campus issues and operations in Academic Affairs and across the campus. In addition to things that are done annually, each year brings new challenges and opportunities, and different types of initiatives and responses are needed. The Provost is assisted and supported in his activities by vice provost colleagues and office staff (http://www.uark.edu/admin/vcacsey/OfficeStaff.html).

Regular and special office activities include responsibility for the eighteen schools, colleges, offices, and other units comprising Academic Affairs, including Summer Sessions and the Integrated Student Information Systems (ISIS) project. Staff responsibilities include:

• Providing guidance for accreditation and program review activities;

• Supporting and maintaining liaison with faculty and governance organizations;

• Guiding implementation and compliance with policy of the Board of Trustees and the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board;

• Expanding, updating, and assisting with compliance with the Academic Policy Series;

• Supporting a variety of projects such as the 2010 Commission;

• Maintaining liaison with the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.

Staff also published articles, made presentations, chaired accreditation teams, and provided leadership to professional associations and groups.

Examples are provided below of both annual and special activities and initiatives in which the Provost took major responsibility or provided direction, guidance, or assistance:

Activities and Initiatives related to the University's Primary Overarching Diversity Goals

• Assisted recruitment of minority faculty and staff members in Architecture, the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, the Walton College of Business, the Graduate School, the Libraries, and the Office of Admissions.

• Recruited and Appointed (with Johnetta Cross-Brazzell) Carmen Coustaut as Associate Vice Chancellor for Institutional Diversity and Education.

• Assisted the Hispanic Education Project in the College of Education and Health Professions.

• Assisted the implementation of the Silas Hunt Scholars project, during its inaugural year, including the locating of Silas Hunt Scholars in the Pomfret Honors Quarters.

• Helped develop minority recruitment positions (African American and Hispanic) in the Office of Admissions.

• Encouraged and assisted with the American Council on Education (ACE) Fellowship Application for Carolyn Callahan. Carolyn's ACE Fellowship has been approved and she will commence a one-year appointment during 2005-2006.

• Made diversity presentations to the 84^th General Assembly Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus, College of Engineering (executive leadership), the Faculty Senate, and the Walton College of Business.

• Participated in the first Northwest Arkansas Community Forum on Diversity in Bentonville.

• Participated in the National Conference on Community and Justice (NCCJ) Diversity Workshop, "Our Campus—Building a More Inclusive University of Arkansas."

• Attended Asian Legal Society Presentation: Alternative Careers in Law with Angel Gomez, Director, Internal Diversity Relations, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

• Arranged a luncheon for leaders of the African American and Asian Legal (Law Student) Societies: Leon Jones, Jae Kim and King Wong and encouraged the students to prepare articles (on their societies' missions and activities) for publication in All Things Academic.

• Arranged a luncheon for the three senior faculty members in the Walton College (Anne O'Leary Kelly, Carol Reeves and Amy Farmer) to offer advice on the conduct of the Department of Justice study of the effects of family violence on productivity in the workplace.

• Organized and conducted (with DeDe Long) the first Education Abroad Workshop for the Southeastern Conference Academic Consortium.

Activities and Initiatives related to the University's Overarching Goals on Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Service

• Recruited and Appointed with the help of the Chancellor, Don Bobbitt, and Dave Gearhart, Deans of the Honors College and the Walton College of Business.

• Reviewed 51 cases for tenure and promotion of which two were denied.

• Reviewed 19 proposals for Off-Campus Duty Assignments of which one was denied.

• Assisted recruitment of a Mechanical Engineering Department Head.

• Initiated Outstanding Advisor Awards in cooperation with the Academic Advising Council.

• Assisted in the development, publication, and dissemination of the 2010 Commission's third report: Gaining Ground.

• Continued preparations for the University's regional accreditation (by the North Central Association—Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement) during 2006-2007, including securing the approval of a special focus accreditation process.

• Received the report of the Making-the-Case-Report Task Force and began implementation of recommendations (with Johnetta Cross Brazzell) vis-à-vis the Deans Council and the UA Experience effort.

• Completed the review and reappointment process of the Vice Provost for Research and Dean of the Graduate School.

• Recruited and hired an information technology professional to assist with meeting the needs of the Provost and other members of the Executive Committee.

