Education Commons^™

Ouachita's School Of Performing Arts Presents Worship Concert Sept. 12, Abby Kemmer, Office Of Communications & Marketing

Press Releases

The Division of Music in Ouachita Baptist University’s School of Performing Arts presents the Ouachita Choirs Worship Concert on Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 6:30 p.m. on the front steps of Evans Student Center. A relatively new event for Ouachita, the performance is a time for music students to lead the student body in contemporary choral worship.

The concert features a variety of contemporary worship music that many students are familiar with. This year’s performance includes “What a Savior, What a Friend,” written by Ouachita grad Leslyn (Ichter) Jacks ’11. Other songs on the program include “This is Our God,” “Endless …

Ouachita's School Of Performing Arts To Host Muses Creative Artistry Project On Sept. 14, Addie Woods, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Ouachita Baptist University’s School of Performing Arts presents the Muses Creative Artistry Project in concert on Thursday, Sept. 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s McBeth Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to the public.

The performance is part of Ouachita’s 2023-24 Guest Artist Series and is sponsored in part by the Floyd E. and Dorothy G. Henley Fine Arts Endowment and the Arkadelphia Philharmonic Club.

The Muses Creative Artistry Project is based in Hot Springs and frequently tours throughout the region. For their current tour, “Broken Standards,” they perform a mix of baroque and jazz …

Ouachita's School Of Performing Arts To Host Leland Ko In Concert Sept. 11, Coleman Callan, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Ouachita Baptist University’s Division of Music in the School of Performing Arts will host cellist Leland Ko in concert on Monday, Sept. 11, at 7:30 p.m. in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s McBeth Recital Hall. Ko’s performance is part of Ouachita’s Guest Artist Series and the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist program. The concert is free and open to the public.

Ouachita's Fall 2023 Enrollment Highest In 57 Years, Felley Lawson, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Ouachita Baptist University has reported its highest enrollment in 57 years, with a Fall 2023 headcount of 1,815.

Since 2016, the university has sustained momentum that’s reflected in a 20% increase in total enrollment and a 14% growth in undergraduate enrollment. Residential undergraduate enrollment now numbers 1,581. There are 81 students enrolled in Ouachita’s six graduate programs this fall, more than doubling the number who enrolled when graduate programs were reintroduced in 2020 through the university’s expanding catalog.

Ua3/10/3 Convocation, Timothy Caboni

WKU Archives Records

Convocation speech given by WKU president Timothy Caboni regarding student retention, enrollment, living learning communities, Colonnade, early college programs, research, global study, philanthropy, innovation campus, knowledge towns and Indudeep Chhachhi.

Special Delivery, Saba Esho, Office Of Communications & Marketing

Press Releases

It was my senior year of high school in Erbil, Iraq, and at this point in my college application journey, I had already decided I was going to go with Ouachita as my school of choice. After all, the staff seemed friendly from our WhatsApp calls, I had a great scholarship and, based on what I could tell from my computer screen, it seemed like a decent school.

What I did not know from my online research was how Ouachita would go above and beyond my expectations and make possible what I believed to be impossible.

What Not To Pack For College, Kaelin Clay, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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“Welcome to Ouachita,” they’ll say. You’ll drive through the parking lot of Francis Crawford Hall or Flippen-Perrin Hall or O.C. Bailey Hall; your car will be loaded down, and perhaps your parents’ cars will be loaded down, too. Or you might be planning to be greeted from the passenger seat of a U-Haul that your family insisted on renting.

But I promise there’s an easier way. I’ll help you make your load a little bit lighter with a list of what not to pack for college:

Ouachita To Host Called To Teach Conference On July 21, Felley Lawson, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Ouachita Baptist University’s Huckabee School of Education will host its annual Called to Teach Conference on Friday, July 21, in Walker Conference Center, 485 Campus Drive. Called to Teach is open to the public; attendees can receive six hours of professional development credit through the Arkansas Department of Education.

“Building Relationships” is the theme for the 2023 conference, which will feature guest speaker Marilyn Rhames, founder of Teachers Who Pray. Rhames is a Doctoral Academy Fellow in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, where her research is focused on the intersection of religion and race in …

"Stepping Up" Luncheon To Honor Huckabee Women In November, Anna Roussel, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Ouachita Baptist University’s Office of Development has announced its annual Stepping Up for Ouachita luncheon, presented by Simmons Bank, will be held Friday, Nov. 17, at Chenal Country Club in Little Rock, Ark. The event will recognize its first mother-and-daughter honorees, former Arkansas First Lady Janet Huckabee and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Ticket and sponsorship information is available at obu.edu/steppingup.

