By: Jaclyn Johnson
By: April Robertson
This year, almost 20,000 students are attending the UA, and hundreds of professors have returned to teach. The paths leading each of them to campus are undeniably varied, but they often revolve around the UA’s reputation, location and value.
For professors, there are numerous reasons to teach at the UA and take on the responsibilities of “teaching, research and service,” said Neil Allison, chair of the Faculty Senate.
For some departments, professors might be expected to earn grant money for the college or publish books, meaning the road to professorship is not a “just-add-water” technique, despite any preconceived notions of teaching.
“Having a good record as a graduate student and having publications of your own and a promise to teach well are most important (qualities for hiring teachers),” Allison said.
Leading seminars and accepting teaching assistantships and temporary jobs are also valued.
But even after a professor is hired, there’s never a guarantee that he’ll keep his job.
“Some professors stay here for several years, but others end up moving back home or simply lose interest,” Allison said.
English Professor James Gamble had his mind set on attending college in Kansas City when his attention was turned to the UA.
“All I knew about Arkansas was chickens and that the UA lost to Texas in 1969 when I decided the UA would be the best place to complete my Ph.D.,” he said.
The deciding factor for Gamble was the quality of publications written by various UA English professors.
“I came to the UA to study under Ellen Gilchrist because her writing impressed me,” he said.
At the beginning of his career at the UA, professors John Locke, James Whitehead and Brian Wilkie were inspirations to Gamble. And even though each of them has passed away, Gamble maintains that the department has continued its excellence.
“I had planned to move away from Arkansas many years ago, but it turned out to be a good place to be,” he said.
For students, the most attractive quality of the UA is its combination of academic excellence, nice facilities, research opportunities, great athletics and available financial aid, said Associated Student Government President Mattie Bookhout and Vice President Andrew LeNarz.
“Even though we have a big campus scale, we have small departments that offer more for students,” Bookhout said. “It allows you to hone in on what you want in your education.”
Among the various opportunities, Bookhout said she values the amount of funding available for students to study abroad.
LeNarz said his favorite part of the UA has been the combination of Greek life, the ASG and classroom experience.
“At the UA, you can earn multiple degrees or simply walk away with a variety of information in addition to your major,” he said.
For many students, it’s not only academics, but also the entertainment, restaurants and music in Northwest Arkansas that they appreciate. These aspects, along with the diversity of Fayetteville residents, have inspired Herbert M. Vanegas to become a teaching assistant at the university.
“In Oklahoma, there wasn’t much diversity, even at Northeastern State University, where I attended before,” Vanegas said. “There are people from so many different places here; this and the culture attracted me to Fayetteville.”
Junior Jonathan Carlsmith, a journalism major, said he decided to attend the UA “to learn and experience all that I could at a school with a good reputation and heading in the right direction.”
Carlsmith expressed positive feelings about the UA in general, but he didn’t find Fayetteville as diverse as he would have liked in respect to tolerance of the gay community.
Although Vanegas chose the UA because of the diversity and Carlsmith chose it despite the diversity, psychology major Blake Matthews didn’t even consider it in his line-up of most important qualities in a college.
“I came mostly for the money,” he said. “Other schools had let me in, but their scholarship departments had not been as generous as the boys down in Old Main.”