>Stuff to Do this Summer
{You may not get a summer break anymore, but you can still take it a little easier.}
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 Hit a Few Balls with the Lions Golfers
HEAD DOWN TO The First Tee of Fort Smith (right next to Ben Geren Golf Course at 5800 Geren Road) June 30 at 5:30 p.m. to get FREE instruction and advice from UA Fort Smith’s men’s and women’s golf teams.
Hit all the FREE range balls you want, play the par 3 course, work on your short game, and enjoy refreshments on us. All skill levels are welcome. Questions? Call Young Alumni Coordinator Katie Schulterman at (479) 788-7241.
In fact, Schulterman herself can likely offer some tips. As UA Fort Smith’s first-ever woman golfer, she went to the NJCAA National Championship in 2006, finishing 8th among individual competitors and 36th overall in the field of 92. |
Start Planning for Alumni Weekend 2010!
WANT TO CATCH UP with old friends, see what has (and hasn’t) changed on campus, and enjoy plenty of good food and live music? Then join us this fall for the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith’s first Alumni Weekend, October 15-17!
We’ve got a packed schedule set up for you—concerts and art exhibits, a white-tablecloth dinner, wine and cheese with the chancellor, “classes without quizzes,” an evening downtown, campus and Fort Smith historical tours, even a College Planning 101 session for parents of Lions-to-be.
To top it all off, we’ve negotiated a great rate at the Holiday Inn downtown, and most on-campus events are free. Watch for a registration packet arriving in your mailbox soon. Register by September 15 and you'll also get a free alumni T-shirt. See you here!
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>A View from the Attic
{Photo in Bell Tower magazine brings back memories for Harry Foster '58.}
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WE'RE GETTING LOTS of letters about the inaugural issue of Bell Tower magazine, many of which concerned the photo and brief story about the Old Main building on the back cover. Here's one we thought was particularly neat, from Harry Foster '58:
Seeing the picture of the "old main" on the back of the Spring / Summer 2010 issue of Bell Tower brought back memories.
During night school in 1957-58, chemistry was taught in that top-floor attic. There were probably six or eight of us in the class, several of whom were GIs from Fort Chaffee. Our instructor was just a couple of years older than we were. His teaching approach was, "Guys, we aren't going to the next chapter until everyone gets the one we're working on. We don't have to be at the end of the book by the end of the semester." We indeed learned and were bright enough to figure out how to make coffee in the lab beakers. After all, isn't the proper combination of ground coffee, water, and temperature just applied chemistry?
Similar dormer windows were also on the back of the building overlooking the parking area (this photo is from the front). I recall looking out of those windows and watching the girl who would become my wife park her car and head into Tom Fullerton's history class, which happened to also be my next class!
To see the original article and the rest of the magazine, visit www.uafortsmithalumni.com/belltower. |
>Big Blue Bash Draws 200
{Student Alumni Association's first event honors May grads, families.}
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ON A BEAUTIFUL, MILD afternoon in early May, UA Fort Smith's brand-new Student Alumni Association hosted its first major event—the Big Blue Bash, a party for May graduates and their families. More than 200 people enjoyed good barbecue, live blues, and free professional photos. Check out the online album for more pics.
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>Watch Pendergraft's Speech Online
{Really, not all commencement speeches are boring. Here's proof.}
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WHEN NEAL PENDERGRAFT spoke to UA Fort Smith's May 2010 graduating class, they listened—and not just politely. Pendergraft—attorney, entrepreneur, cattle rancher, and musician—was direct, honest, and engaging. So much so, in fact, that people actually called the University asking how they could get a video of his speech. Seriously.
Why the unusual interest? For starters, because many in the audience were surprised—and inspired—to learn how much they had in common with Pendergraft, who had his share of slip-ups and struggles on the way to his present success.
"If you went to college right out of high school and completely blew it, I am one of you," he said. "If you worked an untold number of jobs strictly for a paycheck, I am one of you.
"If you thought you found a career and decided you could do better, I am one of you. If you came back to college as an older student, I am one of you.
"If you had to hold down a job while trying to make A's so you could dig out of a 1.17 GPA, then I am one of you. If you understand that sometimes the only reward for a hard day’s work is that you did the best you could, then I am one of you."
Watch the whole speech on UA Fort Smith's web site.
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>Smooth Transition
{How Erica Buneo '09 went from legal assistant to ADDY-winning graphic designer}
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THE IDEA BEHIND Erica Buneo’s deceptively simple logo for the fictional Dos Gatos 
Erica Buneo's Dos Gatos logo won a Student Gold ADDY at the national level. To see more of her work, click here.
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Inn & Spa—which just won a Student Gold ADDY in the American Advertising Federation’s prestigious national competition—started percolating years ago, right after she graduated from college (the first time).
Living alone in a walk-up studio apartment in New York, she still wanted weekend guests to feel like they were enjoying a “lavish getaway,” so she took to calling the place the Dos Gatos Bed & Breakfast, leaving mints on guests’ pillows, flowers on their nightstands, creating elaborate visit itineraries.
