University of Arkansas
Encyclopedia
The University of Arkansas (often shortened to U of A, UARK, or just UA) is a public, co-educational, land-grant
, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System
and is located in Fayetteville, Arkansas
. Founded as Arkansas Industrial University in 1871, its present name was adopted in 1899 and classes were first held on January 22, 1872. It is noted for its strong architecture
, agriculture
(particularly animal science and poultry science), business
, communication disorders, creative writing, history, law, and Middle Eastern studies programs.
The University of Arkansas completed its "Campaign for the 21st Century" in 2005, in which the university raised more than $1 billion for the school, used in part to create a new Honors College
and significantly increase the university's endowment. Among these gifts were the largest donation given to a business school at the time ($50 million), and the largest gift given to a public university in America ($300 million), both given by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.
Total enrollment for the fall semester of 2011 was 23,199, the largest increase in number of students since the 1940s and the largest percentage increase since 1975, an increase that came on the heels of a similar jump in 2010. Of the 21,406 students, 3,771 (17.6%) are graduate students and 398 are law school students. 67%, or 13,282, of students were residents of Arkansas, 27%, or 5,389, were out-of-state residents (with Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri representing the largest out-of-state student populations), and 6%, or 1,164, students were from countries other than the United States. The University campus comprises more than 130 buildings on 345 acres (1.4 km²), including The Inn at Carnall Hall, which serves as an on-campus hotel and restaurant facility. Academic programs are in excess of 200. The ratio of students to faculty is 17:1. Tuition did not rise for the 2009–10 academic year at the University of Arkansas, thanks in part to a $1 million donation from the Athletics Department. The average tuition nationally rose 6.6%. On April 16, 2010, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees announced system-wide tuition increases of 3%–6.9% to combat decreases in state funding and increased enrollments. The University of Arkansas flagship campus experienced a 4.8% increase in tuition and fees for the 2010–11 academic year.
The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville was founded in 1871 on the site of a hilltop farm that overlooked the Ozark Mountains, giving it the nickname "The Hill".
The University was established under the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act
of 1862. The University's founding also satisfied the provision in the Arkansas Constitution
of 1868 that the General Assembly was to "establish and maintain a State University."
Location of the university was determined by bids from state towns and counties. The citizens of Fayetteville
and Washington County
. pledged $130,000 toward securing the university, a sum that proved to be more than other offers. This was in response to the competition created by the Arkansas General Assembly's Organic Act
of 1871, providing for the "location, organization and maintenance of the Arkansas Industrial University with a normal department [i.e., teacher education] therein." Classes started on January 22, 1872.
Completed in 1875, Old Main
, a two-towered brick building designed in the Second Empire style, was the primary instructional and administrative building. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. Its design was based on the plans for the main academic building at the University of Illinois, which has since burned down. However, the clock and bell towers were switched at Arkansas. The northern taller tower is the bell tower, and the southern shorter tower is the clock tower. One legend for the tower switch is that the taller tower was put to the north as a reminder of the Union victory during the Civil War. A second legend is that the contractor accidentally swapped the tower drawings after having had too much to drink. Although the southern tower was designed with clock faces, it never held a working clock until October 2005. The bell tower has always had some type of chime, initially a bell that was rung on the hour by student volunteers. Electronic chimes were installed in 1959. In addition to the regular chimes of the clock, the university's Alma Mater plays at 5 pm every day. Old Main housed many of the earliest classes taught at the university, and has served as the offices of every college within the university during its history. Today, in addition to hosting classes, it contains the restored Giffels Auditorium and historic displays, as well as the administrative offices of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
.
The lawn at Old Main serves as an arboretum, with many of the trees native to the state of Arkansas found on the lawn. Sitting at the edge of the lawn is Spoofer's Stone, a place for couples to meet and pass notes. Students play soccer, cricket and touch football on the lawn's open green.
Beginning with the class of 1876, the names of students at University of Arkansas are inscribed in "Senior Walk" and wind across campus for more than five miles (2.5 miles of sidewalk). The sidewalk is one of a kind nationally. More recently, the names of all the recipients of honorary degrees were also added, including such notables as J. Edgar Hoover
, Queen Noor, President Bill Clinton
, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
One of the more unusual structures at Arkansas is the Chi Omega Greek Theatre
, a gift to the school by the national headquarters of the sorority. It marked the first time in the history of Greek letter social organizations that a national sorority had presented a memorial of its foundation to the institution where it was founded. Chi Omega
was organized on April 5, 1895, at the University of Arkansas and is the mother (Psi) chapter of the national organization. The theater has been used for commencements, convocations, concerts, dramas and pep rallies. The largest crowd ever assembled there – upwards of 6,000, according to professor Walter J. Lemke – was for a concert by the Army Air Corps Band during World War II. From 1934 to 1991, the space under the stage was used for a rifle range by the Army ROTC.
The University of Arkansas became the first major Southern public university to admit an African-American student without litigation when Silas Hunt of Texarkana, an African American veteran of World War II, was admitted to the university's School of Law in 1948. Roy Wilkins, administrator of the NAACP, wrote in 1950 that Arkansas was the "very first of the Southern states to accept the new trend without fighting a delaying action or attempting to . . . limit, if not nullify, bare compliance." Today the School of Law continues to receive national awards and recognition for its high degree of diversity.
Vitamin E
was co-discovered by UA Agricultural Chemistry Professor Barnett Sure (1920–51). Sure, along with fellow professor Marinus C. Kik (1927–67) made major advances in nutrition science during their long tenures at the University of Arkansas. Sure co-discovered vitamin E, and extended knowledge of how vitamin E, amino acids and B-vitamins function on reproduction and lactation. Kik developed the process for parboiling rice
(a major agricultural crop in the state) to increase retention of vitamins and shorten cooking time. He documented benefits of adding fish and chicken to rice and grain diets to provide adequate protein for a growing world population. Sure and Kik were Agricultural Experiment Station scientists and professors in the UA Department of Agricultural Chemistry, which merged in 1964 with Home Economics, now the School of Human Environmental Sciences.
In the 1920s, Loy Barnett, an engineering graduate student at the University of Arkansas, set forth the principle of high-level Class B plate modulation for radio transmission and developed the technology that allowed small- and medium-size AM radio
stations to flourish across the United States. Barnett later joined RCA and continued research on broadcast technology into the 1960s.
The most widely-implemented automated mail sorting equipment in the world–the Wide Area Bar Code Reader–was developed by the University of Arkansas College of Engineering
. A $50,000 grant from the United States Postal Service
(USPS) to Professors Dwight F. Mix and J.E. Bass in 1989 began the research and development effort. By 1999, more than 15,000 University of Arkansas bar code readers were located in every major USPS facility, increasing the efficiency of processing 20 billion pieces of mail a year at a savings of $200 million. This R&D effort has spawned four additional electronic systems to help the USPS "read the mail."
During the 1980s, Professors Allen Hermann and Zhengzhi Sheng of the Department of Physics were in the vanguard of research in superconductivity
: the phenomenon whereby Direct Current
(DC) electricity, once started, can flow essentially forever. The Thallium
-based material they discovered at Arkansas held the world's record for high temperature, 125K, for five years (1988–93) and drew international attention to the University. Their work led to numerous patents and a manufacturing agreement, as well as further advances in high-density electronics.
University of Arkansas plant pathologists George Templeton, Roy Smith (USDA), David TeBeest and graduate student Jim Daniels conducted research in the early 1970s that led to COLLEGO, the first biological herbicide for weed control in a field crop. Other UA scientists and students worked on the project that resulted in EPA registration of COLLEGO by Upjohn in 1982 for control of northern jointvetch in rice and soybeans. The work provided a model used worldwide to develop biological herbicides. Leadership in this area helped the U of A obtain grants from the USDA and others for construction of the Rosen Center for Alternative Pest Control.
is ranked as the 24th top public business school in the nation, and is ranked 42nd amongst all public and private schools. It has also been recognized for its 6th ranked public Marketing program, 6th ranked public Corporate Strategy program, 9th ranked Accounting program in its division, 15th ranked public Supply Chain Management program, and 25th ranked public Masters in Business Administration program. The Fay Jones School of Architecture has been ranked as the 20th top undergraduate architecture program, and ranked with "notable distinction" into the list of America's World Class Schools of Architecture. The University of Arkansas School of Law
has been ranked as a top 100 "Best Law School". The Creative Writing program in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
has been ranked as the 5th best program in the nation. Other colleges with notable or nationally ranked programs include the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences
and the College of Engineering
.
