NEW LIONS: COVID couldn’t stop Cub Camp. Here members of the Blue Camp take fi rst-year students on a campus tour.
Dear Lions
To follow the unfolding impact of COVID-19 on the UAFS campus, students, faculty, and staff needed to look no further than their inboxes. “Dear Lions,” wrote Chancellor Terisa Riley on March 10. “As your chancellor, your health and safety are my top priorities.” She assured the university family... more
MEETING NEEDS: The Wellness Stand is a collaboration be- tween the LionHeart volunteer program and the RAWC to provide students with a midday boost.
Fueling Workouts
To encourage healthy eating choices, UAFS launched a new initiative to offer and encourage healthy eating choices. A collaboration between the LionHeart Volunteer Program and the UAFS Recreation and Wellness, the LionHeart Wellness Stand was opened in the Recreation and Wellness Center (RAWC),... more
MOVE-IN: Chancellor Terisa Riley had been on campus for just a month when she helped new students move into the dorms.
A year of growth, grace, and gratitude
This July marked a year since Dr. Terisa Riley took the helm as the third chancellor of UAFS. She moved to Fort Smith amid the historic floods and watched the community rise to recover as one in her first months on campus.   “I spent my first several weeks in Fort Smith marveling over the... more
London Booth joins other students in the creation of “Forward Lions,” a mural on the Alumni Center on Waldron Road. 
Showing our true colors
Jasmine Smith, 2014, the assistant director of alumni affairs and annual giving, had the idea that she wanted the alumni office to feel more welcoming to visiting alumni. “I want alumni, when they come into our office, to feel like they have come home,” she said.
REFUGE: Counselors in the Pendergraft Health Sciences Center are treating students through video chats or phone calls this semester.
The calm in the storm
Counseling Center provides professional care The vast majority of students Karen Martindale-Orite sees on campus might be said to be having trouble “adulting.” “The most common things I see are what I call developmental issues,” said Martindale-Orite, a licensed professional counselor who... more
TIME: The Donald W. Reynolds Bell Tower has been announcing the time to Fort Smith for more than two decades.
Tax Funds Propel Growth
Many people look at the moment when Westark College became the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith – marked by a flag raising at one minute after midnight Jan. 1, 2002 – as the major transformational moment in the university’s history. An argument can be made that a moment more than a decade... more
LION PRIDE: Student Government representatives and members of the University leadership team cut a ceremonial ribbon at the official opening of the Dave Stevens Lion Pride Pantry.
Pantry Named for Dean Dave Stevens
This week the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith officially renamed its needs pantry in honor of its popular dean of students at the unanimous request of the UAFS Student Government Association. SGA voted to rename the food and necessities pantry the “Dave Stevens Lion Pride Pantry” in April.... more
THE BAKERY DISTRICT: The fi rst fl oor of former Shipley Baking building has been transformed into a hip meeting place, retail and dining space, and indoor and outdoor seating area. UAFS plans to develop space upstairs for learning and non-credit training by fall 2021.
It’s All Happening at The Bakery District
UAFS at The Bakery District will become the new home for the Center for Business and Professional Development and the Family Enterprise Center, both currently housed in the Flanders Building. The new operation at The Bakery District, a developing hub for community events at 70 S. Seventh Street,... more
WOMEN’S SERIES: Members of the Mollie Wilson Women’s Financial Series, along with financial advisor David Craig and former UAFS faculty member Emma Watts are gathered at the February meeting and luncheon.
Investors’ ROI Exceeds Dreams
Mollie Wilson and Dr. Carolyn Moore planted a seed in 1994, and the results keep growing. Moore (then Carolyn Branch) and Mollie Wilson began thinking about a kind of investing club, an undertaking that would allow women to learn something about investing and finance and maybe lead to a benefit... more
Gayle Kaundart and freshman Tracy Steele
Kaundart Arena Celebrates Tradition of Diligence, Excellence
For Tommy Boyer, it wasn’t a question of if UAFS should honor basketball coach Gayle Kaundart; it was a question of when and how. Boyer, a member of the University of Arkansas System Board, took that question to Chancellor Terisa Riley in her first weeks on campus.
ACCESS: Careful design means everyone can participate equitably.
Grad Seeks Access for All
Ciara Fleer, ‘17, always knew she wanted to be an occupational therapist. But she also knew she needed something to set her apart when she reached graduate school. So on her way, she stopped to get a bachelor’s degree in chemistry with an emphasis in biochemistry. “It was the right decision for... more
LEARNING BY DOING: Dr. Ragupathy Kannan said he travels widely to ’hone his expertise in global ecology and environmental biology.’
UAFS Professor Stranded; Luckily Birds Abound
This was supposed to be a different story, one about a distinguished UAFS professor embarking on not one, but two prestigious Fulbright awards. Instead, it is a reflection on making the most of the circumstances in which one finds oneself and a lesson in counting one’s blessings.