UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS ANNOUNCES COMMENCEMENT SPEAKERS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — All University Commencement will be held at 8:45 a.m. May 10, 2003, at Bud Walton Arena. The honorary degree recipients will be Fred W. Smith, chairman of the board of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and former chairman, president and chief executive officer of the Donrey Media Group; and George Haley, former ambassador to Gambia and the second African-American to graduate from the University of Arkansas School of Law.

Fred W. Smith was born in Arkoma, Okla., just outside of Fort Smith, Ark., in 1934. He attended Westark Community College, which today is the University of Arkansas — Fort Smith. He started his communications career in 1951 as an advertising salesman at the Southwest Times-Record in Fort Smith. He worked in various positions at the Southwest Times-Record, including stints as the classified advertising manager, national advertising manager and assistant general manager, before he was promoted to the position of general manager for the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Nevada) in 1961.

In 1966, he became vice president of the western newspaper division of Donrey, Donald W. Reynolds’ multi-media enterprise. He became executive vice president and chief operating officer of Donrey in 1973. In 1987, he became president of the Donrey Media Group, which under his leadership owned and operated daily newspapers, cable companies, outdoor billboard companies, television and radio stations in over 23 states. Every day the news generated at Donrey properties touched the lives of eight million people. In 1990, Smith became the chairman and chief executive officer of the company.

During his career, Smith spent 43 years with Reynolds planning, strategizing and implementing the development of the Donrey Media Group. Smith was often credited as the key to helping Reynolds build his media empire.

Although Reynolds established the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation in 1954, the Foundation was thrust onto the national scene as one of the 30 largest foundations in the nation after Reynolds’ death in 1993. Reynolds entrusted Smith to develop plans that would appropriately and consistently meet Reynolds’ lifetime ideals and philosophy. Smith retired from Donrey in 1996 and became chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. Under Smith’s leadership, the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation has already awarded over $600 million in grants in less than 10 years.

Fortunately for Arkansas, the Board of Trustees felt that part of Reynolds’ vast wealth should be awarded in the states where his largest holdings were located: Arkansas, Oklahoma and Nevada.

To date over $219 million has been awarded in Arkansas alone. These grants have funded the construction of facilities at 11 different universities, including the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the University of Arkansas campus. In addition, the Foundation has funded camps for 4-H, the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches, the Boy Scouts of America, a pediatric intensive care unit and the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging in Little Rock. But most have heard about the Foundation at the University of Arkansas because of the Foundation’s gift to the University in 1999, funding the renovation and expansion of the University’s football stadium now named after Reynolds.

In addition, the Foundation funds two national initiatives, one promoting cardiovascular clinical research and the other concerning aging and quality of life. The Cardiovascular Clinical Research Program has built a nationwide network of research centers that translate basic research in heart disease from the bench to the bedside looking for a cure for heart disease. The Aging and Quality of Life Program is focused on training doctors in the art of diagnosing and treating the frail elderly.

George Haley exemplifies courage, patience and perseverance, and these qualities have served to make him an influential politician, attorney and civil rights activist.

Haley was raised in Pine Bluff, Ark., where his father, Simon Haley, served as dean of agriculture and taught at Arkansas AM&N College, which is now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

Haley graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta one year behind Martin Luther King, Jr. He then became the second black student to graduate from the University of Arkansas Law School in 1952. He was named to the school’s Law Review staff and wrote an award-winning article for the journal. He graduated from law school feeling he had brought about a greater understanding between races through a cooperative, not confrontational, approach.

After graduation, Haley joined a law firm in Kansas City and became involved in politics, serving as deputy city attorney and Republican state senator.

During his time at the U of A and thereafter, Haley worked to remove the divisions of race in this country. He has been a persistent and courageous civil rights worker, participating in sit-ins, marches and freedom bus rides.

Haley has served in national administrations since 1969, serving under Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton. His government posts included chief counsel of the Federal Transit Administration from 1969 to 1973; general counsel and congressional liaison of the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), now part of the State Department, from 1976 to 1977. In 1990, President George Bush appointed Haley chairman of the Postal Rate Commission.

President William J. Clinton appointed Haley as U.S. envoy to Gambia from September 1998 to July 2000. This represented a homecoming of sorts for Haley, who is the great-great-great-great grandson of Kunta Kinte, whose story from his 1767 capture by slave traders in Gambia is re-told in the late Alex Haley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Roots." Alex and George Haley were brothers.

Throughout his life, Haley has worked to improve race relations in a subtle way.

"I don’t deal with hostilities," he said. "They are things that exist. My feeling is right now that I want to use my life, where I am now, to make things better for myself and all people."