The following degree-granting academic divisions are located on the Fayetteville campus:
, including the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
in Little Rock
and a branch campus in Pine Bluff. Other branch campuses include University of Arkansas at Monticello
, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
, and Fort Smith. Additionally, the UA System includes two year or community college campuses in Hope
, Batesville
, De Queen
, Morrilton
, and the Phillips Community College in Helena-West Helena
. Units also under the UA System include the Clinton School of Public Service
, the Criminal Justice Institute, the Arkansas Archaeological Survey, the Division of Agriculture, and the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute. The University maintains the most advanced secondary educational institution in Arkansas, the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts
in Hot Springs, Arkansas
.
The University of Arkansas is also the home for the Southeastern Conference Academic Consortium
, SECAC, where the twelve member schools of the Southeastern Conference
pool resources to assist each other academically.
. Among the 130 buildings on the campus, 11 buildings have been added to the National Register of Historic Places
individually, with most buildings in the historic core being named as contribuiting properties to the University of Arkansas Campus Historic District
.
Construction began on Old Main in 1873 and was completed by 1875 in the Second Empire architectural style. Built with local brick and sandstone
, Old Main serves as the University's signature building. The building has remained on campus despite a plans to demolish the structure as part of the never-realized 1925 Jamieson and Spearl master plan. The 1925 master plan from the architects of Jamieson and Spearl included destruction of all existing campus buildings and reconstruction in the Collegiate Gothic style. Several buildings were built in this style near the core of campus, including the Vol Walker Hall
, Engineering Hall, Chemistry Building
, Agriculture Building
, and Home Economics Building. The plan ran out of funds and was never completed, leading to a somewhat haphazard arrangement of buildings after 1925.
The University's oldest tradition is Senior Walk, which contains the name of every person to ever graduate from the University. Beginning at the front steps of Old Main and running in many places across campus, the sidewalks of campus are adorned with the names of former students. This tradition is unique to American universities.
The Fine Arts Complex was designed by Fayetteville
native Edward Durell Stone
, who also designed Radio City Music Hall
and the Museum of Modern Art
in New York City and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
in Washington, D.C. The buildings are indicative of Stone's idiosyncratic modern style which included patterns of ornament. Stone also designed an apartment complex named Carlson Terrace on campus, which has since been demolished.
The University of Arkansas east end of campus is adjacent to Dickson Street
, which is one of the premier entertainment districts in the state. To the south of the University is Fayetteville High School, which contains nationally-recognized academic and athletics programs.
The buildings listed individually or as contributing properties to the University of Arkansas Campus Historic District
on the United States National Register of Historic Places
for their architectural or historic significance are:
(SEC) in Division I of the NCAA
. No school in the SEC has won more total national championships than Arkansas; and only 4 schools nationwide (UCLA
, Southern California
, Stanford
, and Oklahoma State
) have won more national titles than the Razorbacks.
From 1971 through 2007, Arkansas had completely separate men's and women's athletic departments. On January 1, 2008, the two departments merged, leaving fellow SEC school Tennessee
as the only remaining NCAA Division I school with separate men's and women's athletic programs.
, located on the University of Arkansas campus, or at War Memorial Stadium
, located in Little Rock
. The football program won 13 SWC titles, three SEC Western Division titles, and a national title in 1964. During a stretch between December 1963 and January 1966, the Razorbacks won 22 straight football games. On December 11, 2007, former Louisville and Atlanta Falcons head coach, Bobby Petrino accepted an offer to become the Razorbacks head coach for the 2008 season.
team is Mike Anderson, who was previously the head coach at Missouri. The Razorbacks play their home games in Bud Walton Arena
on the University of Arkansas campus. The team won the 1994 National Championship under coach Nolan Richardson
, who was later dismissed by the University following comments made during a press conference after a game against Kentucky during the 2001-02 season. Richardson claimed publicly and in court proceedings to have been the subject of racial discrimination. A federal judge in Little Rock
, as well as the US Court of Appeals
in St. Louis, ruled in favor of the U of A citing insufficient evidence to support a legal claim of racial discrimination, although the district court judge indicated that there was sufficient evidence to support Richardson's belief that he was discriminated against.
The school has been to six Final Fours (1941, 1945, 1978, 1990, 1994, 1995) and was named as the eighth-best program in history by Street and Smith's magazine.
The baseball
team, under Dave van Horn
, reached the 2004
and 2009
College World Series
. They have made six trips to the College World Series (1979, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2004, 2009), going as far as the championship game. The team plays home games in Baum Stadium
, which finished several major renovations in 2004. Baum was recognized in 1998 by Baseball America
magazine as being the top collegiate ballpark in America, and was #1 in 2009 according to Rivals.com
. The stadium has recently undergone expansion, including 20 new skyboxes (34 in all) and seats behind the bullpen in left field. On April 7, 2009, a stadium record 11,044 fans saw a 7–3 Razorbacks victory over the #1 Arizona State Sun Devils. A weekend series with LSU in 2007 drew 29,931, which is the SEC all-time attendance record for a three-game series.
teams, led by head coach John McDonnell
are the most decorated teams in the athletics department. The program has won 42 national titles in Cross Country and Track & Field. One of its most famous stars is recent graduate Alistair Cragg who competed for Ireland at the 2004 Summer Olympics
in Greece. Other Olympians have included Michael Conley
, Daniel Lincoln
, Graham Hood
, and Matt Hemingway
. The team has a home indoor track at the Randal Tyson Track Center
and outdoor field at John McDonnell Field
, which hosted the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track Championships. The new Head Coach Chris Bucknam, assistant coaches Doug Case and Travis Geophert have now moved the Men's Track and Field team to a new stand. They recently won the 2010 SEC Indoor Track Championships.
, golf
, gymnastics
, soccer, softball
, swimming
& diving
, tennis
, and volleyball
. Among the most successful women teams are volleyball, with 11 SEC Western Division titles; cross country with more SEC championships than any member institution; basketball with 17 postseason appearances in 30 years, including the 1998 NCAA Final Four; track and field with six SEC titles and the first back-to-back women's SEC triple crowns; and gymnastics nationally-ranked since the start of the program in 2002 with two (soon three) NCAA appearances. Sprinter Veronica Campbell
was the first Razorback woman to win a gold medal in the Olympics, with marathoner Deena Kastor
bringing home a bronze medal in 2004.
The names of University of Arkansas students, starting with the first senior class of 1876, are carved into one of the concrete walkways or sidewalks on campus. This tradition was started by the 1905 graduating class of students, who drew their names into the walkway in front of Old Main
, the oldest building on campus. Following classes added their names for more than a decade and then the university took over responsibility for adding new classes, as well as adding the names of students who graduated prior to 1905. Through most of the 20th century, the names were impressed in wet cement using brass letters. As the campus grew, and the graduating classes got bigger, the operation became unduly time-consuming. In 1986, the university's physical plant developed a special machine called the "Senior Sand Hog" to engrave the thousands of names required each year. School superstition states that it is bad luck to step on the Class of 1900; additionally it is said that if one steps on the name of the first graduating class, you will never graduate from the University of Arkansas.
team. The encouragement worked and the attending crowd took notice of the farmers' calling. By the next game, a group of men had organized to cry "Wooo, Pig, Sooie". The call has since become the school's best-known cheer.
It is a student custom to point towards Old Main at the end of the verse when the words "we sing unto you" are sung.
(Pantone
# 200) was chosen as the official school color by a vote of the student body in 1895. The two color choices were cardinal
and heliotrope
. White was added as a complementary color at a later date.
The University of Arkansas mascot has not always been the Razorbacks. From 1894, when the football program began, until 1910, the official mascot was the Cardinals to complement the school color of cardinal red. In 1909, according to school lore, the head football coach Hugo Bezdek
gave a speech to a large group of students at the Fayetteville train station after returning from a victory over LSU
in 1909 during an undefeated season. Coach Bezdek informed the crowd that his team had performed "like a wild band of Razorback hogs." Although students had begun referring to the team as the Razorbacks as early as 1907, Bezdek's statement popularized the use of Razorback for the team. The Razorback, which is characterized by a ridged back and tenacious wild fighting ability, had long been associated with the backwoods of Arkansas. The students loved the comparison, and the nickname became increasingly popular. In 1910, the student body voted to change the official university mascot from the Cardinal to the Razorback.
