 |
| Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Student News is e-mailed weekly to undergraduate and graduate students of Bumpers College for timely announcement of news and events. You may also submit items to headline@uark.edu for posting on "UA Daily Headlines" for campus-wide distribution. |
May 12, 2008 |
1. Commencement Celebrates Class of 2008
2. Reception for Dean Weidemann Monday
3. Tyson Food Policy Chair Candidate to Present Seminar Thursday
4. RREC Escapes Major Tornado Damage
__________________________________________
1. Commencement Celebrates Class of 2008
 |
 |
|
| After receiving his diploma, Bodie Drake is congratulated by John Tyson, left, and Dr. Milo Shult. | Honors graduates, from left, Laura Carpenter, Misti Clark, Lindsay Copenhaver, Edison Froelich, Lindsay Irion Brent Koonce and Donna Moll sing the Alma Mater at the conclusion of Commencement ceremonies May 10. Bumpers College graduated 17 Honors Program Distinguished Graduates this year. |
A record number of 270 degree candidates in the Class of 2008 were celebrated at the Bumpers College Commencement program at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Center. About 230 students participated in Commencement. Almost all of the 2,450 seats in the center were occupied.
In keeping with the tradition of the last several years, one of the outstanding graduates, Laura Sossamon, delivered the Commencement address. Sossamon, of Ozark, is an agribusiness major in the pre-law program with a Spanish minor. She is a Bumpers College First Ranked Senior Scholar, signifying her achievement of a 4.0 grade point average during four years as a Bumpers College student at the University of Arkansas, and a John W. White Outstanding Student.
The 2008 Outstanding Alumna is Darlene Z. Baker Millard, BSHE '76 MS '81, of Bryant, assistant director for 4-H Youth Development in the Cooperative Extension Service of
the University of Arkansas System's Division of Agriculture.
As a 4-H member in the 1970s, Millard twice won the state 4-H record book award. She was a national 4-H ambassador and spent eight weeks in Germany with the International 4-H Youth Exchange.
After graduating from the University of Arkansas with her master's degree, Milllard joined the Extension Service as Pulaski County 4-H agent, advanced to a state specialist position after receiving a doctorate in consumer science from Texas Women's University in Denton, and then to her current position. She twice has served as chairperson of the National 4-H Cooperative Curriculum System steering committee, which provides 4-H project curriculum material. She was appointed to the Governor's Task Force on Out of School Time to help guide policy and funding for after school programs. She has served on the DBCAFLS Alumni Board for six years.
__________________________________________
2. Reception for Dean Weidemann Monday
 |
|
| A watch, plaque and framed proclamation from the Bumpers College Faculty Council were presented to Dean Greg Weidemann by Faculty Council Chairman Dick Oliver at the spring faculty meeting May 2. |
A drop-in reception for Dean Greg Weidemann and his wife, Rozanne, will be held from 4 to 6 p.m., Monday, May 12, in Boyer Hall, Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House. Provost Bob Smith will make remarks at 5 p.m.
Dean Weidemann has accepted a position as dean and director of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Connecticut, effective June 30. He will assume administrative leadership for teaching, research and extension programs in a unified organizational structure.
A watch, plaque and framed proclamation from the Bumpers College Faculty Council were presented to Dean Weidemann by Faculty Council Chairman Dick Oliver at the spring faculty meeting May 2 in Hembree Auditorium in the AFLS Building.
Weideman joined the UA department of plant pathology in 1983. He was named associate director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and associate dean of Bumpers College in 1995 and was appointed dean and Division of Agriculture associate vice president for research in January 2002. When a separate position was created for associate vice president for research in August 2007, Weidemann's appointment was changed to dean of Bumpers College and associate vice president for academic programs of the Division of Agriculture.
_________________________________________
3. Tyson Food Policy Chair Candidate to Present Seminar Thursday
All are invited to attend a seminar by a candidate for the Tyson Chair in Food Policy position in the department of agricultural economics and agribusiness. Rudy Nayga of Texas A & M University will present a seminar on "Nutrition and Health: Policies and Economic Research Challenges" on Thursday, May 15, at 11:30 a.m. in AGRI 115.
_________________________________________
4. RREC Escapes Major Tornado Damage
A Quonset building and the equipment inside it at the Rice Research and Extension Center east of Stuttgart were destroyed or severely damage by a tornado Saturday, but no other buildings at the center or the two neighboring USDA research centers were damaged, RREC Director Chris Deren said today.
He said several center employees sustained damage to their homes in or near Stuttgart. The National Weather Service says the tornado was a suspected E-F3. About 3,800 people lost power. Three people were hurt, but all were released from the hospital by Sunday afternoon, according to press reports.
The tornado followed a path along Hwy. 130 in the direction of RREC, but it passed over the Division of Agriculture center and the two USDA centers, Deren said. It touched down on the east side of Hwy. 130 near the corner where the highway turns south towards Almyra, and totally destroyed a Quonset hut in which several pieces of RREC equipment were stored, Deren said.
Pieces of the building and about 12 items of equipment were scattered in fields over a distance of a quarter to a half mile, Deren said. The equipment included small combines, plot combines and portable threshers.
Electriciy and phone lines were down at the center, but there was no other apparent damage to facilities or research plots.
_________________________________________
See other upcoming events online at Calendar of Events.
Submit Calendar items to dedmark@uark.edu.
AAES and Bumpers College Web sites:
http://aaes.uark.edu/
http://bumperscollege.uark.edu/