• Arranged visits with faculty and senior staff: 1) Frank Millett (Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry), 2) Jim Hinton (University Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Director, UA NMR Center), 3) Larry Malley (UA Press Director), 4) Daniel Levine, Inza Fort, and David Longer (Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center Co-Directors), 5) Lothar Schafer (Distinguished Professor of Chemistry), 6) Bill Durham (Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry), 7) Kathleen Barta (Professor, Mann School of Nursing), 8) Jeannie Hulen (Assistant Professor of Art in Ceramics), 9) Jim Hinton (University Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry), 10) Derek Sears (Keck Professor and Director, Arkansas Center of Space and Planetary Sciences).

• Arranged department visits with: 1) Art, 2) Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, 3) Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Foundations, 4) Food Science, and 5) Health, Kinesiology, Recreation and Dance.

• Held one Academic Community Forum on Conflict of Interest and Commitment.

• Organized a "visioning retreat" for Provost's staff held on June 15 in the Innovation Center.

Activities and Initiatives related to the University's Overarching Goals on Increasing the Numbers and Quality of Students

• Assisted with planning for the UA's offering of the four-year B.S.E. in Elementary Education in Bentonville.

• Crafted a plan for the concurrent U of A enrollment of more than 180 students at the Arkansas Math, Science and Arts High School in Hot Springs.

• Guided the development of formal enrollment mechanisms for UA students taking correspondence courses through the Division of Continuing Education.

• Assisted development of a pilot summer engineering and science research program for Arkansas Math, Science and Arts High School students during the summer of 2005.

• Guided the development and funding of the Razorbug project.

Activities and Initiatives related to the University's Overarching Goals on Raising Public and Private Support:

• Guided federal initiatives process that led to $6.4 million in federal research support during FY05.

• Served as ad hoc consultant in several research grant development efforts including the violence-productivity project in the Walton College of Business and the Hera proposal of the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Science, among others.

REPRESENTATIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN COLLEGES, SCHOOLS, OFFICES, AND OTHER ACADEMIC UNITS

Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food, and Life Sciences

• The Bumpers College began the celebration of its 100th anniversary in 2005, a celebration that will conclude with a gala Party of the Century in December. Hugh Ellis Morrow became the first University of Arkansas graduate with a degree in agriculture in 1904, and the College of Agriculture was established in the fall of 1905.

• The College made significant progress in the fiscal year toward 2010 goals for enrollment and other areas in the improvement of classrooms, teaching auditoriums, laboratories and in the growth of the scholarship endowment.

• Undergraduate enrollment increased by 5.2 percent for a total of 1,150 students for the fall semester 2004. This is the first year since 1983 that undergraduate enrollment has exceeded 1,100.

• Total enrollment for fall semester was 1,439, a slight increase compared to the 1,436 in the previous fall. The College continues to work toward the goal of 2,000 undergraduates and 500 graduate students by the year 2010.

• The Bumpers College and UA System's statewide Division of Agriculture, as partners in the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century, exceeded their campaign goal with a total of more than $87 million at the end of the campaign June 30, 2005. The goal was $69.3 million.

• The College awarded more than $680,000 in scholarships for 278 students. The scholarship endowment has doubled during the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century, growing from $5 million to $10 million since July 1998.

• The College Honors Program grew from 75 students in the spring of 2004 to 95 in the spring of 2005.

• The College Poultry Science Program moved up from fourth to third in national ranking by Meat and Poultry magazine for the reputation of graduates and research and service support for the meat and poultry industry.

School of Architecture

• The School of Architecture and the world of architecture mourned the death of Fay Jones in the fall of 2004. Jones brought international recognition to the School and to the University for many years.

• The University of Arkansas Community Design Center (CDC), led by Steve Luoni, continued to elevate its status to an international level by winning design awards. During 2004-2005 the CDC won recognition in four awards programs.

• The University of Arkansas Universal Design Project, led by Assistant Professor Korydon Smith, developed a point-based, three-level system of design standards as a model for producing fully accessible housing. This work is being funded by a consortium of state agencies under the umbrella of the Governor's Task Force on Supported Housing. The grant of over $350,000 is the largest research grant in School history.

• The School of Architecture's Capital Campaign ended with a campaign total of $20,205,734. Thus, the School's campaign results exceeded significantly the original goal of $10 million.

