A University of Arkansas at Little Rock senior who graduated with three bachelor's degrees has been accepted to medical school and is on her way to fulfilling her dream of becoming a doctor. Erica Olson, of Gassville, Arkansas, graduated from UA Little Rock on May 11 with bachelor's degrees in biology, chemistry, and Spanish. The budding doctor, who received a $7,500 Class of 1954 Scholarship from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, will begin taking classes at UAMS in the fall with plans to become a family physician. "It has been my dream for almost a decade that I would like to become a family physician," Olson said. "Everyone is excited about specializing in surgical processes, but for me, I like the appeal of growing with the patients. I like the consistency of establishing bonds and being able to work with people throughout their life and their children's lives. I'm open to looking at other specialties in medical school, but I think that is where my heart lies."

Four UA Little Rock students were inducted into Sigma Lambda Chi, the international honor society for construction in a ceremony on May 10. The students inducted were Gozde Gursoy, Erica James, Donna Mantione, and Honorary Inductee Larry Blackmon. Sigma Lambda Chi was established in 1949 and is comprised of 67 chapters across the United States and Australia. UA Little Rock's chapter of Sigma Lambda Chi was founded in 1999 by Michael Tramel, who serves as its faculty advisor. It has received a "gold" rating since 2017 due to the hard work and dedication of its members. Inductees will receive a stole and cord for their graduation regalia.

Chandler Fidel received Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week honors for his outstanding performance in Friday night's game one win over Texas State, announced Tuesday by league officials. This is the first time the junior has received this honor in his career. Fidel was masterful in his 13th start of the season, throwing 124 pitches in nine innings of work, allowing just three runs and six hits on the night. The Garland, Texas native fanned 12 hitters, which tied a career high. Fidel leads the conference in innings pitched with 86.1 on the year and ranks third in total strikeouts with 88. The ace has held opposing hitters to a .237 average this season, which is seventh in the conference. Little Rock gets back to action tonight when they take on Central Arkansas in the final contest of the Governor's I-40 Showdown. First pitched scheduled for 6 p.m. at Dickey-Stephens Park.

A team of UA Little Rock students is trying to promote a safer work environment with the introduction of "Leap into Safety," an affordable virtual reality safety simulator designed to make the operators more adept at operating powered equipment safely. The team includes Trenton Burroughs, information science major, and Denver Ellis, computer science major, as well as web design students Ryan Hood and Sunny Singh. For their efforts, the students won first place in the Best Hardware Hack category at theCrimsonHacks competition March 23-24 at the University of Alabama. Each team member won an Elegoo Super Starter Kit, which includes Arduinos, sensors, motors, and other fun programmable hardware.

UA Little Rock theater major Selena Gordon has performed in musicals, plays, and even national films, but this semester she worked to create a performance of a different kind - one meant to awaken her audiences' unexpressed emotions. Gordon spent this semester creating "Wake-up!" - a performance that uses overbearing sensory aspects, such as lights, sound, and gestures to stir emotions. "I wanted to make the audience confront issues that society tends to shy away from or ignore because they're too difficult to talk about," she said. "Such things include racism, sexual assault, gun control, mental illness, abuse, discrimination in all of its forms, and the political state of the country today."

The Arkansas Association of Women Lawyers (AAWL) has awarded two female law students from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law bar examination preparation scholarships. AAWL celebrated their annual scholarship winners during an April 5 meeting at the Little Rock Club, where Joann Maxey, general counsel of the University of Arkansas System, served as the guest speaker. The 2019 scholarship recipients include Victoria Percifield and Sydney Rasch from Bowen.

Several University of Arkansas at Little Rock students raised money for a homeless shelter through an "Open Closet" fundraiser. Members of UA Little Rock's Alliance and AWARE student organizations held a fundraiser where people would shop for gently used clothes at discounted prices. All funds raised were donated to Lucie's Place in the Little Rock, the only homeless shelter for LGBTQ+ youth in Arkansas.

Nicole Ursin, a senior anthropology major at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, has been conducting original research on a community of Micronesian immigrants in Texas.

A Donaghey Scholar who is passionate about preserving and sharing history through her work at museums has been chosen as this year's recipient of the Edward L. Whitbeck Memorial Award at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Nicole Ursin, 21, of Batesville, has earned a 4.0 GPA while double majoring in anthropology and history with a minor in nonprofit leadership studies, all while working at nine different museums and historical organizations throughout her college career. The Whitbeck Memorial Award is the single greatest distinction the university annually bestows on a graduating student through a competitive application process that comes with a $2,000 prize. Ursin will receive the award during a luncheon beginning at 11:30 a.m. Friday, May 10, at the Clinton Presidential Center Great Hall in Little Rock.

A dream team of student entrepreneurs from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has won two of the top honors at the Arkansas Governor's Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition, a statewide business plan competition for college and graduate students sponsored by Arkansas Capital Corporation. The Vascugenix team won first place in the Winrock Automotive Undergraduate Division and a $25,000 prize. The team also captured first place and a prize of $5,000 in the undergraduate Innovate Arkansas Innovation Division for a total of $30,000 in prize money. Team members include UA Little Rock students Noah Asher, senior finance and economics major and Donaghey Scholar; Abigail Resendiz, senior international business and management major and Donaghey Scholar; and Zach Cochran, senior economics major. Martial Trigeaud, a UA Little Rock adjunct professor and business consultant at the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, serves as the team's mentor.