The live mascot tradition dates back to the 1960s and a number of hogs have represented Arkansas through the years. Tusk
, a 380-pound Russian boar that closely resembles a wild razorback hog, is the current official live mascot. He resides on a local farm and leaves his home to attend all Arkansas home football games, and other select events.
Additionally, the University of Arkansas has a family of uniformed mascots. "Big Red", (also known as the "Fighting Razorback"), is the traditional mascot for the university and attends all athletic events. "Sue E" is the female hog and "Pork Chop" is the kid mascot. "Boss Hog" is a nine-foot inflatable mascot that joined the mascot family during the 1998–99 football season.
The most recognized RSO on campus is the Associated Student Government, sometimes simply called "ASG". ASG is active in managing student fees, meeting with key University administrators and is actively involved in many important decisions made on the University of Arkansas Campus. Perhaps the most significant program on campus, ASG, along with University Parking & Transit, and with the support of the DRJ-III Memorial Foundation, manage the Safe Ride program which gives students a safe ride home from any unsafe or uncomfortable situation.
Arkansas is home of UATV
, a student-run television station, and The Arkansas Traveler, a regional-award winning newspaper established in 1906. The university is also home to two radio stations: KUAF
, a public radio station and NPR
affiliate, and KXUA
, an eclectic student-run station.
The University of Arkansas Press is known for publishing works on local and Southern history, including several by former President Jimmy Carter
and the former national poet laureate Billy Collins
.
, Benazir Bhutto
,Dave Barry
, Benazir Bhutto
, George H. W. Bush
, James Carville
, Anderson Cooper
, Geraldine Ferraro
, Al Franken
, Malcolm Gladwell
, Magic Johnson
, James Earl Jones
, Martin Luther King III
, T. Boone Pickens, Mary Matalin
, Ehud Olmert
, Apolo Ohno, Robert Redford
, Salman Rushdie, Ben Stein
, Joseph Taylor
, and Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama. Past concerts were headlined by Dierks Bentley
, the Foo Fighters
, John Mayer
, O.A.R.
, The Roots
, T.I.
, Third Eye Blind
, and Snoop Dogg
.
The University of Arkansas Alumni Association, operates chapters in 30 states throughout the United States. Throughout Arkansas's history, faculty, alumni, and former students have played prominent roles in many different fields. Among its Distinguished Alumni is Ricardo Martinelli
, President of the Republic of Panama
who was elected in 2009. Seventeen Arkansas graduates have held the position of Governor, including the current Governor of Arkansas Mike Beebe who has represented Arkansas since 2007. Twenty-six Arkansas Graduates have also represented the State of Arkansas in the United States House of Representatives
in every Congress since the start of the 57th Congress in 1901, including two current members in John Boozman
since 2001 and Robert Marion Berry since 1997. Six Arkansas graduates have also held at least one US Senate seat from Arkansas since 1945, and from 1979–2003 held both seats, including current US Senator Mark Pryor
since 2003.
Arkansas alumni have made contributions to the business world and academia. Alumni include Dallas Cowboys
owner Jerry Jones
. Other Arkansas business alumni include executives of major corporations like S. Robson Walton
of Wal-Mart
, Thomas A. Mars
of Mars, Incorporated
, Scott T. Ford
of Alltel
, David O. Russell
of Verizon Communications
, and Ed Wilson
of Fox Broadcasting Company
& Tribune Broadcasting
. Other Arkansas alumni have also held Chancellor and President positions at numerous universities including David Wiley Mullins
who served as the Chancellor of North Carolina State University
,Dr. David Rankin Southern Arkansas University
, and Ray Thornton
who served as President of Arkansas State University
.
Arkansas alumni have also made contributions to professional sports. Arkansas Razorbacks have gone on to play in the NFL, NBA, WNBA, and MLB. Current alumni standouts include MLB Cy Young Award
winning pitcher Cliff Lee
and four time NBA All Star Joe Johnson
. Others former razorbacks include 10 Olympians who have won 14 Olympic medals including Mike Conley, Sr. who won Olympics medals at the 1984
and 1992
Olympics. Eight Pro Football Hall of Famers including Dan Hampton
and two time PGA Tour
major championships winner John Daly
have attended the University of Arkansas.
Land-grant university
Land-grant universities are institutions of higher education in the United States designated by each state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890....
, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System
University of Arkansas System
The University of Arkansas System comprises six main campuses within the state of Arkansas; a medical school; two law schools; a unique graduate school focused on public service; statewide research, service and educational units for agriculture, criminal justice and archeology; and several...
and is located in Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...
. Founded as Arkansas Industrial University in 1871, its present name was adopted in 1899 and classes were first held on January 22, 1872. It is noted for its strong architecture
University of Arkansas School of Architecture
The Fay Jones School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas offers education in various architectural fields. In recent years, 100 percent of graduates have achieved placement in both jobs and graduate programs after graduation.-Degrees:...
, agriculture
Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences
The Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food, and Life Sciences is the University of Arkansas' college for students interested in plants, animals, food, the natural environment and the human environment. It is named for former US Senator and Arkansas governor Dale Bumpers...
(particularly animal science and poultry science), business
Sam M. Walton College of Business
The Sam M. Walton College of Business is a business college at the University of Arkansas. The college is funded by and named after the founder of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton. The College has its own special tuition and its own Career Development Center...
, communication disorders, creative writing, history, law, and Middle Eastern studies programs.
The University of Arkansas completed its "Campaign for the 21st Century" in 2005, in which the university raised more than $1 billion for the school, used in part to create a new Honors College
University of Arkansas Honors College
The Honors College at the University of Arkansas enhances the learning of students by sharing unique learning experiences with participants. Around 15% of Arkansas undergraduates participate in Honors. Entering freshman for the Honors College have an average score of 32 on the ACT and 4.1 high...
and significantly increase the university's endowment. Among these gifts were the largest donation given to a business school at the time ($50 million), and the largest gift given to a public university in America ($300 million), both given by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.
Total enrollment for the fall semester of 2011 was 23,199, the largest increase in number of students since the 1940s and the largest percentage increase since 1975, an increase that came on the heels of a similar jump in 2010. Of the 21,406 students, 3,771 (17.6%) are graduate students and 398 are law school students. 67%, or 13,282, of students were residents of Arkansas, 27%, or 5,389, were out-of-state residents (with Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri representing the largest out-of-state student populations), and 6%, or 1,164, students were from countries other than the United States. The University campus comprises more than 130 buildings on 345 acres (1.4 km²), including The Inn at Carnall Hall, which serves as an on-campus hotel and restaurant facility. Academic programs are in excess of 200. The ratio of students to faculty is 17:1. Tuition did not rise for the 2009–10 academic year at the University of Arkansas, thanks in part to a $1 million donation from the Athletics Department. The average tuition nationally rose 6.6%. On April 16, 2010, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees announced system-wide tuition increases of 3%–6.9% to combat decreases in state funding and increased enrollments. The University of Arkansas flagship campus experienced a 4.8% increase in tuition and fees for the 2010–11 academic year.
History
The University was established under the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act
Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act
The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges, including the Morrill Act of 1862 and the Morrill Act of 1890 -Passage of original bill:...
of 1862. The University's founding also satisfied the provision in the Arkansas Constitution
Arkansas Constitution
The Constitution of the State of Arkansas is the governing document of the U.S. state of Arkansas. It was adopted in 1874, shortly after the Brooks-Baxter War replacing the 1868 constitution that had allowed Arkansas to rejoin the Union after the conclusion of the American Civil War; the new...
of 1868 that the General Assembly was to "establish and maintain a State University."
Location of the university was determined by bids from state towns and counties. The citizens of Fayetteville
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...
and Washington County
Washington County, Arkansas
Washington County is a county located in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 203,065. The county seat is Fayetteville. Washington County is Arkansas's 17th county, formed on October 17, 1828, and named for George Washington, the first President of the...
. pledged $130,000 toward securing the university, a sum that proved to be more than other offers. This was in response to the competition created by the Arkansas General Assembly's Organic Act
Organic Act
An Organic Act, in United States law, is an Act of the United States Congress that establishes a territory of the United States or an agency to manage certain federal lands. The first such act was the Northwest Ordinance, enacted by the Congress of the Confederation in 1787 in order to create the...
of 1871, providing for the "location, organization and maintenance of the Arkansas Industrial University with a normal department [i.e., teacher education] therein." Classes started on January 22, 1872.
