The GRADUATEVol. 11, No. 2 Fall/Winter 1998 For Alumni and Friends of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture You Can Get There From Here Story on page 8 In This Issue… From the Dean From the Dean ........................... 2 College Posts Largest his second issue of The GRADUATE in Enrollment Increase — its new format highlights scholarships Up 13% .................................... 3 T and some of the exciting projects Dear Fellow Alums .................... 3 underway that will be of direct, lasting benefit to the College’s teaching programs. Timing Critical to Admission, Most of the projects are funded by several Scholarship Decisions ............ 4 sources, including private, state and federal Curriculum Changes funds. In essentially every case, private donors, Offer Flexibility ...................... 4 alumni and friends of the College put the Alumna Endows International projects “over the top.” Without the help and Studies Scholarship Fund support of our former students and friends, the in Husband’s Memory........... 5 projects would either not be possible or would Globe-Trotting Students Serve be on a smaller scale than is truly needed. For Internships Abroad ................ 5 that continued support, the students, faculty and Charles J. Scifres administration of the College extend our Horticulture Honors Dean heartfelt thanks. These new facilities and Alumni and Friends ............... 6 programs will allow our faculty to achieve greater levels of excellence in their Faculty Update ........................... 6 teaching programs and research supported by the Division of Agriculture’s HES Begins First Distance Agricultural Experiment Station. Learning Course ..................... 7 Because our alumni and friends care, some 240 deserving students are Interior Design Program Gets currently supported by scholarships — support which not only helps all the Site Visit for Accreditation .... 7 recipients but literally makes a college education possible for many. As the student population in the College grows, that support is going to become not only more You Can Get There important but absolutely critical. And we have to continue to progressively From Here .............................. 8 increase private involvement and partnering in our programs if we are to sustain King-Size Gift Launches the pace the faculty have set for themselves. Equine Program ..................... 9 We are extremely pleased with the positive happenings in the College and at Land Grant Days ..................... 1 0 the University of Arkansas. Enrollment is up in the College after several years of The House Is Back in steady decline. The concerted effort to modernize our curricula and make them FarmHouse ........................... 1 1 more effective and efficient has produced excellent results. Several outstanding new faculty have been added in key areas. We are moving to reach more and Bumpers College Seeks more Arkansans who desire and deserve the opportunity to take our courses Nominations for through distance education and by way of our relationships with other colleges in Outstanding Alumnus ......... 1 1 the State through initiaives such as the Arkansas Consortium for Teaching Scholarships Donor List.......... 1 2 Agiculture. We are working closely with our sister Colleges on the UAF campus Alumni News ............................ 1 5 including a collaborative relationship between Interior Design and Interior Architecture; and, coinvesting with Business Administration to bring transporta- tion and logistics courses to our Agricultural Business program. The most rewarding accomplishment of all, however, is one that takes a The Graduate is published for alumni concentrated effort literally on everyone’s part. And that is the growing sense of and friends of the Dale Bumpers College community embracing our students, staff, faculty, administration, alumni and of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and the University of Arkansas Division friends. There has been increasing participation in events such as Land Grant of Agriculture. Send correspondence to Days, the Carnival of Clubs and other activities that let the rest of the world The Graduate, 206 Agriculture know that we are alive and well! There is a growing sense of pride in our pro- Building, University of Arkansas, grams and people and an expressed desire for continued improvement; and, we Fayetteville, AR 72701. will achieve that not as individuals but by continuing to work together. I often remind those of us who work at the University that the College does (501) 575-2252 not belong to the administration, or to the faculty, or even to the students. It Fax: (501) 575-7273 belongs to people like you who are largely responsible for the things that have Co-editors: Elizabeth Wheeler and been achieved, and who are absolutely essential to our achieving what we can be. Howell Medders. Design by Judy Again, to all of our alumni and friends who continue to untiringly and Howard. Photography by Fred Miller unselfishly support these programs — your programs — we salute you and thank and Jim Bailey. Articles in this issue by you. Elizabeth Wheeler, Fred Miller, Howell Truly, you make the difference. ■ Medders, Mischelle Fryar, Chad Mooney and Mike Speight. 