Office of Communications Christmas Potluck

Our department of nine filled our bellies with yummy food at this year's Christmas potluck.

Once a fountain...

You may have noticed the rebirth of the un-functioning fountain residing between Admin North / Admin South. It's much prettier-- a planter or tree garden, if you will.



What a huge improvement over the cement monstrosity that existed for how many years? Did those lights ever work?



If only I had a before photo to compare. Maybe you have one to share.

Get Your Maroon On!

Yikes! From my vantage point at Saturday’s Trojans game against Memphis, there was a sea of blue tigers across the court.



Come on, Trojans fans. Start wearing your maroon to cheer on the team. Let’s show a united front at the men’s and women’s basketball games. And I’m not just talking about UALR students, faculty, and staff. I’m talking about ALL of our fans.



We are Little Rock. Not Fayetteville, not Jonesboro, not Conway. And proud of it! Don’t have a maroon shirt? I’ll try to fix that. Let me hear from you.

ESPN Video: Alex Garcia-Mendoza

From Joe Angolia, UALR Media Relations Director:

"The ESPN feature on UALR junior forward Alex Garcia-Mendoza has begun airing on ESPN Deportes and can also be seen online at the network’s web site. A native of El Fuerte, Mexico, Garcia-Mendoza is one of three Mexican-born student-athletes playing Division I basketball this season.

The 6-3 guard/forward has started all 10 games in his first season with the Trojans. He currently ranks third on the team in scoring and second in rebounding at 9.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game."

Community Chorus' 'Messiah' Dec. 11

Smoking Audio Story

Fortunately, this photograph wasn't captured at UALR.

What DID take place on campus was this noteworthy audio feature from KUAR:

Play Audio:

The original story and transcript by Abe Martinez can be found KUAR's website:

Smoke-free UALR - How is it going?

Someone to follow...

Trojan Man on Twitter: @ualrtrojan

A Presidential Photo-Op

Hangkun Ling, a systems engineering student in the Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology, and two friends stood a parking lot away as Clinton slowly made his way to the security car behind the Jack Stephens Center after the ex-president's talk at the EIT gala Thursday, Nov. 19. No way could they snap a picture from that distance. Politeness has its place, but a good shout out is what one needs when trying to catch the attention of a president. Lucky for Ling and the few others that night, ex-news reporters have no shame.

International Celebration Day

Benny Scroggin from the Office of Campus Life sent along these photos from the UALR International Day, part of a week-long series of events designed to enhance inter-cultural awareness and understanding. Learn more about International Celebration Week, 2009...

Quoting Dr. Jerry G. Stevenson, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Director of International Services, "This year's celebration saw a record turnout and was an exciting day filled with food and music, as well as traditional dress and cultural artifacts from countries all over the world. Student musicians and dance groups from India, Iraq, Mexico, Turkey and Rwanda created a wonderfully festive atmosphere along with contributions from 15 international student groups, as well as community and campus organizations."

American Humanics Chili Cook-Off

The Office of Communications was just one of 15 departments to participate in the American Humanics Chili Cook-off.



Though our chili was fabulous, we were beat out by the Department of Nursing (even though they said their chili was healthy) based on the judge's votes. The Department of Construction Management won based on over-all student votes.



There were a wide variety of decorated booths but "best of show" went to Human Resources. With their cowboy hats and bandannas they really set the tone.

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all those who participated. It was a fun event, and we were glad to be a part of it this year. The American Humanics Department raised close to $400, which will benefit their program.

Creative Zoology Exhibit - Gallery II

'Form Follows Function or Does It?' Exhibit in Gallery I

What I Learned About German Reunification

Among the benefits of working on a college campus are attending lectures and other learning opportunities. Those I don't make it to I watch on Channel 62, but last week I got personal perspectives that were much more than I got from textbooks by attending a fall of the Berlin Wall symposium.



Dr. Susanne Wagner, who teaches German at UALR, organized "Perspective, Progress, and Promise - After the Berlin Wall: 20 Years of German Reunification" with the help of Dr. Steve Edison at the Reynolds College of Business building. Wagner suggested, "Knowing German creates business opportunities."



Dr. Anthony Chelte, dean of the Business College, who has made five trips to Germany including this semester to work out a partnership with UALR, welcomed attendees and told us that Germany had gotten rid of all of its economists (Ph.D.s) and hired westerners.