Completed in 1875, Old Main
Old Main (University of Arkansas)
Old Main is the oldest building on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is one of the most recognizable symbols of the University , and of higher education in general in Arkansas.- History :Old Main was constructed between 1873 and 1875 as part of a land grant for the...
, a two-towered brick building designed in the Second Empire style, was the primary instructional and administrative building. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. Its design was based on the plans for the main academic building at the University of Illinois, which has since burned down. However, the clock and bell towers were switched at Arkansas. The northern taller tower is the bell tower, and the southern shorter tower is the clock tower. One legend for the tower switch is that the taller tower was put to the north as a reminder of the Union victory during the Civil War. A second legend is that the contractor accidentally swapped the tower drawings after having had too much to drink. Although the southern tower was designed with clock faces, it never held a working clock until October 2005. The bell tower has always had some type of chime, initially a bell that was rung on the hour by student volunteers. Electronic chimes were installed in 1959. In addition to the regular chimes of the clock, the university's Alma Mater plays at 5 pm every day. Old Main housed many of the earliest classes taught at the university, and has served as the offices of every college within the university during its history. Today, in addition to hosting classes, it contains the restored Giffels Auditorium and historic displays, as well as the administrative offices of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is the University of Arkansas' college for students with interest in the liberal arts. It is named for former University President and United States Senator J. William Fulbright. The College has 19 different academic departments...
.
The lawn at Old Main serves as an arboretum, with many of the trees native to the state of Arkansas found on the lawn. Sitting at the edge of the lawn is Spoofer's Stone, a place for couples to meet and pass notes. Students play soccer, cricket and touch football on the lawn's open green.
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
, Queen Noor, President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
One of the more unusual structures at Arkansas is the Chi Omega Greek Theatre
Chi Omega Greek Theatre
The Chi Omega Greek Theatre is a structure on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It was a gift to the university from Chi Omega, completed in 1930. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992....
, a gift to the school by the national headquarters of the sorority. It marked the first time in the history of Greek letter social organizations that a national sorority had presented a memorial of its foundation to the institution where it was founded. Chi Omega
Chi Omega
Chi Omega is a women's fraternity and the largest member of the National Panhellenic Conference. Chi Omega has 174 active collegiate chapters and over 230 alumnae chapters. Chi Omega's national headquarters is located in Memphis, Tennessee....
was organized on April 5, 1895, at the University of Arkansas and is the mother (Psi) chapter of the national organization. The theater has been used for commencements, convocations, concerts, dramas and pep rallies. The largest crowd ever assembled there – upwards of 6,000, according to professor Walter J. Lemke – was for a concert by the Army Air Corps Band during World War II. From 1934 to 1991, the space under the stage was used for a rifle range by the Army ROTC.
The University of Arkansas became the first major Southern public university to admit an African-American student without litigation when Silas Hunt of Texarkana, an African American veteran of World War II, was admitted to the university's School of Law in 1948. Roy Wilkins, administrator of the NAACP, wrote in 1950 that Arkansas was the "very first of the Southern states to accept the new trend without fighting a delaying action or attempting to . . . limit, if not nullify, bare compliance." Today the School of Law continues to receive national awards and recognition for its high degree of diversity.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is used to refer to a group of fat-soluble compounds that include both tocopherols and tocotrienols. There are many different forms of vitamin E, of which γ-tocopherol is the most common in the North American diet. γ-Tocopherol can be found in corn oil, soybean oil, margarine and dressings...
was co-discovered by UA Agricultural Chemistry Professor Barnett Sure (1920–51). Sure, along with fellow professor Marinus C. Kik (1927–67) made major advances in nutrition science during their long tenures at the University of Arkansas. Sure co-discovered vitamin E, and extended knowledge of how vitamin E, amino acids and B-vitamins function on reproduction and lactation. Kik developed the process for parboiling rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
(a major agricultural crop in the state) to increase retention of vitamins and shorten cooking time. He documented benefits of adding fish and chicken to rice and grain diets to provide adequate protein for a growing world population. Sure and Kik were Agricultural Experiment Station scientists and professors in the UA Department of Agricultural Chemistry, which merged in 1964 with Home Economics, now the School of Human Environmental Sciences.
In the 1920s, Loy Barnett, an engineering graduate student at the University of Arkansas, set forth the principle of high-level Class B plate modulation for radio transmission and developed the technology that allowed small- and medium-size AM radio
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
stations to flourish across the United States. Barnett later joined RCA and continued research on broadcast technology into the 1960s.
The most widely-implemented automated mail sorting equipment in the world–the Wide Area Bar Code Reader–was developed by the University of Arkansas College of Engineering
University of Arkansas College of Engineering
The College of Engineering is the University of Arkansas' college for engineering students. Although officially becoming a separate division in 1913, The University of Arkansas focused early on engineering...
. A $50,000 grant from the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
(USPS) to Professors Dwight F. Mix and J.E. Bass in 1989 began the research and development effort. By 1999, more than 15,000 University of Arkansas bar code readers were located in every major USPS facility, increasing the efficiency of processing 20 billion pieces of mail a year at a savings of $200 million. This R&D effort has spawned four additional electronic systems to help the USPS "read the mail."
During the 1980s, Professors Allen Hermann and Zhengzhi Sheng of the Department of Physics were in the vanguard of research in superconductivity
Superconductivity
Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance occurring in certain materials below a characteristic temperature. It was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911 in Leiden. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum...
: the phenomenon whereby Direct Current
Direct current
Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
(DC) electricity, once started, can flow essentially forever. The Thallium
Thallium
Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. This soft gray poor metal resembles tin but discolors when exposed to air. The two chemists William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy discovered thallium independently in 1861 by the newly developed method of flame spectroscopy...
-based material they discovered at Arkansas held the world's record for high temperature, 125K, for five years (1988–93) and drew international attention to the University. Their work led to numerous patents and a manufacturing agreement, as well as further advances in high-density electronics.
University of Arkansas plant pathologists George Templeton, Roy Smith (USDA), David TeBeest and graduate student Jim Daniels conducted research in the early 1970s that led to COLLEGO, the first biological herbicide for weed control in a field crop. Other UA scientists and students worked on the project that resulted in EPA registration of COLLEGO by Upjohn in 1982 for control of northern jointvetch in rice and soybeans. The work provided a model used worldwide to develop biological herbicides. Leadership in this area helped the U of A obtain grants from the USDA and others for construction of the Rosen Center for Alternative Pest Control.
Academics and Rankings
The University of Arkansas offers 214 areas of study leading to bachelors, masters, doctoral, and law degrees. Academic programs are organized into numerous departments and schools based out of the ten primary colleges on the main campus. The university and several of its programs have been recognized on the national level. In recent years, the University of Arkansas has been recognized as a "Top-Tier National University", one of the "Best 371 Colleges", a "Best Southeastern College", and one of the "50 Best Public College Values". In addition to the University's recognitions, several colleges have received special distinctions. The Sam M. Walton College of BusinessSam M. Walton College of Business
The Sam M. Walton College of Business is a business college at the University of Arkansas. The college is funded by and named after the founder of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton. The College has its own special tuition and its own Career Development Center...
is ranked as the 24th top public business school in the nation, and is ranked 42nd amongst all public and private schools. It has also been recognized for its 6th ranked public Marketing program, 6th ranked public Corporate Strategy program, 9th ranked Accounting program in its division, 15th ranked public Supply Chain Management program, and 25th ranked public Masters in Business Administration program. The Fay Jones School of Architecture has been ranked as the 20th top undergraduate architecture program, and ranked with "notable distinction" into the list of America's World Class Schools of Architecture. The University of Arkansas School of Law
University of Arkansas School of Law
The University of Arkansas School of Law is the law school of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a state university. It has around 445 students enrolled in its Juris Doctor and Master of Law programs and is home to the federally-funded National Agricultural Law Center and the...
has been ranked as a top 100 "Best Law School". The Creative Writing program in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is the University of Arkansas' college for students with interest in the liberal arts. It is named for former University President and United States Senator J. William Fulbright. The College has 19 different academic departments...
has been ranked as the 5th best program in the nation. Other colleges with notable or nationally ranked programs include the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences
Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences
The Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food, and Life Sciences is the University of Arkansas' college for students interested in plants, animals, food, the natural environment and the human environment. It is named for former US Senator and Arkansas governor Dale Bumpers...
and the College of Engineering
University of Arkansas College of Engineering
The College of Engineering is the University of Arkansas' college for engineering students. Although officially becoming a separate division in 1913, The University of Arkansas focused early on engineering...
