We hope you had a nice holiday season with family and friends. It’s a New Year and we are very excited as we get the Spring Semester underway. In this issue of the Bulletin, we look back at some of the campus events that ended 2022 and the MLK vigil that helped us start the year and semester on a good foot.
Our Martin Luther King, Jr. Vigil this year, sponsored by the Associated Student Government and the Black Student Association, was a spectacular event! Chancellor Charles Robinson spoke, the Inspirational Chorale performed, and there was a moderated Q&A with prominent professor, philosopher, author and activist Cornell West. West is the former professor of the practice of public philosophy at Harvard University and professor emeritus at Princeton University. West spoke to a packed house at the Faulkner Performing Arts Center on MLK Day.
Before our semester break, we had a well-attended Distinguished Lecture event with actress and best-selling author Jeanette McCurdy. McCurdy has more than 100 credits under her belt between film and TV productions. During the lecture she spoke about the unabridged details surrounding her life and climb to stardom, which is part of her memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died. In her inspiring book, McCurdy uses candor and dark humor as she reveals her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she then reclaimed control of her life.
During the Holiday season the Greek Life community came together in various ways to make a huge impact on those in need in Northwest Arkansas and the agencies that help those in need, to the tune of more than $15,000 in donations. The United Greek Council made care packages for veterans in local shelters. The National Pan-Hellenic Council and several chapters served more than 1,500 meals at Thanksgiving with the Augustine Foundation. Interfraternity Council partnered with Life Source International and sponsored 14 families at Thanksgiving. The Panhellenic Council surprised 11 families in December and took them on a shopping spree. We’ve got the full story.
The Q&As in this issue come from our Greek Life office. Clarissa Kelly is the assistant director of Greek Life and has been with the University for more than 8 years, 6 in her staff position and 2 as a graduate student. She gets a lot of satisfaction out of her work and takes great pride in advising the Panhellenic Council of about 5,500 women. “All students don’t learn the same and providing a space where they can engage in hands-on experiences is a major key in the development of life after college,” Kelly said. Ravyn Luther is a second year Graduate Assistant working in Greek Life. The Higher Education graduate student from Washington, Missouri has a passion for helping others, and is involved with the Central Missouri Honor Flight, which takes veterans back to Washington DC to visit the memorials dedicated in their honor. She plans to graduate in May 2023 and hopes to work in Student Affairs and Greek Life specifically.
And last, but certainly not least, Spring semester means our Division of Student Affairs Scholarships are open. The Division offers scholarships for which nearly every University of Arkansas student can apply. This past school year the Division supported students with 216 scholarships for a total of $206,450. We hope you will encourage students to apply for these scholarships or maybe even support our students by making a gift to one of these scholarships or starting your own.
Thanks for checking out the February 2023 issue of the Student Affairs Bulletin. If you have ideas for stories or would like more information on anything you read here, please email Scott Flanagin, executive director of communications at sflanagi@uark.edu.