• Development of the master plan for Garvan Woodland Gardens continued apace as construction began on the Children's Garden and the Chapel complex.

• The egress code compliance work and the small third floor additions to Vol Walker Hall have progressed on schedule and will be completed by the first week in November 2005.

• Professor Marlon Blackwell gave fourteen lectures or guest critic appearances in schools across the nation. A monograph on his work was published by the Princeton Architectural Press and his work appeared in six books on architecture and twelve articles in journals and newspapers. In addition, he won a national competition to design the Fehnel Art and Nature Center as part of the Indianapolis Museum of Art and four professional design awards.

• The Architecture faculty as a group had a very productive year in research, scholarship, and creative activity. Faculty members were recognized through eight contributions to books, twelve refereed articles or proceedings, fourteen other articles, eleven research reports, thirty-two invited lectures, eleven refereed papers, eighteen design projects, and twelve honors and awards

.

J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences

• Fulbright College had an exceptional year in fund raising, with private gift support to faculty and students totaling $12,720,567, including gifts of $1,052,596 to University of Arkansas Bands and $885,692 to KUAF Public Radio. Through major gifts from individuals and the Matching Gift Program funded by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation, the College was able to establish the Bruker Life Science Chair, the Leica Geosystems Chair in Advanced Geospatial Analysis and Modeling, the Mildred B. Cooper Chair in Bioinformatics Research, the Joe N. Basore Professorship in Nanotechnology and Innovation, the Charles and Clydene Scharlau Professorship in Chemistry and Biochemistry, and the W.M. Keck Professorship in Planetary Science. The total number of endowed chairs and professorships in Fulbright College is now eighteen. This is extraordinary when compared to the one endowed chair in the College prior to the Campaign.

• Many endowed graduate and undergraduate scholarships were created as well, and the College now has endowed faculty career advancement funds to promote professional training.

• Fulbright College has successfully recruited two outstanding scholars for the Bernice Jones Chair in Community and the Brown Chair in English Literacy. Kevin Fitzpatrick, former Fulbright Scholar and director of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, is the inaugural holder of the Jones Chair, while David A Jolliffe, coordinator of the writing-in-the-disciplines initiative and professor of English at DePaul University, will create literacy outreach programs in Arkansas with the support of the Brown Chair.

• Other holders of chairs and professorships include Distinguished Professor Peter Pulay, the Mildred B. Cooper Chair in Bioinformatics Research. Early in his career, Professor Pulay developed techniques for determining the shape and size of molecules that changed the way scientists study matter. Physicist Greg Salamo is the Joe N. Basore Professor in Nanotechnology, responsible for advancing research in microelectronics-photonics, particularly in nanotechnology. Since 2000, Salamo has won more than $15 million in grants for both research and education, from the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Education. Xiaogang Peng, whose innovative research in nanomaterials has led to $2.5 million in grants as well as the founding of a company in Fayetteville, is the Scharlau Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

• The gift by Jim Blair to establish a named professorship in the honor of Diane Blair has presented the political science department an opportunity to hire a distinguished professor and continue to bolster research accomplishments in the politics of the South. During the past year, the department's Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society sponsored the Arkansas Poll as well as graduate fellowships for students studying Southern history and literature. An edited volume titled The Clinton Riddle: Perspectives on the 42^nd Presidency was published in early fall 2004. An external search for the holder of this distinguished Chair has been approved for the fall of 2005.

• The Campaign also reunited many alumni of UA Bands, inspiring the formation of the first Razorback Band Alumni Society, which is officially chartered with the Arkansas Alumni Association. The year saw the successful conclusion of a $5 million fundraising campaign for the bands, as part of the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century.

• Faculty members were productive as scholars and researchers, producing 54 books, 105 chapters, and 436-refereed articles, and offering 308 invited lectures and 393 presentations. Extramural funding for the year was $20,634,530.

• Faculty continued to win national attention and awards for their scholarly and creative work. Don Harington earned rave reviews for his last novel, With, in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, New Yorker, and the Los Angeles Times. With was cited as one of the best ten novels of the year by the Atlanta Journal Constitution and as the best novel of the year by the Raleigh News and Observer. Writer Ellen Gilchrist was the Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in the Humanities at Tulane University for the spring semester; she also received the Thomas Wolfe Award, presented by the University of North Carolina. William Quinn received a National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship to participate in a summer seminar on "The Handwritten Worlds of Early Modern England" at the Folger Library. Assistant Professor Geoffrey Brock won a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for the 2005-06 academic year.