.
Campuses and academic divisions
- Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary SciencesArkansas Center for Space and Planetary SciencesThe Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences is a research center on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas.-About the Space Center:...
- Graduate SchoolUniversity of Arkansas Graduate SchoolThe Graduate School at the University of Arkansas is a center for postgraduate education at that University. It offers over 140 programs through six of the colleges at the University of Arkansas. The University of Arkansas Graduate School is a member of the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools,...
- School of Social WorkUniversity of Arkansas School of Social WorkThe School of Social Work at the University of Arkansas offers education in various fields of social work.-Degrees:The Baccalaureate Social Work program has been offered since 1940, one of the oldest undergraduate social work programs in the United States...
The following degree-granting academic divisions are located on the Fayetteville campus:
| College/school founding | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| College/school | Year founded | ||
| Honors College University of Arkansas Honors College The Honors College at the University of Arkansas enhances the learning of students by sharing unique learning experiences with participants. Around 15% of Arkansas undergraduates participate in Honors. Entering freshman for the Honors College have an average score of 32 on the ACT and 4.1 high... |
1954 | ||
| Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences The Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food, and Life Sciences is the University of Arkansas' college for students interested in plants, animals, food, the natural environment and the human environment. It is named for former US Senator and Arkansas governor Dale Bumpers... |
1905 | ||
| Fay Jones School of Architecture University of Arkansas School of Architecture The Fay Jones School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas offers education in various architectural fields. In recent years, 100 percent of graduates have achieved placement in both jobs and graduate programs after graduation.-Degrees:... |
1946 | ||
| J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is the University of Arkansas' college for students with interest in the liberal arts. It is named for former University President and United States Senator J. William Fulbright. The College has 19 different academic departments... |
|||
| Sam M. Walton College of Business Sam M. Walton College of Business The Sam M. Walton College of Business is a business college at the University of Arkansas. The college is funded by and named after the founder of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton. The College has its own special tuition and its own Career Development Center... |
1926 | ||
| College of Education & Health Professions | |||
| College of Engineering University of Arkansas College of Engineering The College of Engineering is the University of Arkansas' college for engineering students. Although officially becoming a separate division in 1913, The University of Arkansas focused early on engineering... |
1913 | ||
| University of Arkansas Global Campus | |||
| University of Arkansas Graduate School University of Arkansas Graduate School The Graduate School at the University of Arkansas is a center for postgraduate education at that University. It offers over 140 programs through six of the colleges at the University of Arkansas. The University of Arkansas Graduate School is a member of the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools,... |
|||
| School of Law University of Arkansas School of Law The University of Arkansas School of Law is the law school of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a state university. It has around 445 students enrolled in its Juris Doctor and Master of Law programs and is home to the federally-funded National Agricultural Law Center and the... |
1924 | ||
Satellite facilities
Altogether there are eleven branches and four other units in the University of Arkansas SystemUniversity of Arkansas System
The University of Arkansas System comprises six main campuses within the state of Arkansas; a medical school; two law schools; a unique graduate school focused on public service; statewide research, service and educational units for agriculture, criminal justice and archeology; and several...
, including the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is part of the University of Arkansas System, a state-run university in the U.S. state of Arkansas...
in Little Rock
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
and a branch campus in Pine Bluff. Other branch campuses include University of Arkansas at Monticello
University of Arkansas at Monticello
The University of Arkansas at Monticello is a public university and college for vocational and technical education located in Monticello, Arkansas, United States....
, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
University of Arkansas at Little Rock , is a public research university located in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, and the second largest university by enrollment in the state of Arkansas....
, and Fort Smith. Additionally, the UA System includes two year or community college campuses in Hope
Hope, Arkansas
Hope is a small city in Hempstead County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2008 United States Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 10,378...
, Batesville
Batesville, Arkansas
Batesville is the county seat and largest city of Independence County, Arkansas, United States, 80 miles northeast of Little Rock, the state capital. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 9,556...
, De Queen
De Queen, Arkansas
De Queen is a city and the county seat of Sevier County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 5,765 at the 2000 census.-Geography:De Queen is located at ....
, Morrilton
Morrilton, Arkansas
Morrilton is a city in Conway County, Arkansas, United States, northwest of Little Rock. The town was home to Harding College, now Harding University of Searcy, Arkansas, for about a decade in the 1920s and 1930s. The population was 6,550 at the 2000 census...
, and the Phillips Community College in Helena-West Helena
Helena-West Helena, Arkansas
Helena-West Helena is the county seat of and the largest city within Phillips County, Arkansas, United States. The current city represents a consolidation, effective on January 1, 2006, of the two Arkansas cities of Helena and West Helena. West Helena is located on the western side of Crowley's...
. Units also under the UA System include the Clinton School of Public Service
Clinton School of Public Service
The Clinton School of Public Service is a branch of the University of Arkansas system and is the newest of the presidential schools. It is located on the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock. The school is housed in a former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad station...
, the Criminal Justice Institute, the Arkansas Archaeological Survey, the Division of Agriculture, and the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute. The University maintains the most advanced secondary educational institution in Arkansas, the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts
Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts
The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts is a two-year, public residential high school located in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is a part of the University of Arkansas administrative system and a member of the NCSSSMST...
in Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...
.
The University of Arkansas is also the home for the Southeastern Conference Academic Consortium
Southeastern Conference Academic Consortium
The Southeastern Conference Academic Consortium is located in Fayetteville, Arkansas on the Campus of the University of Arkansas. The consortium was established in 2005 to help coordinate academic efforts among the twelve member institutions of the Southeastern Conference....
, SECAC, where the twelve member schools of the Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
pool resources to assist each other academically.
Campus
The University of Arkansas campus sweeps across hilltops on the western side of Fayetteville, ArkansasFayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...
. Among the 130 buildings on the campus, 11 buildings have been added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
individually, with most buildings in the historic core being named as contribuiting properties to the University of Arkansas Campus Historic District
University of Arkansas Campus Historic District
The University of Arkansas Campus Historic District is a historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 23, 2009...
.
Construction began on Old Main in 1873 and was completed by 1875 in the Second Empire architectural style. Built with local brick and sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, Old Main serves as the University's signature building. The building has remained on campus despite a plans to demolish the structure as part of the never-realized 1925 Jamieson and Spearl master plan. The 1925 master plan from the architects of Jamieson and Spearl included destruction of all existing campus buildings and reconstruction in the Collegiate Gothic style. Several buildings were built in this style near the core of campus, including the Vol Walker Hall
Vol Walker Hall
Vol Walker Hall is a building on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It contains the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and the University of Arkansas School of Architecture...
, Engineering Hall, Chemistry Building
University of Arkansas Chemistry Building
The Chemistry Building at the University of Arkansas is a building on the University's campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.-History:...
, Agriculture Building
University of Arkansas Agriculture Building
The Agriculture Building at the University of Arkansas is a building on the University's campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.-History:...
, and Home Economics Building. The plan ran out of funds and was never completed, leading to a somewhat haphazard arrangement of buildings after 1925.
The University's oldest tradition is Senior Walk, which contains the name of every person to ever graduate from the University. Beginning at the front steps of Old Main and running in many places across campus, the sidewalks of campus are adorned with the names of former students. This tradition is unique to American universities.
The Fine Arts Complex was designed by Fayetteville
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...
native Edward Durell Stone
Edward Durell Stone
Edward Durell Stone was a twentieth century American architect who worked primarily in the Modernist style.-Early life:...
, who also designed Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
and the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York City and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
in Washington, D.C. The buildings are indicative of Stone's idiosyncratic modern style which included patterns of ornament. Stone also designed an apartment complex named Carlson Terrace on campus, which has since been demolished.
The University of Arkansas east end of campus is adjacent to Dickson Street
Dickson Street
The West Dickson Street Commercial Historic District, known as Dickson Street is an area in downtown Fayetteville, Arkansas just off the University of Arkansas campus. It is lined with multiple bars, restaurants, and shops unique to the area. Many large condo projects are now under construction as...