Since its inaugural event in November 2010, Stepping Up for Ouachita has raised more than $840,000 toward scholarships for women at Ouachita and is looking toward surpassing $1 million in 2023. Every year the university honors outstanding Ouachita women …

Ouachita Recognizes Graduates During Commencement Exercises May 13, Felley Lawson, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Ouachita Baptist University honored more than 400 students during its 136^th Spring Commencement on Saturday, May 13, on the front lawn of Cone-Bottoms Hall. Graduates earned Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Music Education and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees, as well as Master of Science degrees, post-baccalaureate certificates for Dietetic Internship and the university’s first Master of Education degrees in curriculum & instruction and Master of Science degrees in nutrition.

Words Of Wisdom: Learners Rather Than Knowers: 2023 Commencement Address, Ben Sells

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Based on what your predecessors report, your Ouachita education and experience have prepared you exceedingly well. Indeed, the investment in you by faculty and staff, the support of your family and classmates, the time and effort you have put forward and the grace of God help you go from this place with an advantage.

You can be confident about that advantage. The more you steward it, the more of an opportunity it will provide.

In preparing for Commencement, I ponder and pray that I might leave you, and each graduating class, with a few words of wisdom on this day …

Ouachita Senior Rebekah Wendt Presents Research At Acs National Meeting, Addie Woods, Office Of Communications & Marketing

Press Releases

During the American Chemical Society national meeting, held March 26-30 in Indianapolis, Indiana, Ouachita senior Rebekah Wendt presented findings based on her research using polymers to prepare core-shell nanofibers.

Wendt, a chemistry major from Haworth, Okla., was awarded a Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education in December 2021 to conduct her research. She also presented her findings at the Southwest Regional Meeting of the ACS in Baton Rouge, La., in November.

Ouachita Finance Students Earn National Award For Management Of Ary Student Investment Fund, Addie Woods, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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A team of finance students from Ouachita Baptist University placed second at the annual Quinnipiac Global Asset Management Education Forum held March 30-31 in New York City. Ouachita was awarded second place in the undergraduate core portfolio category for 2022 risk-adjusted return on the group’s management of the Ary Student Investment Fund, a $2 million stock portfolio.

Blum Wins First Place In Student Juried Art Show At Ouachita, Kaelin Clay, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Ouachita Baptist University sophomore Tori Blum, a studio art major from McKinney, Texas, earned first place in the university’s 2023 Student Juried Art Show. Winners were announced during a reception held on April 26 in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s Hammons Art Gallery to open the show. Sponsored by the Ouachita Art Club, the exhibit features the work of 15 students – including Blum – and will be on display in Hammons Gallery through Oct. 6. It is free and open to the public.

Blum created a ceramics piece titled “Balance” for her Ceramics I course in Fall 2022 and entered …

Ouachita's Engineering Program Receives Accreditation From Higher Learning Commission, Felley Lawson, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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The Bachelor of Science degree program in engineering at Ouachita Baptist University has been approved by the university’s institutional accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission.

The engineering curriculum was approved by the faculty in Spring 2022. While several new engineering courses were available to students in the 2022-23 academic year, the official program launch is scheduled for Fall 2023. The 4-year residential program builds on the strength of Ouachita’s Bachelor of Science degree program in physics and is housed in the newly formed Department of Physics and Engineering in the J.D. Patterson School of Natural Sciences. Dr. Kevin Cornelius, professor of …

Naturi Harris And Marcus Mcgahee Receive Ouachita's Annie Abrams Living Legacy Award, Addie Woods, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Ouachita Baptist University students Naturi Harris and Marcus McGahee have been named the recipients of the 2023 Annie Abrams Living Legacy Award for Black student leaders. They both will receive $2,500.

Established in 2020, the scholarship honors the legacy of civil rights activist and Arkadelphia native Annie Abrams of Little Rock, Ark., and recognizes students who have demonstrated leadership and service within Ouachita’s Multicultural Organization Reaching Equality (MORE), living out the university’s mission to live lives of meaningful work.