Little Rock senior Ronjanae DeGray has been named one of 10 selections to the Division I-AAA Athletic Director's Association (ADA) 17th annual Scholar-Athlete team. DeGray, the 2018-19 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, played a pivotal role in helping Little Rock to a share of the conference regular season title with a 15-3 mark in Sun Belt play as well as leading the Trojans to the Sun Belt tournament title and the program's sixth NCAA tournament appearance.

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student will share her knowledge of the government and culture of the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar after being selected for a prestigious international fellowship that included a diplomatic visit to Qatar. Mariam Bouzihay, a UA Little Rock junior psychology student from Jonesboro, was one of 10 U.S. college students selected for the Joseph J. Malone Fellowship in Arab and Islamic Studies cultural immersion program to Qatar, a peninsula nation with a population of 2.6 million that borders Saudi Arabia to the south and is surrounded by the Persian Gulf on all other sides. "The whole point of the program is to expose people to different countries," Bouzihay said. "There are many stereotypes about the countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. Last spring, I got to represent Qatar in the Model Arab League, and then I got to experience Qatar in real life. It was an amazing experience."

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student has been selected for a competitive new entrepreneur accelerator program for early-stage, minority, and women-owned businesses in Arkansas. Nora Bouzihay, a doctoral student in education from Jonesboro, is one of 10 participants in the Arkansas Women's Business Center and Remix Ideas' unique program designed to support a segment of entrepreneurs that is often overlooked. A part of Winrock International, the Arkansas Women's Business Center helps women-owned small businesses start, grow, and compete in global markets by providing quality training, counseling, and access to capital. Momentum, the five-week accelerator program, is unique in that it targets early-stage startups with little to no revenue, some of which have not yet been organized or incorporated.

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock congratulates its fall 2018 graduates.

Members of UA Little Rock's Alliance barely missed record cold temperatures as they returned from the National LGBTQ Task Force's annual Creating Change conference in Detroit from Jan. 23-27. Each student who attended took part in two discussions about issues that affect LGBTQ students on college campuses. They spoke about how those issues affect students at UA Little Rock.

At 71, Carolyn Wilkerson of Little Rock loves life as a full-time college student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, working to fulfill a lifelong goal of earning a college degree. "The fact that I have decided to obtain a degree at my age would be surprising to most people," she said. "Many of my peers are in awe when they discover a grandmother in their classes." Wilkerson started attending UA Little Rock in 2016, fulfilling a promise she made to herself many years ago.

Four UA Little Rock students have received the prestigious Student Undergraduate Research Fellowships from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education to conduct research this spring with help from faculty mentors. The Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program provides up to $2,750 to undergraduate students to conduct in-depth research projects in their specific fields of study with the assistance of faculty mentors. To be eligible, all fellowship recipients have a minimum grade-point average of 3.25, at least 30 hours of credit toward a degree, and support of a faculty mentor. Funds also are provided for students to travel to conferences to present their accomplishments.

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock announces students who have made the Dean's List for the fall 2018 semester, recognizing more than 900 students whose academic performances have been superior at the end of each semester. To be on the Dean's List, UA Little Rock students must earn at least nine credit hours and maintain at least a 3.5 grade point average. The student must not have any D, F, I, or "No Credit" grades on their semester grade report.

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law announces its first-year students entering law school during the 2018 fall semester.

Seven University of Arkansas at Little Rock students traveled to Germany this summer for a unique opportunity to experience the art and architecture of Germany. Dr. Lynne Larsen, assistant professor of art history, led the July 2-17 trip, where students studied Rococo, Neoclassical, modern, and contemporary styles of art and architecture.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has selected nine second-year students from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law to serve as law clerks in the Attorney General's office for the fall session. The new law clerks include Michael Berry, Jonathan Hutto, Austin Kempker, Trent Minner, Rachel Moore, Alexis Pinkston, Allison Tschiemer, Chris Turansky, and Jacob Wickliffe. The law students will work in various departments to assist with legal research, draft memos and legal documents, and accompany lawyers at trials, client meetings, and hearings. "The law clerk program provides students an opportunity to experience a great service-learning environment," said Attorney General Rutledge. "Law clerks are exposed to the fulfilling experience of public service as they play a valuable role for the State, while also building relationships with some of Arkansas's top attorneys."

UA Little Rock students rode the Tour de Rock in honor of the brother of Steve McClellan, vice chancellor for finance and administration. McClellan's brother, Bruce, was diagnosed with lung cancer last year.

The Theta Eta chapter of the Kappa Sigma fraternity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock led all Arkansas chapters in scholarship fundraising this year, raking in $2,383.

A fifth year doctoral student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock recently co-developed an easy-to-use cybersecurity education tool designed to leverage cloud resources for instructors and provide an exceptional user lab experience for students.

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Campus Living selected more than 30 students from a competitive pool of applicants for the honor of becoming resident assistants. The students serve as mentors and leaders at one of five residential housing options that serve UA Little Rock students across the campus.

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock College of Business graduate recently released his first novel, "Be Steady, My Soul: Daily Practices for Peace and Positivity."

The Cooper Honors Program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock awards $1,300 per semester for up to four semesters and awarded twice a year on a competitive basis.

Veterans Day, a day to honor those who have served or are serving our country, is a perfect time to proudly thank our current student veterans of all military backgrounds and majors for their service. Veterans Day was first celebrated in 1919 as Armistice Day to signify the end of World War I. In 1954, it was renamed Veterans Day when President Eisenhower signed legislation changing the legal name of the day.