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In addition to the all university commencement, the individual colleges will hold separate commencement exercises. Individual college commencement times, locations and speakers are listed below:

College of Education and Health Professions

4 p.m. May 10, 2003, Bud Walton Arena.

Leslie V. Carnine has served as the first Executive in Residence for the College of Education and Health Professions since August 2001. Carnine was instrumental in organizing the college’s first Educational Summit, which brought together leaders in education in Arkansas to consider ways to sustain the state’s commitment to improving public education.

Carnine, who retired in 2001 as superintendent of the Little Rock Public Schools, the largest school system in Arkansas, served for nearly 40 years as a teacher or administrator in major school districts in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Texas and Arkansas. He cites the improvement of student achievement as the most significant accomplishment during his tenure as superintendent in Texarkana, Ark.; Wichita Falls, Texas; and Little Rock, Ark.

An Iowa native, Carnine received his bachelor’s degree from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, and went on to earn a master’s in secondary school administration from Central Missouri State University and a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Arkansas.

College of Engineering

12:30 p.m. May 10, 2003, Barnhill Arena.

Rodger S. Kline is chief operating officer, company operations leader and director for Acxiom Corporation. He received a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arkansas in 1966.

Upon graduation, he joined IBM as a systems engineer. Beginning in 1967, he took a two-year military leave of absence to serve in the U.S. Army as an officer in the Ordnance Corps. He returned to IBM in 1969 and continued his career as a systems engineer.

This month marks Kline’s 30th anniversary with Acxiom Corporation, a $1 billion public company headquartered in Little Rock, Ark. He joined the company in 1973 as director of marketing. In 1975, he was promoted to executive vice president and named to the Board of Directors. Kline has also served as chief information officer, treasurer and chief financial officer.

Acxiom Corporation is a recognized leader in customer information technology. Computerworld has selected the company as one of the magazine’s "Top 100 Best Places to Work in Information Technology," and this year the company ranked for the fifth time on FORTUNE’s list of "100 Best Companies to Work For."

During his college career at the U of A, Kline was actively involved in extracurricular activities and served as president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, president of the Engineering Council and was a member of the student senate. He was selected for Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, listed in Who’s Who Among College and University Students, and was named the 1966 outstanding graduate for the College of Engineering.

Kline is a member of the Arkansas Academy of Electrical Engineering and currently serves as chairman of the College of Engineering Advisory Council.

Dale Bumpers College of Food, Agriculture and Life Sciences

1 p.m. May 10, 2003, Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Center.

Sen. Dale Bumpers is a special Commencement guest. Bumpers College was so named in April 1996 by the U of A Board of Trustees in recognition of the Charleston native’s remarkable career of service to Arkansas, including invaluable support for agriculture and higher education.

Bumpers served four years as govenor and 24 years in the U.S. Senate. He retired from the Senate in 1998 and is currently of counsel at Arent Fox, a law firm based in Washington, D.C.

Each of the graduates participating in Commencement will receive an autographed copy of Bumpers’ autobiography-"Dale Bumpers, The Best Lawyer in a One-Lawyer Town: a memoir"--published by Random House in 2003.

Joshua B. Rice, one of two First Rank Senior Scholars in the class of 2003, is the Commencement Speaker for Bumpers College. Rice, the son of Lanny and Kathy Rice of Prairie Grove, is an agricultural business major. He participated in the American Agricultural Economics Association quiz bowl competition for three years and received the Outstanding Sophomore Award from Gamma Sigma Delta, the honor society of agriculture. He teaches a weekly Bible study and a Sunday school class. Following graduation, he plans to participate in the Journeyman Program of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Missions Board.

The other First Rank Senior Scholar is Rupali Ugrankar. She was to speak, but will not be able to attend ccommencement. Ugrankar, the daughter of Bhasharsham and Suman Ugrankar, came to the U of A from Bombay, India. She is an environmental, soil, and water science major and has been accepted in the doctoral program in molecular genetics and microbiology at the University of Texas. She has been a College Ambassador and a member of the Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences Club, Friends of India, Golden Key and International Students Organization. She conducted an Honors Program research project and was a technical assistant in the Soil Microbiology Laboratory.

J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences

1 p.m. May 10, 2003, Bud Walton Arena.