Volunteers Recognized For Service Through Ouachita's Elrod Center, Felley Lawson, Office Of Communications & Marketing

Press Releases

Volunteers who serve through the Ben M. Elrod Center for Family & Community at Ouachita Baptist University were recognized Tuesday, April 18, during the center’s annual University Community Service Awards banquet in Walker Conference Center on the Ouachita campus.

“The University Community Service Awards Celebration is a once-a-year gathering to honor Ouachita volunteers who have excelled in service to our community. Through the Elrod Center, these volunteers touch lives at many intersections serving children, teens, families, senior adults, individuals with disabilities, nonprofits, schools, churches and our campus,” said Judy Duvall, Elrod Center director. “This is a joyful night of celebration …

Ouachita Student Media Honored Among The Best Locally, Nationally, Felley Lawson, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Ouachita Baptist University student media have earned 82 awards for excellence, including seven national and 38 state awards for the Ouachitonian yearbook and 37 state awards for the Signal newspaper, Ouachita Sports Digital Network, online media, and television coverage.

The 2022 Ouachitonian was honored with a Pacemaker Award from the Associated Collegiate Press. Announced in March during the ACP National College Media Conference in San Francisco, the Pacemaker is one of the oldest nationwide awards for college journalism. Additionally, the Ouachitonian was awarded the All-American distinction in the ACP’s annual critique service of student publications. Marks of Distinction were earned …

Ouachita Senior Joshua Spiva Publishes Research Paper In "Polymers", Addie Woods, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Joshua Spiva, a senior biomedical sciences and chemistry double major from Magnet Cove, Ark., published a research paper in the scientific journal, “Polymers.”

The paper, titled “Electrospinning Drug-Loaded Alginate-Based Nanofibers towards Developing a Drug Release Rate Catalog,” details the results of Spiva’s research on creating a catalog to help biomedical scientists understand how drugs release from certain materials. He worked for more than 2 ½ years on the project with Dr. Sharon Hamilton, associate professor of chemistry at Ouachita, to complete research that Hamilton began with students at Delta State University, where she was an assistant professor of chemistry before …

Ouachita Students Earn Top Honors In Governor's Cup Competition, Addie Woods, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Students from Ouachita Baptist University’s Hickingbotham School of Business placed first and second in the small business division and first in the elevator pitch competition during the 23rd annual Arkansas Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition on April 7 in Fayetteville, Ark.

Jillian Woodruff, a senior business administration/management major from Hope, Ark., placed first overall in the Winrock Automotive Small Business Division and won a $10,000 cash prize with Waderbuddy, a product designed to help users remove duck hunting waders quickly and safely. She was advised by Dr. Chris Brune, professor of finance and George Young Chair of Business at …

Ouachita To Hold Commencement Exercises May 13, Felley Lawson, Office Of Communications & Marketing

Press Releases

Ouachita Baptist University will host its 136^th Spring Commencement on Saturday, May 13, at 9:30 a.m. on the front lawn of Cone-Bottoms Hall. The ceremony will honor more than 400 graduates, including awarding the university’s first Master of Science in Education degrees in curriculum & instruction.

Others recognized include those who have earned Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Music Education and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees, as well as Master of Science degrees and post-baccalaureate certificates for Dietetic Internship. Graduates recognized will include students who completed their degree …

Lane Dunman Named Winner Of Second Annual David Glaze Music Competition, Kaelin Clay, Ouachita News Bureau

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Lane Dunman, a sophomore instrumental music education major from Cash, Ark., won the Second Annual David Glaze Music Competition at Ouachita Baptist University. Held on Thursday, April 27, in McBeth Recital Hall, the competition featured performances from five finalists representing various music disciplines in Ouachita’s School of Fine Arts.

“Of the several performances I’ve been involved in at Ouachita, this is my favorite program of music I’ve prepared,” Dunman said. “I feel that it gave me an opportunity to relax and focus more on musicality and quality of sound – what I think are my two biggest strengths as a …

Madison Melcher Wins $5,000 In Annual Ouachita Business Plan Competition, Addie Woods, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Ouachita Baptist University’s Hickingbotham School of Business hosted its 13th annual Business Plan Competition in December. Madison Melcher, a senior business administration major from Rockwall, Texas, placed first in the competition with her business plan, Covered by Grace, and received a $5,000 cash prize. Melcher was advised by Johan Eriksson, visiting instructor of business administration and director of entrepreneurship programs.