• Latin American Studies, one of Fulbright College's most successful area studies programs, brought the best-selling Chilean novelist Isabel Allende to campus during fall 2004. She spoke to a standing-room-only audience in the Ballroom of the Arkansas Union, and was also available for several social events, including a breakfast with students, who were able to ask questions about her notable literary career.

• The research programs of several Geosciences faculty members were highlighted in local, regional, and national media (e.g., newspapers, National Public Radio) this year. Examples include the cross-timbers project of David Stahle, the New Madrid Seismic Zone and Montserrat volcano research of Glen Mattioli, the stone preservation and Petra work of Thomas Paradise, and the water quality assessment research of Ralph Davis, Ken Steele, Hays and Van Brahana. Steve Boss has initiated a research project on Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park that has generated much interest nationally and attracted new doctoral students to the Environmental Dynamics Program.

• KUAF, the university's public radio station, was ranked by the federal Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the top ten percent of public radio stations in the U.S. in providing outstanding audience service and maintaining excellent financial health.

• In other national recognition, the Department of Psychology was listed this year by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best graduate programs in psychology in the country. The Department was awarded funds for an endowed chair from the Walton gift.

• Julio Gea-Banacloche was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in November 2004. Distinguished Professor Min Xiao won two major national distinctions during November when he was elected a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

• The School of Social Work was awarded its 13^th contract, worth $2.9 million, through the Department of Human Services, Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to continue its work on the Academic Partnership in Social Welfare initiative which comprises eight colleges and universities across the state. The contract addresses ongoing training and educational needs of DCFS staff and assists in preparing professional social workers to serve vulnerable Arkansas children and their families.

• Students were completed successfully as well. Among the top honors won were the three Barry Goldwater scholarships awarded to Fulbright College students. The winners this year were Joshua Liu, a Chancellor's Scholar from Fayetteville majoring in chemistry; Rohitha Sriramaratnan, an Honors College Fellow from New Zealand majoring in biochemistry; and Justin Vines, an Honors College Fellow from Little Rock majoring in physics.

• Barbara Pickup, a doctoral student in the environmental dynamics program in Fulbright College and a Distinguished Doctoral Fellow, won a $78,000 scholarship from Canon U.S.A. Inc., the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Park Service. Pickup was one of eight Ph.D. students in the U.S., Canada, and Argentina to be named a Canon National Parks Science Scholar for 2004.

Sam M. Walton College of Business

• Faculty quality continued to increase with the appointment of highly qualified new faculty members. Jungmin Lee, who received the Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, joined the faculty in the Department of Economics in the fall of 2004.

• Academic programs were enhanced in several dimensions. Implementation of the new undergraduate business core continued on schedule. The implementation of this new program has received national attention and interest.

• A new format for off-campus delivery of the Master of Information Systems for working professionals was implemented in the fall of 2004. A new blended on-line and classroom instruction format for the Managerial MBA was developed for implementation in the fall of 2005.

• The quality of the student body continued to increase as measured by American College Testing (ACT) scores. The mean ACT scores for incoming freshmen increased to a new high of 24.4. The mean GPA for incoming freshman increased to 3.49.

• The size of the student body increased from 3,319 to 3,396. Beginning freshmen enrollment increased by 27 percent. The number of degrees awarded increased from 762 to 811.

• Retention of freshman increased to a new high of 86.7 percent from 81.1 percent. The Walton College's six-year graduation rate also reached a new high of 54.3 percent.

• Faculty diversity increased while staff diversity declined. The number of full-time minority faculty increased from 15 to a new high of 18. The percentage of minority staff decreased from 12.5 percent to 11.2 percent. The number of minority students decreased for the second consecutive year.

• National recognition of faculty continues to increase. Carolyn Callahan served as Vice President of the American Accounting Association and Karen Pincus served as national President-Elect of Beta Alpha Psi. Dean Doyle Z. Williams was elected Chair of the Association to Advance Colleges and Schools of Business (AACSB) International.

