Arkansas achievers
■ Jarrod Gillespie of Ashdown has been awarded an Honors Scholarship to attend the University of Arkansas Hope-Texarkana. The award is worth $2,400 per academic year. Gillespie is a graduate of Ashdown High School and plans to pursue a degree in Power Plant Technologies.
■ Nakia Prater, a graduate of Nevada High School, has been awarded an Honors Scholarship to attend the University of Arkansas Hope-Texarkana. The scholarship is for $2,400 per academic year. Prater plans to pursue a degree in nursing.
■ Alyssa Bonner has been awarded the Chancellor’s Scholarship to attend the University of Arkansas Hope-Texarkana. This award is $3,400 per academic year. Bonner is a graduate of Blevins High School and plans to pursue a degree in biology.
■ Seven undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville have been chosen as semi-finalists for the Fulbright U.S. Student Scholarship Program at the United States level. The students, who would serve as English teaching assistants, are: Tyler Merreighn, senior, honors biology and public health; Rebekah Smith, senior, German and history; Jacob Condran, B.A. in history, international and global studies, and political science, ’21, summa cum laude; Sidney Hudelson, senior, honors German and music; Spencer Hazeslip, senior, honors chemistry and Spanish; Sophia Ordaz, M.A. student in comparative literature and cultural studies; and Yalma Sifuentes, senior, English.
■ The University of Arkansas School of Law and the Law Alumni Society Board of Directors have announced the 2023 Commitment to Justice and Career Champion award recipients. Rodney Slater and Christy Jones, the Commitment to Justice Award; Dequeshia Prude-Wheeler, the Early Career Award; Melissa Lee, the Veterans Award; Hope Goins, the Public Service Award; and U.S. Magistrate Judge Christy Comstock, the Gayle Pettus Pontz Award. The Law Alumni Society Board will recognize the 2023 award recipients at the Awards Dinner on April 15, 2023, during the School of Law Alumni Reunion Weekend.
■ Jake Hertzog, an assistant professor of guitar and jazz area coordinator at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, performed in the 50th anniversary “Highlights in Jazz” concert series on Feb. 23 at the Manhattan Borough Community College Theater in the TriBeCa neighborhood of New York City. The series began in 1973 and has featured many of the most important and influential jazz musicians across five decades, such as Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz and Keely Smith. To celebrate the 50th anniversary, producer Jack Kleinsinger also featured Danny Gottlieb (Pat Metheny Group), Harvie S (Alan Broadbent), Russell Malone and Shelia Jordan, among others. A unique feature of every concert is the “surprise guest,” and Hertzog — who has performed on previous concerts in the series — was one of the “surprise guests,” a distinction held by legendary artists including Branford Marsalis, Jerry Mulligan, Earl Hines and Carmen McCrae.
■ Five people were inducted to the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame by the Arkansas Farm Bureau on Friday. They are: Ellis Bell of Forrest City, a fourth-generation minority farmer, philanthropist and owner and operator of an Arkansas Century Farm; Arkansas State University professor of agricultural economics Bert Greenwalt of Jonesboro, who co-founded and directs the university’s annual Agribusiness Conference and sponsors the Agribusiness Club; rice farmer Chris Isbell of Humnoke, whose farm focuses on sustainability practices; cotton farmer Steve Stevens of Tillar, who has participated in extensive sustainability research in cotton; and the late Jessie (J.D.) Vaught of Horatio, who had a significant role in contract livestock production. They were inducted Friday at a ceremony at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
■ The Committee on Lifelong Learning, a special interest group of the National Art Education Association, has recognized Susan Whiteland, associate professor of art education at Arkansas State University, for her professional achievements. The committee will present its 2023 Pearl Greenberg Award for Teaching and Research in Art Education to Whiteland. She will accept the award and address the National Art Education Association in April during the group’s national conference in San Antonio.
Arkansas Achievers is an opportunity to give recognition to Arkansans for their achievements. Civilian and military achievements are accepted. Please follow these guidelines: 1) Must be an Arkansan or have graduated from a school in Arkansas.
2) Received an award, scholarship, medal or promotion. Pageants, deans’ lists, graduations or military enlistments are not accepted.
No photographs please. To submit an Achiever, email us at news@arkansasonline.com with the words“Arkansas Achievers”in the subject line.