Established 47 years ago by the Alumni Association, the award recognizes a senior man and woman who exhibit outstanding academic achievement, campus and community involvement and leadership. Students were required to be a member of the graduating class of 2012 (finishing degree requirements in August or December 2011 or May 2012.) The citation includes a personal memento, a $500 cash award, life membership in the Arkansas Alumni Association as well as permanent recognition on the student Honor Wall at the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House.

Williams is a chancellor’s scholar who received her degree in international business in economics with minors in Asian studies and political science. Grateful for her experience at the University of Arkansas, she is thankful for the opportunities she received inside and outside the classroom. While studying abroad in Taiwan, she was one of two freshmen among 30 upperclassmen studying Mandarin Chinese. She chose to study Mandarin because of the importance China has in global business.

Becoming a successful leader on campus, Williams served as chief of staff for the Associated Student Government and helped to develop the first advancement committee of ASG to receive corporate funding for Safe Ride. During her senior year, she served as student chair of the Distinguished Lectures Committee and helped to bring various speakers to the U of A, including Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor.

Harris, a University of Arkansas Alumni Endowed Scholar and Honors College Leadership Scholar, received his degree in biology with departmental honors. Crediting the U of A faculty for motivating him to achieve his academic goals, he went on to conduct research at the Arkansas Children’s Research Hospital.  While studying abroad in Sweden, he observed the Swedish commitment to research. During his honors undergraduate research project, he conducted enzyme linked immunosorbent assay immunology testing for antibodies.

His leadership skills have evolved from his time spent at the U of A and within the local community. He served on Student Alumni Board and was the New Greek Council President. During his time in the Greek system, he received the opportunity to help a food drive collect more than 20,000 items for Life Source International. He also organized the Hogs for Haiti relief effort, which raised more than $20,000 for Haitian earthquake victims.

“The University of Arkansas gave me a foundation as diverse as the field I am in now,” she said. Growing up in Little Rock, Brunson always wanted to be a Razorback. Liking the idea of going to the “top school in Arkansas,” she applied and received the Dr. J. Michael Stair Endowed Scholarship, becoming the first of her siblings to go to college.

Unlike many students who enter college and are undecided about their field of study, Brunson knew her calling was in social work. “My family, we were part of a church that had a daycare and many of the kids were in foster care and had been abused or neglected. I worked there during high school and wanted to know more about children and social welfare, which ultimately led me to want to become a therapist for children,” she said.

Focusing on her studies, she made time for student involvement by joining Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the Black Students Association. However, getting involved in the student organization, S.W.A.G. (Social Work Action Group), led her to become more knowledgeable about the field of social work, as well as prepared for what is needed to become a successful social worker. As she neared the end of her four years at the University of Arkansas, she realized the importance and necessity of obtaining a master’s degree in the field.

Before graduating in 1999, she spoke with Dr. Joe Schriver, her social work professor. He knew Dr. Barbara White at the University of Texas at Austin and urged Brunson to apply for the program. “He literally made me apply and asked Dr. White about getting me a fellowship opportunity so that I could go to school there,” she said. Only taking one year to complete, she received her master’s degree from UT Austin in 2000.

Entering the professional world, her goal to work with children remained. She worked at a center for youth and families in Little Rock, helping to place therapists within the schools, which enabled her to work with children in the school system every day. As the years passed, her resume included working as the director of clinical services at Hull House, an independent clinical therapist and director of violence prevention coordination at Cook County Department of Public Health.

In the 13 years since she graduated from the University of Arkansas, her goals have slightly changed but her passion for serving and helping others remain. Today, Brunson works as the senior program officer for the Chicago Foundation for Women, which is an organization that helps to “raise money and support organizations that are dedicated to helping women and girls succeed in the Chicago area.”

Overseeing the grant making process, she looks to see that the organizations they are supporting have the ability to do the work. “We offer the money and the assurance that these organizations can do the work they set out to do,” she said. As a leader in the organization, her involvement in helping others succeed is just one of the rewards of her profession. “The idea that I am seen as a partner to these non-profit organizations is such a great reward,” she added.

Her passion for helping others, especially students, can not only be seen through her work with the Chicago Foundation for Women, but through her work with the Chicago Arkansas Club. As a member of the Arkansas Alumni Association, Brunson was looking for a way to stay connected and up-to-date on campus news. Joining the Chicago Arkansas Club, she became the scholarship and recruitment chair. “We currently only fund one student, Collin Pitts. The scholarship pays for his tuition and the University waives his out-of-state tuition fee,” she said.