, which is one of the premier entertainment districts in the state. To the south of the University is Fayetteville High School, which contains nationally-recognized academic and athletics programs.
The buildings listed individually or as contributing properties to the University of Arkansas Campus Historic District
University of Arkansas Campus Historic District
The University of Arkansas Campus Historic District is a historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 23, 2009...
on the United States National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
for their architectural or historic significance are:
|
Chi Omega Greek Theatre The Chi Omega Greek Theatre is a structure on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It was a gift to the university from Chi Omega, completed in 1930. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.... Vol Walker Hall Vol Walker Hall is a building on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It contains the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and the University of Arkansas School of Architecture... University of Arkansas Chemistry Building The Chemistry Building at the University of Arkansas is a building on the University's campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.-History:... Ozark Hall Ozark Hall at the University of Arkansas is a building on the University's campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.-History:... |
Phoenix House Phoenix House is a nonprofit drug and alcohol rehabilitation organization operating in ten states with 150 programs. Programs serve individuals, families, and communities affected by substance abuse and dependency.- History :... |
Sports
The mascot for the University of Arkansas is the Razorback, a type of wild boar, and Arkansas teams are often referred to as the Hogs (shortened version of Razorbacks). The school competes in the Southeastern ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
(SEC) in Division I of the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
. No school in the SEC has won more total national championships than Arkansas; and only 4 schools nationwide (UCLA
UCLA Bruins
The UCLA Bruins are the sports teams for University of California, Los Angeles . The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pacific-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation . For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I...
, Southern California
USC Trojans
The USC Trojans are the athletic teams representing the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the Trojans, the women's athletic teams are referred to as either the Trojans or Women of Troy...
, Stanford
Stanford Cardinal
The Stanford Cardinal is the nickname of the athletic teams at Stanford University.-Nickname and mascot history:Following its win over Cal in the first-ever Big Game in 1892, the color cardinal was picked as the primary color of Stanford's athletic teams...
, and Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Oklahoma State Cowboys are the athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University. Their mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates in the NCAA's Division I-A and in the Big 12 Conference's South Division. The university's current athletic director is Mike Holder...
) have won more national titles than the Razorbacks.
From 1971 through 2007, Arkansas had completely separate men's and women's athletic departments. On January 1, 2008, the two departments merged, leaving fellow SEC school Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
as the only remaining NCAA Division I school with separate men's and women's athletic programs.
Football
The team plays its home games either at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback StadiumDonald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium is an American football stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas and serves as the home field of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks football team since its opening in 1938. The stadium was formerly known as Razorback Stadium since 1941 before being renamed in 2001...
, located on the University of Arkansas campus, or at War Memorial Stadium
War Memorial Stadium (Arkansas)
War Memorial Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. The stadium is primarily used for American football and is the home stadium for the Arkansas Baptist Buffaloes, Catholic High School Rockets, and the secondary home stadium for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks...
, located in Little Rock
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
. The football program won 13 SWC titles, three SEC Western Division titles, and a national title in 1964. During a stretch between December 1963 and January 1966, the Razorbacks won 22 straight football games. On December 11, 2007, former Louisville and Atlanta Falcons head coach, Bobby Petrino accepted an offer to become the Razorbacks head coach for the 2008 season.
Men's basketball
The head coach of the men's basketballBasketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team is Mike Anderson, who was previously the head coach at Missouri. The Razorbacks play their home games in Bud Walton Arena
Bud Walton Arena
Bud Walton Arena is the home to the men's and women's basketball teams of the University of Arkansas, known as the Razorbacks...
on the University of Arkansas campus. The team won the 1994 National Championship under coach Nolan Richardson
Nolan Richardson
Nolan Richardson is an American basketball head coach, who was elected to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He has coached teams to winning a NCAA Men's Division I Basketball National Championship, a NIT, and a Junior College National Championship, the only coach to do so. Most...
, who was later dismissed by the University following comments made during a press conference after a game against Kentucky during the 2001-02 season. Richardson claimed publicly and in court proceedings to have been the subject of racial discrimination. A federal judge in Little Rock
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas is the United States District Court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties: Arkansas, Chicot, Clay, Cleburne, Cleveland, Conway, Craighead, Conway, Crittenden, Cross, Dallas, Dehsa, Drew, Faulkner, Fulton, Grant,...
, as well as the US Court of Appeals
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Arkansas* Western District of Arkansas...
in St. Louis, ruled in favor of the U of A citing insufficient evidence to support a legal claim of racial discrimination, although the district court judge indicated that there was sufficient evidence to support Richardson's belief that he was discriminated against.
The school has been to six Final Fours (1941, 1945, 1978, 1990, 1994, 1995) and was named as the eighth-best program in history by Street and Smith's magazine.
Baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team, under Dave van Horn
Dave van Horn
Dave Van Horn is the current head baseball coach of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team, which plays its home games in recently renovated Baum Stadium...
, reached the 2004
2004 College World Series
The 2004 College World Series was held June 18 through 28, 2004 in Omaha, Nebraska. Eight NCAA Division I college baseball teams met after having played their way through a 64-team bracket to play at historic Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium....
and 2009
2009 College World Series
The 2009 College World Series began on June 13, and was held through June 24, 2009 in Omaha, Nebraska at historic Rosenblatt Stadium. As part of the 2009 collegiate baseball season, eight NCAA Division I college baseball teams met after having played their way through a 64-team bracket to crown a...
College World Series
College World Series
The College World Series or CWS is an annual baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight teams are split into two, four-team, double-elimination brackets,...
. They have made six trips to the College World Series (1979, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2004, 2009), going as far as the championship game. The team plays home games in Baum Stadium
Baum Stadium
Baum Stadium is the home stadium for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team. The actual field that is played on is entitled George Cole Field, named after the former Arkansas athletic director. George Cole Field was the name of the Razorbacks' home stadium from 1975 to March 1996...
, which finished several major renovations in 2004. Baum was recognized in 1998 by Baseball America
Baseball America
Baseball America is a magazine which covers baseball at every level, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in high school, college, Japan, and the minor leagues. It is currently published in the form of a bi-weekly newspaper, five annual reference book titles, a weekly podcast, and a...
magazine as being the top collegiate ballpark in America, and was #1 in 2009 according to Rivals.com
Rivals.com
Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting. The network was started in 1996 and currently employs more than 300 personnel.-Schools:The individual collegiate sites can be found...
. The stadium has recently undergone expansion, including 20 new skyboxes (34 in all) and seats behind the bullpen in left field. On April 7, 2009, a stadium record 11,044 fans saw a 7–3 Razorbacks victory over the #1 Arizona State Sun Devils. A weekend series with LSU in 2007 drew 29,931, which is the SEC all-time attendance record for a three-game series.
Track and field
The most successful program in NCAA history, the Arkansas men's track and fieldTrack and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
teams, led by head coach John McDonnell
John McDonnell (coach)
John McDonnell is the retired head coach for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks track team. He began as the cross country track coach for the University in 1972 and became head track coach in 1978...
are the most decorated teams in the athletics department. The program has won 42 national titles in Cross Country and Track & Field. One of its most famous stars is recent graduate Alistair Cragg who competed for Ireland at the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
in Greece. Other Olympians have included Michael Conley
Mike Conley (track athlete)
Michael Alex Conley, Sr. is a former American track and field athlete who competed primarily in the triple jump and the long jump...
, Daniel Lincoln
Daniel Lincoln
Daniel Lincoln is a world-class American track and field athlete and the American record holder in the 3000 meter steeplechase.-Education:...
, Graham Hood
Graham Hood
Graham Hood is a retired track and field athlete from Canada, who competed in the middle distance events.Hood represented his native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1992...
, and Matt Hemingway
Matt Hemingway
Matt Hemingway is an American track and field athlete. He won a silver medal in the high jump at the 2004 Olympic Games by clearing a height of 2.34 meters . Reflecting on this he said: "I'm ecstatic about winning the silver. You don’t lose gold medals. People win them...