The Dos Gatos name—and, later, the concept for the logo—came from Buneo’s two cats, who she says “would nap curled around each other so that it was hard to tell where one cat stopped and the other began.”
Erica Buneo at the 2010 ADDYs in Orlando.
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Years later, in Travis Brown’s Identity Design course at UA Fort Smith, which required students to create and brand a fictional business, Buneo knew it was time to revisit that old Dos Gatos identity. This time, though, instead of a walk-up studio, Dos Gatos was an Asian-inspired luxury spa on the California coast.
The logo first won a Student Gold award in the Fort Smith ADDYs, automatically qualifying it for entry in the regional competition, where students and professionals from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and much of Louisiana compete.
It won a Silver there, and, encouraged by instructors and friends, Buneo paid the entry fee to enter the national competition. Ultimately, she was one of only 16 students in the country to win Gold at the national level... more
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>By the Numbers
{The mailing list for the first issue of Bell Tower magazine}
| | 19,505 | Total number of addresses on the mailing list; copies
were mailed to alumni 1928-present with a certificate or degree and all registered members of the Alumni Online Community.
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| | 50 | Number of U.S. states recipients live in, plus the District of Columbia and overseas AE and AP military addresses. | 73.5
| Percentage of recipients living in Arkansas; another 11.4% live in Oklahoma. | | 3 | U.S. states with only one recipient each: New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine.
| | 64°50' | North latitude of northernmost recipient, in Fairbanks, Alaska; surprisingly, there are 15 Alaska addresses on the mailing list. | | 168 | Doctors--both medical and academic--on the mailing
list. | | 10 | Reverends on the mailing list, including one in New Mexico. | | 9 | Judges on the mailing list, all of them in Arkansas. |
>Kat's Eye
{The city of Fort Smith as seen by campus photographer Kat Wilson}
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GET CONNECTED! Not yet registered? Haven't visited in a while? What are you waiting for? Reconnect with old friends and make new connections with fellow alumni. If you're new to the community, just go to www.uafortsmithalumni.com and click "First time login" at the top of the page.
Updated Members
Allspach, Kathryn
Arbaugh, Jerry
Atchley, Jacob
Baxter, Stephanie
Beshears, Lisa
Biggs, Jared
Bowers, Rosalie
Cade, Jamaal
Carter, Zachary
Chanthaseny, Alayne
Clayton, John
Cowell, Tiffany
Cullefer, Audra
Dally, Mark
Dally, Toni
Dedmon, Crystal
Donaldson, Melissa
Ellison, Eugenie
Engster, Devan
Eubanks, Ashley
Fields, Jennifer
Fiori, V.
Flynn, Claire
Foster, Stephen
Franks, Angel
Frost, Roy
Garner, Kristine
Geisbauer, Joseph
Gentry, Tanya
Gilstrap, Beverly
Grady, James
Gregory, Julie
Halladay, Alma
Hampel, Amanda
Harmon, Rebecca
Hart, Amanda
Hendershot, Jacob
Hobson, Rachel
Holland, Linda
Holt, Julie
Hominick, Margaret
Howerton, Lisa
Johnson, Deborah
Jones, Brandy
Jones, Lisa
Keen, Alicia
Kelly, Shelly
Kendall, Heather
Khamphouvong, Songka
Kirby, Tiffaney
Kispert, Daniel
Lane, Lisa
Laxson, Shannon
Ledford, Tracy
Lee, Cara
Leins, Mark
Lindsey, Megan
Longoria, Monica
McDaniel, Christine
McDaniel, Lydia
McGehee, Tawny
Mehrbakhsh, Jessica
Meyers, Sherrie
Mobley, Brian
Montgomery, Jan
Morris, Lindsey
Nevels, Brian
Patton, Lisa
Payne, R. David
Pelt-Henry, Alicia
Perkins, Angela
Pierce, Jenna
Povah, Amy
Rainwater, Cynthia
Rainwater, Erika
Ratcliffe, Zachary
Reynolds, Don
Rhodes, Richard
Rice, Shawna
Rogers, Amy
Shackelford, Bobby
Shores, Melissa
Short, Jane
Smith, Melissa
Smith, Nicole
Southerland, Deborah
Spears, Kristen
Stinson, Nathaniel
Swaim, Randall
Sweet, Gary
Thaler, Adam
Thompson, Christy
Tigner, Kenneth
Watson, Philip
Wertheimer, Lisa
Wewers, Randy
Williams, Brian
Wilson, Chad
Wisner, Marsha
Witcher, Lacey
Show Your
PRIDE!
Did you know you can order UA Fort Smith gear--hats, T-shirts, sweatshirts, clothes for kids and toddlers, drinkware, license plate frames and lots more--online through the Lions Bookstore? Gear up and show your pride!
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FANS WANTED
{For the UA Fort Smith Alumni Facebook page.}
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