2 The GRADUATE College Posts Largest Enrollment Increase — Up 13% Randy Luttrell are graduate students. Undergraduate College have worked hard to enhance Associate Dean for Academics enrollment increased 11.9% and the image of the agricultural, food and graduate student enrollment increased life sciences through enhanced recruit- A 13 percent increase in enroll- 17.8% over that of 1997. ing and retention programs. They have ment in Bumpers College this fall About 83 percent of the students developed a dynamic curriculum. compared to last fall was the most of are residents of Arkansas, 52 percent Degree programs that address issues any college at the University are female and 48 percent are ranging from biotechnology to fashion of Arkansas. Campus-wide, male. Of the 204 nonresident design appeal to a wide audience of enrollment was up 4.7 students, 45 percent are students. percent. international students. Most importantly, the Bumpers Most departments had Seventy percent of the College is a college of the people. We more students than last fall, College’s students are will assure that our academic programs but relatively large increases classified as full-time. Nine continue to reflect the needs of our were observed in Animal percent are transfer students. society and that we will always embrace Science (28%), Horticulture About 16 percent are our land-grant heritage of teaching, (30%), Interior Design classified as minority stu- research and service to meet the (23%), and Poultry Science dents, and 50 percent of that growing demands of an expanding (21%). Biological and number are graduate stu- population. Our unique ability to place Agricultural Engineering, Randy Luttrell dents. students in learning environments with which is administratively We believe enrollment in innovative research and extension housed in the College of Engineering Bumpers College will continue to scientists will remain as our strongest but closely aligned with the Bumpers increase. Several factors, including the asset. Most of the students enrolled in College, experienced a 48% increase in overall University emphasis on recruit- the Bumpers College participate in enrollment. ment of outstanding students, contrib- internships where they experience real- Bumpers College currently has ute to this growth. world problems and interact with real- 1,189 students. About 22%, or 264, Faculty within the Bumpers world professionals. ■ Dear Fellow Alums, Today’s business environment puts pressure on all The business of educating has the same needs as a of us to think towards the future. The resource chemical, fertilizer or seed company for supporting commitment needed to help achieve our mission, customers who desire a quality product at a fair price. vision, goals and objectives for the future is very large Product lines usually improve generation by generation. in all segments of agricultural business and in the For example, the most recently developed soybean business of education. variety is usually an improvement over an earlier variety, Focus + Determination + Support + Team Work + or it won’t be in demand. Support must come from Execution are all factors in the equation contributing various sources to sustain development of all products, to a successful business. Similar to our businesses, the including education. Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural Food and Life We, as graduates, should reflect on what we can do Sciences must prepare for the future. to support our College, the institution that launched Inspection of the success equation shows several our careers. I’m proud to be an alumnus because of factors, but the one that Bumpers College can always what the College did for me and many other graduates. use help with is support from its graduates and May I suggest that graduates call the Arkansas Alumni friends. For those of you who have not interacted with Association, Dean Scifres or Associate Dean Luttrell to your College lately, let me inform you that it is learn how you might lend your support to your College progressing toward the new millennium and it is and put it on the fast track as we race to the 21st focused, determined, working as a team and executing Century. Let’s help our College win that race! as best it can with restricted resources to get there on Jim Batchelor time. CAFLS Alumni Society President, 1995-97 Jim Batchelor (BSA ’75, MS ’78, PhD ’80) is Director of Seed, WILFARM L.L.C., Gladstone, Mo. Fall 1998 3 Timing Critical to Admission, Scholarship Decisions “The three most important things College scholarships every year by deciding which students are accepted.” you can do to get accepted to the March 1, so even if they are not Call the office of the Dean of University of Arkansas are apply early, awarded a scholarship one year, they Bumpers College, 501-575-2252, for apply early and apply early,” says may still earn one the next year.