. The team has a home indoor track at the Randal Tyson Track Center
Randal Tyson Track Center
The Randal Tyson Track Center is a 5,500-seat indoor track in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It was built in 2000. It is home to the University of Arkansas Razorbacks track and field teams. It was also home for one year to a the semi-pro Arkansas Stars. The facility is located behind the first base...
and outdoor field at John McDonnell Field
John McDonnell Field
John McDonnell Field is the outdoor track facility at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and is home to the Arkansas Razorbacks...
, which hosted the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track Championships. The new Head Coach Chris Bucknam, assistant coaches Doug Case and Travis Geophert have now moved the Men's Track and Field team to a new stand. They recently won the 2010 SEC Indoor Track Championships.
Woman's Athletics
The women teams at the University of Arkansas are also referred to as Razorbacks. There are 11 varsity women sports: basketball, cross country, indoor and outdoor trackTrack and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
, soccer, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
& diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, and volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
. Among the most successful women teams are volleyball, with 11 SEC Western Division titles; cross country with more SEC championships than any member institution; basketball with 17 postseason appearances in 30 years, including the 1998 NCAA Final Four; track and field with six SEC titles and the first back-to-back women's SEC triple crowns; and gymnastics nationally-ranked since the start of the program in 2002 with two (soon three) NCAA appearances. Sprinter Veronica Campbell
Veronica Campbell
Veronica Campbell-Brown C.D is a track and field sprint athlete, competing internationally for Jamaica. A five-time Olympic medallist, she is the reigning World and Olympic 200 metres champion...
was the first Razorback woman to win a gold medal in the Olympics, with marathoner Deena Kastor
Deena Kastor
Deena Michelle Kastor is an American long-distance runner. She holds American records in the marathon, half-marathon, and numerous road distances. She won the bronze medal in the women's marathon at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece...
bringing home a bronze medal in 2004.
Senior Walk
Old Main (University of Arkansas)
Old Main is the oldest building on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is one of the most recognizable symbols of the University , and of higher education in general in Arkansas.- History :Old Main was constructed between 1873 and 1875 as part of a land grant for the...
, the oldest building on campus. Following classes added their names for more than a decade and then the university took over responsibility for adding new classes, as well as adding the names of students who graduated prior to 1905. Through most of the 20th century, the names were impressed in wet cement using brass letters. As the campus grew, and the graduating classes got bigger, the operation became unduly time-consuming. In 1986, the university's physical plant developed a special machine called the "Senior Sand Hog" to engrave the thousands of names required each year. School superstition states that it is bad luck to step on the Class of 1900; additionally it is said that if one steps on the name of the first graduating class, you will never graduate from the University of Arkansas.
"Calling the Hogs"
Fans of the University of Arkansas have been "Calling the Hogs" since the 1920s. This tradition, which refers to the school's most popular cheer at sporting events, is said to have begun when a group of farmers attending a game began issuing hog calls to encourage a lagging Razorback footballArkansas Razorbacks football
The Arkansas Razorbacks football program is a college football team that represents the University of Arkansas. The team is a member of the Southeastern Conference's Western Division, which is in Division I's Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association...
team. The encouragement worked and the attending crowd took notice of the farmers' calling. By the next game, a group of men had organized to cry "Wooo, Pig, Sooie". The call has since become the school's best-known cheer.
Alma mater
The current version of the University of Arkansas Alma Mater was written in 1909 by Brodie Payne, an alumnus of the University of Arkansas. He submitted his song to an ongoing competition that was trying to find a song for the university and won first prize. Henry D. Tovey, who was the director of the Glee Club at that time, set the song to music. In 1931, the University College Song Association in New York reviewed a collection of 500 college tunes, and the University of Arkansas Alma Mater was judged to be one of the twenty-five best college songs of the United States.It is a student custom to point towards Old Main at the end of the verse when the words "we sing unto you" are sung.
Fight song
The current version of the University of Arkansas Fight Song was written in 1918 by Edwin Douglass and adopted by the University of Arkansas in 1932. The fight song is usually played at all home Razorback sporting events.School colors and mascot
The school color of cardinal redCardinal (color)
Cardinal is a vivid red, which gets its name from the cassocks worn by Catholic cardinals...
(Pantone
Pantone
Pantone Inc. is a corporation headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, USA. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System , a proprietary color space...
# 200) was chosen as the official school color by a vote of the student body in 1895. The two color choices were cardinal
Cardinal (color)
Cardinal is a vivid red, which gets its name from the cassocks worn by Catholic cardinals...
and heliotrope
Heliotrope (color)
Heliotrope is a pink-purple tint that is a representation of the color of the heliotrope flower.The first recorded use of Heliotrope as a color name in English was in 1882.-Heliotrope in culture:Film...
. White was added as a complementary color at a later date.
Hugo Bezdek
Hugo Francis Bezdek was a Czech-American sports figure who played American football and was a coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He was the head football coach at the University of Oregon , the University of Arkansas , Penn State University , and Delaware Valley College...
gave a speech to a large group of students at the Fayetteville train station after returning from a victory over LSU
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in 1909 during an undefeated season. Coach Bezdek informed the crowd that his team had performed "like a wild band of Razorback hogs." Although students had begun referring to the team as the Razorbacks as early as 1907, Bezdek's statement popularized the use of Razorback for the team. The Razorback, which is characterized by a ridged back and tenacious wild fighting ability, had long been associated with the backwoods of Arkansas. The students loved the comparison, and the nickname became increasingly popular. In 1910, the student body voted to change the official university mascot from the Cardinal to the Razorback.
The live mascot tradition dates back to the 1960s and a number of hogs have represented Arkansas through the years. Tusk
Tusk (mascot)
Tusk is the name of the official live mascot for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks. It is one of three offspring of Tusk I which were born on either August 2, 2002 or August 12, 2002, to two separate female sows...
, a 380-pound Russian boar that closely resembles a wild razorback hog, is the current official live mascot. He resides on a local farm and leaves his home to attend all Arkansas home football games, and other select events.
Additionally, the University of Arkansas has a family of uniformed mascots. "Big Red", (also known as the "Fighting Razorback"), is the traditional mascot for the university and attends all athletic events. "Sue E" is the female hog and "Pork Chop" is the kid mascot. "Boss Hog" is a nine-foot inflatable mascot that joined the mascot family during the 1998–99 football season.
Razorback Marching Band
The Razorback Marching Band, one of the oldest collegiate bands in the United States, was formed in 1874 as the Cadet Corps Band as part of the military art department. The band participated in all the formalities of the Military Art Department, as well as playing for football games, pageants, and commencement exercises. In 1947, following a steady post World War II growth, the Cadet Corp Band was divided into the three current bands, a football band, a concert band, and an R.O.T.C. band. In 1956, the band adopted the name "Marching Razorbacks". In 2006, the now 340 member Razorback marching band was awarded the highest honor bestowed upon a collegiate marching band, the Sudler Trophy.Clubs and organizations on campus
There are over 350 registered student organizations (RSOs) including special interest, religious, international and cultural organizations, honorary and professional service groups, and more.The most recognized RSO on campus is the Associated Student Government, sometimes simply called "ASG". ASG is active in managing student fees, meeting with key University administrators and is actively involved in many important decisions made on the University of Arkansas Campus. Perhaps the most significant program on campus, ASG, along with University Parking & Transit, and with the support of the DRJ-III Memorial Foundation, manage the Safe Ride program which gives students a safe ride home from any unsafe or uncomfortable situation.
Arkansas is home of UATV
UATV
UATV is an acronym representing any of the following:* Urban America Television: defunct television network in the United States* United Artists Television: defunct television production and syndication arm of United Artists Pictures...
, a student-run television station, and The Arkansas Traveler, a regional-award winning newspaper established in 1906. The university is also home to two radio stations: KUAF
KUAF
KUAF is the flagship National Public Radio member station for western Arkansas, United States. The station is owned by the University of Arkansas, with studios on the school's campus in Fayetteville. Its powerful 100,000-watt signal also serves Fort Smith as well. The station airs classical...
, a public radio station and NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
affiliate, and KXUA
KXUA
KXUA is a student run College radio station licensed to Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA. The station is currently owned by Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas.- History :...
, an eclectic student-run station.
The University of Arkansas Press is known for publishing works on local and Southern history, including several by former President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
and the former national poet laureate Billy Collins
Billy Collins
Billy Collins is an American poet, appointed as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. He is a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York and is the Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute, Florida...
.