Dr. Stephen Farrelly, assistant professor of philosophy at UALR, was 14 at the time of the fall and became interested 10 years later. He painted a picture for us of his likely dinner conversations as a kid. His parents worked for the CIA and did not like Communists. Finding repressed people, he described how Germany's economic collapse happened quickly and its social ramifications. If you admitted to being a Christian, you weren't able to work at a university. He talked about power vs. violence and that the many nonviolent protests were an expression of power.



A panel discussion included speakers giving their perspective on the fall and experiences during that time. Participants included Dr. Andrew Drummond, assistant professor of political science at UALR; Thorsten Gottfried, cultural attaché for the German consulate general in Houston; Dr. Peter Höyng, chair and professor of German Studies at Emory University; Lenka Horakova, global project manager for Europe at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission; Dr. Rolf T. Wigand, professor of information science and management at UALR; and Rob Lentz, vice president of Acxiom Corporation.



I didn't know Wigand, who moderated the session, was from Germany. He lived in West Berlin in the late '60s (wall was built in 1961). Guards patrolled with dogs. You were killed if you tried to escape. You could leave by train in three directions. Leaving by car was a very controlled procedure. He was active in track and field and often had trips for meets. Luggage was inspected. "If you had soap, they would cut it up to see if you were hiding something. Toothpaste would be opened at the other end." Cars were inspected for mirrors. He recalled a scene of people being shot for climbing over the wall. Wigand was a professor at Arizona State when it fell. He and his wife were glued to the TV until the wee hours of the morning. "I didn't think I would ever experience that. I cried." He showed a piece of the wall. This is the closest I will ever get to it.



Gottfried admittedly thought going to the movies with his girlfriend in '89 was more important than the fall. Ten to 20 years later he was much more troubled. Gottfried questioned how things would be different if the Soviet Union came in with force. It was a clear alternative to do nothing. He said the people of Eastern Germany achieved unity and this is something they should be proud of.



Höyng asked what are we celebrating Nov. 9. Pride. But there are some problems with that. "We can't forget - they also started two world wars." Nov. 9 is significant for several occasions. In 1918, World War I ended. In 1938, there was systematic destruction of synagogues during the height of Nazi terrorism. However, the celebration of 1989 is rarely connected with the other dates. "You can't have one without the others."

Horakova, who has finance and international business degrees from UALR and previously worked at our Institute for Economic Advancement, said Arkansas exported to 162 countries last year totaling $5.8 billion and sustaining about 1,000 businesses in the state. The largest exported product is in electrical machinery at 23 percent. More than 100 foreign-controlled companies are in Arkansas employing nearly 34,000, of which 51 percent are in manufacturing. I had no idea of this volume. Many German businesses have now heard of Arkansas because of Nordex, a German wind turbine company to bring 720 jobs to Jonesboro. Horakova went with Gov. Beebe recently to visit leaders of Nordex in Hamburg.



In '89, Lentz, a college student, "went to Berlin to witness what was happening." He showed us his T-shirt that said, "I was there." He knew with the celebration and hope that he was witnessing something very gratifying. Lentz said a sequence of events changed the country's landscape, and it is now one of the largest economies and trading partner. "The social structure between the two sides was challenging." Drummond talked about the significance of the Lisbon Treaty signage and that it is "one of the things to be proud of."



What else I learned:

• Germany is the No. 1 export country in the world - mostly cars (Mercedes, Volkswagen).


• A few weeks ago a German received a Pulitzer in literature - the 11th for the country.


• Germany is one of the leading countries of solar power.


• German is the most spoken language in Europe today.


• I also heard on Frontline this week that Germany has the third strongest economy in the world.

And I learned why the computer geeks on campus always bring their laptops to meetings because I spilled water on my handwritten notes from this symposium as I was carting around my office in a bag due to our office flood. But I was mostly reminded how thankful I am to live in a free country.

2009 Recruitment Open House

Friday, November 30 the Office of Recruitment held their first fall Open House for senior high school students. Here are a few pics from that event.

Flooded Office

Here are some pics of our building from last Thursday's flood. We were out of our offices for most of this week while the carpets were dried, then cleaned, then dried again... hooray we're back today!