Ouachita Baptist University Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita The Ouachita Circle: The Alumni Magazine of Ouachita Alumni Ouachita Baptist University Spring 2002 The Ouachita Circle Spring 2002 Ouachita Baptist University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/alumni_mag Part of the Organizational Communication Commons, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons Recommended Citation Ouachita Baptist University, "The Ouachita Circle Spring 2002" (2002). The Ouachita Circle: The Alumni Magazine of Ouachita Baptist University. 50. https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/alumni_mag/50 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Ouachita Alumni at Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Ouachita Circle: The Alumni Magazine of Ouachita Baptist University by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Word from the President ... The pageantry of another spring commencement ceremony is fading from our memories as the members of the Class of 2002 leave the campus to claim their places in the world. It was a great day, beginning with a prayer breakfast for graduating seniors and members of the faculty and staff and concluding with a reception in the Commons for the graduates and their guests. By late in the afternoon, hundreds of rolls of film recorded thousands of smiles. Two students who arrived with this class in the fall of 1998 were not present for the festivities last month. Antwoyne Edwards died at Lake DeGray in a boating accident in 2000 and Vanessa Seals perished in an automobile crash near Heber Springs, Arkansas, in 2001. It was my great honor to have known these two young people. Antwoyne was a star on our football team, with a winning smile and a spirited ability to communicate his faith in Jesus Christ. Vanessa was a hard-working volunteer for every good cause, a leader with Christian Focus Week, and a participant on a mission trip to Namibia. One day, in the fullness of time, I will understand why Antwoyne and Vanessa were called away from us so early in their pilgrimage. In the meantime, God's grace is sufficient. Near the end of the commencement ceremony, I introduced Antwoyne's mother, who had traveled from Big Spring, Texas, to be present for the day. Before I could finish the introduction, the graduates jumped to their feet to applaud her, many with tears in their eyes, in recognition of the ways in which Antwoyne, and Vanessa, had touched their lives. The names of Antwoyne Lee Edwards and Vanessa Robin Seals will never appear on Ouachita diplomas. I regret that fact, but I am cheered to know that their names will remain in the hearts of the members of the Class of 2002, and those of us on the faculty and staff, until the time that we join them in a place far better than we have ever known. As always, please keep Ouachita in your prayers. PRESIDENT 'Che Andrew W estmoreland B oARD OF T RUSTEES • • • I UACHITA IRCLE ••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Clarence Anthony T he Alumni Magazine of Ouachita Baptist University Arkadelphia, AR Vol. I, 2002 Junanne Brown Stephen Davis Bill Elliff Jeral Hampton John L. Heflin, Jr. Frank Hickingbotham Rex M. Horne Johnny Jackson Taylor King Larry Kircher W esley Kluck Richard Lusby Don Moore Mollie Morgan Quinton Moss Elizabeth Pruet William H. Sutton Lloyd Thrash Brice Wagner John W ard Richard W ells Gene Whisenhunt John Williamson CHANCELLOR Ben M. Elrod D EVELOPMENT STAFF Joe Franz, Vice President for Development •SPECIAL F EATURE· John Cloud, Associate Vice President for Estate and Gift Planning Lane Smith, Development Officer Accreditation 2-3 Bill Wright, Development Officer Deborah Root, Dir. ofD evelopment The Hickingbotham School of Business receives accreditation Publications from AA CSB-International. F ORMER STUDENTS A ssociATION ADVISORY B oARD Larry Frisby, President •AN INSIDE LooK• Becky Sutton Kirkpatrick, 1st Vice President, Steve Lemmond, 2nd Vice President, Development News 4 W esley Kluck, Tiger Network Chair Arkansas Advisors: Patricia Greene Griffen, Academic News 6 Judy Freeman Honey, Vicki LeMay Keeton, Chris Lawson, Campus News 10 Bobbie Beeson Shepherd, Bob White Out-of-State Advisors: G. B. "Kip" Colvin, Denise Leverett Elliott, Sports News 15 Don Duren, Susan McCain Hinger, Kathy Hossler McDonald, Alumni News 16 Duke Wheeler The Ouachita Circle is a publication of Memorials 19 O uachita Baptist University, OBU Box 3762, Arkadelphia, AR 71998-0001· Phone 870-245-5000 Class Notes (marriages, births, deaths) 21 Alumni E-mail: [email protected] Randy Ga.rner, A ssistant to the President The Financial Adviser A-C for Enrollment Managem ent •• • ••••••••••••••••••••••• and Director ofA lumni Affairs