Distinguished Lecture and Headliner Series
One of the most visible student-run organizations is University Programs, a group of students dedicated to bringing comedians, concerts, and lecturers to campus. Notable speakers and bands to visit the University of Arkansas as a result of the organization include lectures by Ehud BarakEhud Barak
Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician who served as Prime Minister from 1999 until 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until January 2011 and holds the posts of Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's government....
, Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
,Dave Barry
Dave Barry
David "Dave" Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comedic novels.-Biography:Barry was born in Armonk, New York,...
, Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was a democratic socialist who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996....
, George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
, James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...
, Anderson Cooper
Anderson Cooper
Anderson Hays Cooper is an American journalist, author, and television personality. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°. The program is normally broadcast live from a New York City studio; however, Cooper often broadcasts live on location for breaking news stories...
, Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Anne Ferraro was an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party....
, Al Franken
Al Franken
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....
, Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...
, Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers...
, James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
, Martin Luther King III
Martin Luther King III
Martin Luther King III is an American human rights advocate and community activist. He is the eldest son and oldest living child of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. His siblings are Dexter Scott King, Rev. Bernice Albertine King, and the late Yolanda Denise...
, T. Boone Pickens, Mary Matalin
Mary Matalin
Mary Joe Matalin is an American political consultant, well known for her work with the Republican Party. She was an assistant to President George W. Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney until 2003. Matalin has been chief editor of Threshold Editions, a conservative publishing imprint...
, Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, as a Cabinet Minister from 1988 to 1992 and from 2003 to 2006, and as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003....
, Apolo Ohno, Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
, Salman Rushdie, Ben Stein
Ben Stein
Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein is an American actor, writer, lawyer, and commentator on political and economic issues. He attained early success as a speechwriter for American presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
, Joseph Taylor
Joseph Taylor
Joseph Taylor may refer to:* Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr. , American astrophysicist* Joseph C. Taylor, American baseball player* Joseph D. Taylor , U.S...
, and Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama. Past concerts were headlined by Dierks Bentley
Dierks Bentley
Dierks Bentley is an American country music artist who has been signed to Capitol Records Nashville since 2003. That year, he released his self-titled debut album. Both it and its follow-up, 2005's Modern Day Drifter, are certified platinum in the United States. A third album, 2006's Long Trip...
, the Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...
, John Mayer
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
, O.A.R.
O.A.R.
O.A.R. is an American rock band composed of Marc Roberge , Chris Culos , Richard On , Benj Gershman , and Jerry DePizzo...
, The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...
, T.I.
T.I.
Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr. , better known by his stage name T.I., is an American rap artist, film and music producer, actor and author. He is also the founder and co-chief executive officer of Grand Hustle Records....
, Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind is an American alternative rock band formed in the early 1990s in San Francisco. The songwriting duo of Kevin Cadogan and Stephan Jenkins signed the band's first major label recording contract with Elektra records in 1996 resulting in two multi platinum albums. The band's lineup...
, and Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
.
Notable people
Ricardo Martinelli
Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal is a Panamanian politician and businessman who was elected the 49th President of Panama in 2009. He is a Panamanian of Italian descent from his father's side.- Early life :...
, President of the Republic of Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
who was elected in 2009. Seventeen Arkansas graduates have held the position of Governor, including the current Governor of Arkansas Mike Beebe who has represented Arkansas since 2007. Twenty-six Arkansas Graduates have also represented the State of Arkansas in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in every Congress since the start of the 57th Congress in 1901, including two current members in John Boozman
John Boozman
John Nichols Boozman is the junior U.S. Senator for Arkansas . A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the U.S. Representative for .Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, he was the brother of state Senator Fay Boozman...
since 2001 and Robert Marion Berry since 1997. Six Arkansas graduates have also held at least one US Senate seat from Arkansas since 1945, and from 1979–2003 held both seats, including current US Senator Mark Pryor
Mark Pryor
Mark Lunsford Pryor is the senior United States Senator from Arkansas, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party and former Attorney General of Arkansas....
since 2003.
Arkansas alumni have made contributions to the business world and academia. Alumni include Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
owner Jerry Jones
Jerry Jones
Jerral "Jerry" Wayne Jones is the owner and general manager of the NFL team, the Dallas Cowboys.-Early life:Jones was born in Los Angeles, California. His family moved to North Little Rock, Arkansas when he was an infant. Jones was a star running back at North Little Rock High School...
. Other Arkansas business alumni include executives of major corporations like S. Robson Walton
S. Robson Walton
Samuel Robson "Rob" Walton is the eldest son of Helen Walton and Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer. He is currently chairman of the worldwide company...
of Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
, Thomas A. Mars
Mars family
The Mars family is a family that owns the confectionery company Mars, Inc., bearing their name. The family was called the richest family in America by Fortune magazine in 1988, since surpassed by the Walton family....
of Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is a worldwide manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products with US$30 billion in annual sales in 2010, and is ranked as the 5th largest privately held company in the United States by Forbes. Headquartered in McLean, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia,...
, Scott T. Ford
Scott T. Ford
Scott Ford, was president and chief executive officer of Alltel,with 13 million customers and revenues of nearly $10 billion. A graduate of the University of Arkansas, he worked for Merrill Lynch and Stephens Inc.. In 1996 he joined Alltel as executive vice president with responsibility for...
of Alltel
Alltel
Alltel Corporation is a wireless service provider, primarily based in the United States. Before an acquisition by Verizon Wireless, it served 34 states. After the merger, Alltel continues to serve six states, mostly in rural areas...
, David O. Russell
David O. Russell
David Owen Russell is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been praised for the loose, comic energy that characterizes his work, and is notorious for his explosive confrontations with cast members.-Early life:...
of Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications Inc. is a global broadband and telecommunications company and a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average...
, and Ed Wilson
Ed Wilson
Ed Wilson is an American media executive. He is formerly President of Chicago-based Tribune Broadcasting and has held top-level executive roles with FOX Television Network, NBC Enterprises and CBS Enterprises.-Early life:...
of Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
& Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...
. Other Arkansas alumni have also held Chancellor and President positions at numerous universities including David Wiley Mullins
David Wiley Mullins
David Wiley Mullins was an American academic. He was the president of University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas from 1960 to 1974, the second longest serving president....
who served as the Chancellor of North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...
,Dr. David Rankin Southern Arkansas University
Southern Arkansas University
Southern Arkansas University is a public four-year institution located in Magnolia, the seat of Columbia County in Arkansas, United States, not far from the Louisiana state line.-Location:Southern Arkansas University is located in Magnolia, which, as of the census...
, and Ray Thornton
Ray Thornton
Raymond Hoyt "Ray" Thornton, Jr. is a former U.S. Representative from the US state of Arkansas.Thornton earned a degree in political science from Yale University and, later, a law degree from the University of Arkansas...
who served as President of Arkansas State University
Arkansas State University
Arkansas State University is a public university and is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System, the state's second largest college system and third largest university by enrollment. It is located atop on Crowley's Ridge at Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA...
.
Arkansas alumni have also made contributions to professional sports. Arkansas Razorbacks have gone on to play in the NFL, NBA, WNBA, and MLB. Current alumni standouts include MLB Cy Young Award
Cy Young Award
The Cy Young Award is an honor given annually in baseball to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball , one each for the American League and National League . The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955...
winning pitcher Cliff Lee
Cliff Lee
Clifton Phifer "Cliff" Lee is a Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Lee has also played for the Cleveland Indians, the Seattle Mariners, and the Texas Rangers....
and four time NBA All Star Joe Johnson
Joe Johnson (basketball)
Joe Marcus Johnson is an American professional basketball player, currently a member of the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA. Johnson stands at 6'7" and 240 lbs ....
. Others former razorbacks include 10 Olympians who have won 14 Olympic medals including Mike Conley, Sr. who won Olympics medals at the 1984
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...
and 1992
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
Olympics. Eight Pro Football Hall of Famers including Dan Hampton
Dan Hampton
Daniel Oliver Hampton also known as "Danimal" is a retired Hall of Fame American football defensive tackle who played twelve seasons for the Chicago Bears from 1979 to 1990 in the National Football League. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002...
and two time PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
major championships winner John Daly
John Daly (golfer)
John Patrick Daly is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour.Daly is known primarily for his driving distance off the tee , his non-country club appearance and attitude, and his rough-and-tumble personal life. Daly remains one of the most popular and intriguing figures on the PGA Tour...
have attended the University of Arkansas.
External links
- Official website
- HogWired.com, official athletics site