Megan Foshee Selected For National League For Nursing Leadership Program, Addie Woods, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Megan Foshee, assistant professor and coordinator of the nursing simulation lab in Ouachita Baptist University’s Department of Nursing, has been selected for the National League for Nursing’s 2023 Leadership Development Program for Simulation Educators. The year-long initiative is part of the NLN Leadership Institute.

The simulation leadership development initiative is designed for experienced nurse educators in the simulation field who want to have a leadership role in simulation.

Foshee is one of 15 education simulationists chosen to participate this year in the program, which cultivates leadership skills in nurse educators who have already gained experience at work in the field. …

Ouachita Department Of Theatre Arts To Host One Act Play Festival May 4-5, Kaelin Clay, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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The Ouachita Baptist University Department of Theatre Arts will present its Student Directed One Act Play Festival on May 4-5 at 7:30 p.m. in Verser Theatre. The performances are free and open to the public, and they are based on students’ work in a play directing course taught by Dr. Dawn Schluetz, visiting associate professor of theatre arts.

Ouachita's Office Of Communications & Marketing Earns National Recognitions, Office Of Communications & Marketing

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Ouachita Baptist University’s Office of Communications & Marketing earned eight national recognitions as part of Baptist Communicators Association’s 59^th annual Wilmer C. Fields Awards Competition; those honors included four first place awards for branding and recruitment materials. The awards were announced April 19 at the organization’s annual meeting at Ridgecrest Conference Center near Asheville, N.C.

“I’m so proud of the team we have in the Office of Communications & Marketing. It’s rare to be able to execute creative elements of this caliber in-house,” said Brooke Zimny, chief marketing officer. “I’m grateful for the skill and dedication our team displays, …

Ouachita's Division Of Music Presents Annual Prism Concert May 1, Kelsey Bester

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Ouachita Baptist University’s Division of Music presents its annual PRISM concert on Monday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m. in Jones Performing Arts Center. Free and open to the public, the concert will include performances from Ouachita’s instrumental ensembles.

“The Ouachita PRISM Concert is one of my favorite concerts of the year,” said Dr. Craig Hamilton, Lena Goodwin Trimble Professor of Music and director of bands at Ouachita. “It features many of our instrumental ensembles in a unique setting. I am very proud of the music our students and faculty create and look forward to sharing their achievements with our audience.”

Sherry Kuhn Named Ouachita's Support Staff Member Of The Year, Addie Woods, Ouachita News Bureau

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Sherry Kuhn, senior cash manager and grant specialist in the Office of Business Services at Ouachita Baptist University, has been named the university’s 2022-23 Support Staff Member of the Year. Kuhn was recognized in April by the university’s staff development committee and Dr. Ben Sells, Ouachita president.

She was selected from a group of nominees who demonstrated outstanding performance in their work responsibilities, in supporting the mission of the university and in relating positively to students, coworkers and members of the public.

Dr. Caroline Taylor Named Dean Of Ouachita's School Of Fine Arts, Felley Lawson, Ouachita News Bureau

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Dr. Caroline B. Taylor, professor of music and interim chair of the Division of Music at Ouachita Baptist University, has been named dean of Ouachita’s School of Fine Arts. She will provide leadership starting June 2023 to the school’s divisions of and Applied Arts in pursuing their goal of producing artists and scholars who integrate their intellect and faith with their art, and their art with their worldview.

“I am thrilled to be appointed the next School of Fine Arts dean and excited to be in a position to continue the long-held tradition of excellence the arts have always held …

Julia Letcher To Perform Senior Vocal Recital April 28, Addie Woods, Ouachita News Bureau

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The Division of Music in Ouachita Baptist University’s School of Fine Arts will host Julia Letcher for her senior vocal recital Friday, April 28, at 11 a.m. in McBeth Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Letcher is a musical theatre major from Plano, Texas. She has been named to the President’s and Dean’s lists at Ouachita, where she is a Friend of the Arts Scholar, a member of Tri Chi women’s social club, serves as president of Alpha Psi Omega national theatre honor society and performed the role of Miss Andrew in the Department of …