Jeff Root, A ssistant to the President Photo: Dr. Phil Rice, dean of the Hickingbotham School of Business; for Public Relations Tom Calhoon ('78), owner and operator with his wife, Nina, of Pioneer Mac Sisson, Asst. Dir. ofPubli c Relations Abstract & Title Co., Inc. in Arkadelphia; Dr. Charles Wright, acting Bettie Duke, A lumni Kevin Wieser, Director ofTi ger Network vice-president for academic affairs; and Anna Reese, a 2002 business Printed by Twin City Printing and Litho, Inc. administration graduate from Harrison • photo by Wesley Hitt The Frank D. Hickingbotham School of Business becomes one of the smallest schools in the nation to receive AACSB-International ccretltiattbn Ouachita's Frank D. Hickingbotham School of Business has achieved accreditation by recent action of the Board of Di­ rectors of AACSB International - The Association to Ad- vance Collegiate Schools of Business. "Our academic program in business has made great strides in recent years thanks to Mr. Hickingbotham and other busi- ness professionals and alumni who have invested in its future," said Dr. Andrew Westmoreland, president of Ouachita. "Their great support, along with the hard work of our faculty and stu­ dents, has made it possible for Ouachita to become one of the "The accreditation is a smallest universities in the nation with an AACSB lnterna- signal to students, tional-accredited business school." employers, alumni and Dr. Phil Rice, dean of the Hickingbotham School ofBusi- others that our business ness, directed the six-year process toward accreditation. He val­ program has put together ued the advantages of a small, liberal arts setting in higher edu- a package including cation, but Rice also viewed business school accreditation as a faculty, curriculum, key component to the future of his students. He and his faculty instructional resources GUEST SPEAKER • Warren A. targeted the premier accrediting agency and service organiza­ and research that is Stephens, President and CEO of Stephens Inc., speaks to stu­ tion for business schools. recognized for its overall dents and faculty members dur­ ing the Business Administration "We owed it to our students for them to graduate from an high quality by outside Day luncheon in April. AACSB International-accredited program," Rice said. "The evaluators." accreditation is a signal to students, employers, alumni and • Dean Phil Rice others that our business program has put together a package including faculty, curriculum, instructional resources and re- search that is recognized for its overall high quality by outside evaluators." 2 • Accreditation To achieve AACSB International accreditation, business programs must satisfY expectations in a wide range of stan- dards. The components included: preconditions (eligibility, programs to be reviewed); mission and objectives; faculty com­ position and development; curriculum content and evaluation; instructional resources and responsibilities; students (selectiv- ity, career planning and placement); and intellectual contribu­ tions of the faculty through research. After a year of pre-candidacy, Ouachita submitted annual written progress reports during a five-year candidacy period. In the fifth year of candidacy, the written report was a full self­ evaluation based on the above criteria. The self-study was fol­ lowed by a visit from an AASCB International committee. It made a report to an accreditation committee, which in turn recommended Ouachita's accreditation to the AASCB Inter- AACSB INTERNATIONAL • Dr. Phil Rice (center), Dean of the Hick­ ingbotham School of Business, is pictured with (from left) Dean John national Board ofDirectors. Kraft, Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida and Chair of AACSB International; Dr. Bob Webster, chair of the "The self-study was enlightening," said Rice. "It helped us department of accounting, economics and finance at the Hicking­ botham School; Professor Margaret Wright, chair of the department improve assessment, make curricular changes, address areas of of management and marketing at the Hickingbotham School; and Dean Jerry Trapnell, College of Business and Behavioral Science research and technology, and improve advising. It was quite a at Clemson University and chair-elect of AACSB International. The accreditation certificate was presented to the Hickingbotham School group effort by the faculty, and it will benefit the students. We representatives at the annual meeting of AACSB International in learned from it, and we now have a process in place that will Chicago in April. COURSE IN­ ensure that we continue to examine what we're doing and strive STRUCTION • Jeanie Curry, as­ to improve." sistant professor of accounting, AACSB International is a not-for-profit