• Several faculty members received national and state-wide recognition, including Deborah Thomas, Arkansas Society of CPAs Distinguished Achievement Award; Charles Leflar, the Beta Alpha Psi National Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award; Donald A. White, the Professor of the Year Award, the Consortium Institute for Management and Business Analysis; Thomas R. McKinnon, the Bessie M. Moore Leadership Award from the National Association of Economic Educators; David Douglas, President of the Federation of Business Disciplines; and Paul T. Cronan, the Southwest DSI Outstanding Educator Award. Best paper awards were given to Elizabeth Creyer, Jeff B. Murray, and Scot Burton. Karen Boston served as Chair, National Academic Advising Association.

• There were several noteworthy student achievements during the year. For the second time, Beta Gamma Sigma received the Gold Chapter Award—the only chapter to be in the top three in the nation for eight consecutive years. Beta Alpha Psi was again recognized as a superior chapter. Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) won first place in regional competition in Chicago.

• The portfolio management class placed first in the student-managed investment fund competition for hybrid funds (undergraduate) at the Redefining Investment Strategy Education 2005, in Dayton, Ohio. More than 1,000 students from 135 universities and business colleges participated in the program, which was co-sponsored by CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Stock Exchange, Deutsche Asset Management, and the University of Dayton. No overall winner was announced owing to differences in risk between fund categories, but the Walton College team had the highest 2004 total return percentage gain among competition participants.

• Winners of first, second, and third place in the Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup graduate business plan competition were MBA teams from the Walton College. One team also finished first in the flight and fourth overall in the New Venture Championship at the University of Oregon. The same team finished second in their flight at the internationally renowned MOOT CORP® 2005 competition, the "Super Bowl" of business plan competitions at the University of Texas at Austin. Another team was one of five finalists selected from the "elevator pitch" competition to make a full presentation to real venture capitalists at Wake Forest University where they tied for second place with Brigham Young University.

• In 2004-05, the largest amount of private resources was secured in the history of the Walton College. Approximately $94,425,844 million in gifts and pledges were received, enabling the Walton College to exceed its goal of $100 million for the Campaign for the 21^st Century by approximately 121 percent.

• Outreach efforts continued at a high level with record attendance at the Annual Business Forecast Luncheon and the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame induction. The Center for Business and Economic Research sponsored a series of Quarterly Business Analysis breakfast meetings throughout the state and received several grants for a variety of economic studies.

• The Information Technology Research Institute launched a major RFID initiative. The Center for Retailing Excellence and the Supply Chain Management Research Center continued to grow and connect the Walton College to a record number of companies. The Small Business Development Center served a record number of clients and assisted with packaging a record dollar amount of loans.

• Facilities planning included completing the design of Walker Hall to house the Graduate School of Business, classrooms, and certain research centers. Plans were also completed for the Center for Academic Excellence building that will house the Walton College's behavioral research lab and the Information Technology Research Institute.

• The strategic planning process was enhanced during 2004-05. A new credo was adopted. Strategic initiatives were identified and their progress was measured. A planning calendar and metrics for assessing progress on an on-going basis were established. The Walton College received the "Commitment to Excellence" award from the Arkansas Institute for Performance Excellence. The efficiency of the Walton College was enhanced by the student faculty ratio increasing to over 22 to 1.

• The national stature of the Walton College continued to improve. The College received its highest rating ever by U.S. News & World Report—a 3.2, tying it for 25^th among all undergraduate public business schools. The full-time MBA program was ranked for the first time by U.S. News & World Report—45^th among public business schools. Doyle Z. Williams, who has served as Dean since September 1, 1993, stepped out of the Dean's office on August 21, 2005, to be the first holder of the Doyle Z. Williams Chair in Professional Accounting established by the University in his honor.

College of Education and Health Professions

• The faculty of the program in Rehabilitation Education continued to provide extensive leadership at state, regional and national levels. The national research and training center continued its 25^th year of continuous funding for research and service across the nation. In addition, the regional rehabilitation continuing education center provided professional development services for a five state region, representing its 32^nd year of continuous programming.

