Students and staff from the University of Arkansas traveled to Fargo, North Dakota on October 28th to attend the NASPA Region IV-West Conference. NASPA serves as the national professional organization for Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. The U of A received multiple awards at the regional conference for individuals who have excelled in their student affairs work.
Adrain Smith, the director of Leadership and Diversity Initiatives, was presented with NASPA Champion Award in recognition of his hard work and dedication to student success through partnership. “As I look over my career, the number of students who are MUFPs, NUFPs, student leaders, scholars, student athletes, researchers, or just students; the one thing that remains the same is my commitment to partner with them in their endeavors,” Smith said in response to what this award means to him. “I have merely tried to be a conduit, a connection, a catalyst, and a consistent influence in their lives by the way I live mine: values based, authentically, unapologetically with a mindset rooted in transforming lives through purpose.”
Daniel Webster received the NASPA Undergraduate Rising Star Award. This award is presented to undergraduate students who are actively involved on their campus and strive to make a difference in their community. Daniel has served as a senator in ASG as well as an RA in Humphreys Hall. He also serves as a mentor for first students in the Accelerate Student Achievement Program (ASAP), which he participated in during his first year. “I am so incredibly honored to receive this award,” Webster said. “Whenever they presented the award to me, they asked me to say a few words and all I could really say was thank you. It is because places like the Multicultural Center and the people who work there that I was able to make the University of Arkansas my new home and work to improve it, so I really do believe I couldn’t have done any of the things that made NASPA recognize me if it wasn’t for the great mentors, faculty, and staff that have poured into me these past two and a half years.”
Angelique Price received the NASPA Graduate Rising Star Award. This award is presented to graduate students who have excelled in their graduate involvement and work hard to pursue a professional career in student affairs. Angelique is the Graduate Assistant in the Center for Multicultural and Diversity Education. “My major roles and responsibilities as GA for the Multicultural Center are our monthly First Friday program, Black Student Welcome, the LENS institute, and Coffee and Conversation. My major goal overall is to build our students identity development through creating programs that ensure they are concreted culturally through education,” Price said. “To be awarded such a high honor in NASPA IV-West as a graduate student is surreal. It’s such a remarkable feeling to be honored by those I admire the most for something that I love to do every day.”