David Norris, a graduate of Parkview High School in Little Rock, entered the University of Arkansas as one of the original seven Bodenhamer Fellows in the fall of 1998. Throughout his years at the U of A, David has pursued studies in both the arts and the sciences: he played in the Razorback Marching Band, studied four foreign languages, and was deeply involved in physics research and teaching. He is the recipient of two undergraduate research grants, one for a project in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and the other for his thesis work in atomic and molecular theoretical spectroscopy. Selected to participate in a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program, he was invited to the University of Washington in Seattle last summer to conduct experimental research in atomic physics. David was selected in 2001 as a Morris K. Udall Scholar, and in 2002 he was named both a Barry Goldwater Scholar and a Robert D. Maurer Fellow. He spent the 2001-2002 school year abroad at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, where he studied physics, British history, and music. David is graduating as a Four-Year Honors Scholar with a bachelor of science degree in physics. He hopes to spend next year teaching English in Japan and afterwards pursue a Ph.D. in physics.

Keri Steffes, a graduate of Siloam Springs High School, is receiving her bachelor’s degree in economics and international relations. She conducted her honor’s thesis research on the media reaction to the Six-Day War in 1967 and the implications for international relations and foreign affairs. Keri spent her junior year studying abroad at Cambridge, where she researched foreign intelligence under renowned expert Christopher Andrew. During a summer in Jordan, she studied urban development and politics, and later served as a legislative intern with U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln. She also spent extensive time volunteering at an orphanage in rural Honduras, where she lived with and helped care for over 100 children, teaching English to both mothers and children and working in the health clinic as a medical assistant. Keri, who is a Phi Beta Kappa Scholar, a Bodenhamer Fellow, and a National Merit Scholar, received the Outstanding Student Award from the department of economics. A Fulbright College Honors Scholar, Keri is a member of the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars. She has actively served both the campus and the community, as a senator in the Associated Student Government, a student ambassador for the University and as a volunteer for Amnesty International and the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter.

Robert A. Leflar School of Law

1:30 p.m. May 17, 2003, Walton Arts Center. Speaker will be announced at a later date.

Sam M. Walton College of Business

3 p.m. May 10, 2003, Barnhill Arena.

Jack Shewmaker is the former vice chairman and chief financial officer of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. He joined Wal-Mart in 1970 and served in a variety of management positions, working his way up to president and chief operating officer and then as vice chairman and chief financial officer. In 1981, he was named Discount Retailer of the Year and presented the Retailer of the Year award by Mass Market Retail magazine. He retired from Wal-Mart in 1988, but continues to be active in the company’s operations as a consultant and as a member of the board of directions, serving on the executive committee. Shewmaker is an internationally recognized retailing expert. He serves on the boards of Lowe’s Companies Inc., Vons Companies Inc., and Northern Automotive. He is a member of the International Platform Association and travels extensively for speaking engagements around the world. He is the owner of Jac’s Ranch, one of Arkansas’ largest cattle operations. In 1985, he began a renaissance of Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) to increase participation from 18 colleges to 200. He continues to be a strong supporter of SIFE around the globe.

Stephen Ray Stafford is the 2003 student speaker for the Walton College commencement. He is the son of Steve and Sharon Stafford of Green Forest, Ark. He is a finance and banking major. His activities include Student Ambassador, Golden Key, Interfraternity Council and Kappa Sigma. The title of his talk will be "Going for What You Want." He plans to move to New York after graduation and work in the financial industry.

School of Architecture

1 p.m. May 10, 2003, Fayetteville Town Center.

Joseph E. Brown of San Francisco is president and CEO of EDAW, Inc., a 900-person firm with 24 offices worldwide. EDAW is one of the world’s leading land and community consultancy firms, with projects throughout the United States and internationally. Brown has 30 years of experience as a planner and landscape architect, with particular strengths in new community planning, urban planning and redevelopment, community revitalization, historic and cultural design, and the issues confronting areas of rapid growth and development. Strongly committed to the fusion of sustainable conservation management with enduring and distinguished physical design, he is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and a founder of the CEO Roundtable. This is a forum of leaders within the profession, brought together to offer national and international depth to the leadership of the land and community design professions. He has been intensely involved as the urban design and landscape architectural expert on a multi-disciplinary team of premier design professionals charged with assisting the National Capital Planning Commission in preparing a long-range plan for the Monumental Core of the Nation's Capital. He participated as the project team leader for Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park; and is currently involved in the planning of Hualalai Resort Community, Big Island, Hawaii; Denver’s Stapleton Airport redevelopment as urban community and parks; and several mixed-use and residential projects for The St. Joe Company. Most recently, he has begun work on a new mixed-use community, including housing and parks, in Tokyo’s Roppongi Neighborhood; a campus master plan for the new Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla.; and design of a mega-casino/resort and entertainment district in Macau, China for the owners of Las Vegas’ Venetian Casino Hotel. Brown has been a visiting lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, leading larger scale site design/community design studios and seminars. He holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture and urban design from Harvard University.