• A number of faculty members were involved in international programs working in diverse settings around the world. Illustrative of this work are the activities of the following individual. s Fredrick Nafukho, adult education, and Penina Mungania, adult education, won a research competition from UNESCO to write a book on adult education programs in Africa. They were awarded a grant of $15,000 to cover travel to Cape Town, South Africa while attending the book writers' workshop. Nafukho was invited to deliver a paper during the General Conference of the Association of African Universities in Cape Town, in February.

• Ok D. Park, Vocational Education, was the keynote speaker for the Korean Ethics Forum, an annual conference of successful Korean business persons.

• Catherine Brooks facilitated a three-day Emerging Leadership workshop for twenty-two local businessmen at the Universite du Centre, Sousse Tunisia.

• Sam Totten, Curriculum and Instruction, conducted interviews as a part of a United Nations team to assist in fact finding about the atrocities that have been committed in the Darfu area of the Sudan. Totten has published extensively on genocide and holocaust education.

• Mounir Farah, Curriculum and Instruction, completed a Fulbright study abroad in Syria during the academic year focusing on research on the educational systems in that country and other nations in the Middle East.

• Cheryl Murphy was inducted into the University Teaching Academy.

• Lyle Gohn received an outstanding teaching award from the Associated Student Government.

• Mike Miller was recognized as one of the University's top three teachers through the Associated Student Government.

• Mike Young received the Research Award from the American School Health Association and the Fellow Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.

• Merry Moiseichik was a co-editor of the Management of Park and Recreation Agencies, a widely distributed publication of the National Recreation and Parks Association.

• Seven faculty were recognized at the college honors convocation for excellence with awards in six areas: Linda Morrow, Service; Susan Mayes, Advising; Chris Lucas, Teaching; Merry Moiseichik, Research; Bobbie Biggs, All Around Faculty; and Barry Brown and Doug Watson, Career Achievement.

• The college benefited from the creation of new doctoral fellowships and professorships by the University using part of the historic $300 million gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.

• A major gift of $10 million from a private foundation with a full match from the Walton gift resulted in the creation of the new Department of Education Reform with a $20 million endowment. This will enable the College to recruit faculty for six new endowed chairs and ten doctoral fellows. In addition, funding will be available for the new department to conduct research and disseminate the findings. The gift resulted in endowed scholarships for students preparing to be teachers.

• Sean Mulvenon was named as the first faculty member to hold the George and Boyce Billingsley Chair in Education Research and Policy Studies.

• Building on a tradition of service to education and health organizations across the state, region and nation, the college continued to pursue excellence through units providing research and service programs for a variety of populations and organizations. Included in these units are the following: Arkansas Leadership Academy, National Office of Research, Measurement and Evaluation Services, Research and Training Center for People Who are Deaf or Hearing Impaired, Regional Continuing Education Program in Rehabilitation, Great Expectations of Arkansas, National Writing Project, Human Performance Laboratory, Lake Wedington Laboratory, Health Education Projects Office, Early Childhood Education Projects, Research Advocacy Network, A Plus Arts Education, Teacher Advancement Program, Office of Education Policy and the Education Renewal Zone Office.

• A new initiative this year was the Master Principal Program in the Arkansas Leadership Academy under the direction of Beverly Elliott, Stewart Springfield Chair in Education Administration. The project received $1 million from the state and has tremendous potential to develop effective principals for the public schools. The state provided $600,000 to the Academy for an initiative designed to provide a program to serve low-performing schools.

• The College continued a long-standing relationship with the Arkansas Association of Education Administrators that provides continuing opportunities for collaboration with the leadership at all levels in the K-12 public schools. This year saw the announcement of the retirement of Kellar Noggle, long-serving executive director of the association and visiting assistant professor in the college, who will be retiring in December 2005. Tom Kimbrell, former superintendent in North Little Rock and Paragould, was selected to replace Noggle.

• Connections with the larger school districts were renewed through the continuation of the Research Advocacy Network, a partnership program devoted to cooperative research on topics of significant interest to the leadership of the public schools.

• Equally important is the work with health and human service agencies, and the college worked closely with local organizations in both nursing and health disciplines to continue relationships that improve educational opportunities for students. A particularly effective alliance developed by administrators of the five regional institutions and their nursing program directors was the Northwest Arkansas Nursing Education Consortium that continued collaborative efforts to develop programmin