Since Pitts will be a senior this coming year, Brunson looks forward to what the future holds for the Chicago Arkansas Club, saying,” I want to see us raise more funds, but we need to work harder at engaging local alumni and promoting the U of A as a place where Chicago kids can go to school.” One other aspect that she hopes to see expand is the career network that is available to recent graduates. “This career program helps so many kids find jobs; however, I would like to see it expand to major cities.”

Witnessing the positive impact of professional and personal growth in herself, Brunson is proud of her alumna status at the University of Arkansas and hopes more students will see the University as a school that can stand up to the rest. With a 10-month-old daughter at home, she is raising her to be a future Razorback and looks forwarding to seeing her name etched on Senior Walk one day.

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New gift commitments to the Janzen-Tollette Band Award will receive a matching contribution from Lewis Epley. Qualifying contributions must be made by November 21, 2012. The challenge will match up to $12,500 in new commitments.

Please join in honoring the legacies of Eldon Janzen and Sanford Tollette. Make a gift today, and double your impact.

Named the recipient for service, Ritter is a professor of education and public policy and holder of the Endowed Chair in Education Policy in the department of education reform in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas. He is also the director and founder of the Office for Education Policy at the university. The office serves as a resource that aids state legislators, school board members and other policymakers in thoughtful decision-making concerning K-12 education in the state of Arkansas. Ritter has been a faculty member at the U of A since 2000.

Venkatesh, a distinguished professor and the first holder of the George and Boyce Billingsley Chair in Information Systems in the Sam M. Walton College of Business, is receiving the award for research. Venkatesh, who completed his doctorate at the University of Minnesota in 1997, joined the University of Arkansas faculty in June 2004. He previously taught at the University of Maryland. In addition to presenting his work at universities across the world, he has held many visiting appointments at Australian National University, Helsinki School of Economics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Indian School of Business, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Hawaii. His research focuses on understanding the diffusion of technologies in organizations and society.

Rapert (B.S.B.A. 1985, M.B.A. 1987), associate professor in the department of marketing in the Sam M. Walton College of Business, is receiving the Charles and Nadine Baum Faculty Teaching Award. She is also the director of the Walton College of Business Center for Teaching Effectiveness. An annual member of the Arkansas Alumni Association, Rapert is a two-time U of A graduate with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration.

She returned to the University of Arkansas in 1991 after receiving her doctorate from the University of Memphis and teaches in the area of marketing management and global consumers. Passionate about teaching, she incorporates the unique approach of a readings-based, seminar-style undergraduate course that is designed in collaboration with her advisory board of 20 executives. In their evaluations and emails, her students often write that her classes are the best they have ever taken, often because of the energy and enthusiasm she brings to the classroom to make her class relevant to real-world experiences.

The members of the board of directors include Boyce Johnson, Suzanne Pennington, Taylor Adams, Ron Rainey, Penny Storms, LeeAnn Bullington and Angela Waldup who all brought bags and boxes of rice, cereal and other items to help support the Full Circle Campus Food Pantry.  The 200 pounds in rice donations came equally from Richland Rice and Stimson Foods West Memphis.

Full Circle intern B.J. Galloway stated that, “the Full Circle Pantry supplies food to 150-200 people per week. Of the 200 people, about 60 percent are students and 40 percent are staff. When students, faculty and staff come in for donations, we give them a bag of three days worth of food so that they have enough to last them through the weekend and around our operating hours.”

In March, the Full Circle Food Pantry was recognized at the White House as one of five winners in the Campus Champions of Change Challenge.

For more information about the Full Circle Food Pantry, email pantry@uark.edu or call 479.575.7693.

Sponsored by the Student Alumni Association, ring recipients and their guests enjoyed a reception before Airic Hughes, student programs coordinator, welcomed everyone on behalf of the Alumni Association. He reminded students that this celebration was “a memorable milestone on the way to graduation.”

Although a bittersweet event, Executive Director Mike Macechko, in his last ring ceremony, announced the names of more than 70 ring recipients, all of whom received their ring and a certificate. He provided students and their guests with the tradition of the ring and the ceremony. In the program, which was given to all attendees, Macechko informed students that “while your diploma and your name on Senior Walk proudly proclaim your achievement, your ring and its meaning are always with you….Your Official UA Ring’s symbolism emphasizes the common bond and shared experience of all University of Arkansas graduates, and also invokes each wearer to tell their own unique story.”

Providing students with the history of the ring, Macechko also reminded recipients how to properly wear the ring before graduation as students and after graduation as alumni.

The event concluded with student Sam Clark singing the University of Arkansas alma mater and a special toast by Macechko.