Selected Diversity Events at the University Libraries
2017
Creating A Safe Space for Cherokee Language Learning
4/6/2017
Helen Robson Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library
Candessa Tehee highlighted available resources and concrete strategies for beginners to integrate a new language into their everyday lives. Tehee is a full-blood Cherokee who grew up in a close-knit, traditional community in which Cherokee language and culture were mainstays. She earned a doctorate in linguistic anthropology from the University of Oklahoma with a dissertation focused on the experiences of second language learners in endangered language communities.
Art Reception: Stories, Visions and Memory: Contemporary Southeastern Indian Art
3/10/2017
Helen Robson Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library
The artists from the "Stories, Visions and Memory: Contemporary Southeastern Indian Art" exhibit discussed their work and their inspiration.
Cherokee Meaning
3/2/2017
Helen Robson Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library
Cherokee language expert Ryan Mackey spoke about the confluence of language, cultural identity and worldview. The presentation covered Cherokee language revitalization efforts and the impact of multilingualism in the face of monolingual movements. Mackey is a Cherokee citizen and graduate of the University of Oklahoma's Native American Studies Program. He is a spiritual leader in his local community and is a participant in Cherokee traditional cultural practices. He has worked in various roles within the Cherokee Nation and is currently the language curriculum supervisor and facilitator for the Cherokee Language Master/Apprentice Program, which trains conversationally proficient Cherokee language teachers to be adept in using language immersion methods. He is also a member of the Cherokee Elder Plant Society (Medicine Keepers) for the Cherokee Nation's secretary of natural resources.
It Lives in Stories: Cherokee Storytelling in the Arts
2/23/2017
Helen Robson Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library
Elizabeth Toombs examined the intersection of Cherokee storytelling and visual arts as thefirst of three speakers in the University Libraries' "Explore Native American Storytelling through Arts, Literature, and Culture" program, featuring programs on Native American language and culture at Mullins Library in February, March and April. Toombs is an enrolled Cherokee Nation citizen who procures art. Toombs' previous roles include positions in the nonprofit and corporate legal sectors. Committed to serving her community, Toombs is a Cherokee language advocate and volunteers with cultural outreach. She earned her Master of Arts in Literary and Cultural Studies degree from the University of Oklahoma and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oklahoma City University. Toombs is also a graduate of the Oklahoma Arts Council's Leadership Arts Program, which is dedicated to supporting the state's art and cultural industry.
2015
Black History Month Celebration
2/20/2015
Helen Robson Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library
Award winning independent cartoonist Keith Knight was the guest speaker for the 2015 Black History Month event at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Libraries. In a dynamic, interactive, and forthright manner, Mr. Knight presented his socio-political slideshow: They Shoot Black People Don't They: A Cartoonist's Look at Police Brutality. Knight's illuminating presentation was a call to reflect on the recent police shootings and the effect of police brutality "in the African-American community from the 1991 beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers to the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer this past summer, and even more recently, the shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by a police officer in a Cleveland, Ohio, park."
2014
Professor Lissette Szwydky's Remnant Trust Lecture
3/19/2014
Main Lobby Area, Mullins Library
Lissette Szwydky of the English Department lecrured on Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women, one of the materials in the Wisdom of the Ages Athenaeum exhibit of rare materials from the Remnant Trust
Professor Liang Cai's Remnant Trust Lecture
3/6/2014
Main Lobby Area, Mullins Library
Professor Liang Cai of the History Department lectured on Shengii Ti's The Illustrated Life of Confucius.
Tuckahoe: Poems of Frederick Douglass's Homeland
2/26/2014
Helen Robson Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library
Poems from the sonnet cycle Tuckahoe: Poems of Frederick Douglass's Homeland by Robert D. Madison, Professor Emeritus of English at the U.S. Naval Academy, selected and arranged by Brandyn D. Smith (graduate student, Drama), were read by Smith, Kara George (undergraduate student, Drama), and Zachary Stolz (undergraduate student, Drama)in the Walton Reading Room of Mullins Library.
Robert D. Madison, Professor Emeritus of English at the U.S. Naval Academy, composed his cycle of fifty contemporary sonnets while living near Frederick Douglass's birthplace on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and during production of Madison's prize-winning play Prospect for Freedom: Frederick Douglass and John Brown (Baltimore Artscape 96).
Janis Kearney on Daisy Bates
2/20/2014
Helen Robson Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library
In celebration of Black History Month, the University of Arkansas Libraries hosted Janis Kearney, publisher, author and advocate. Kearney discussed Daisy: Between a Rock and a Hard Place, a biography of civil rights leader Daisy Bates, written by Kearney and published by Writing our World Press, the micropublishing company she founded in 2004. Following her presentation, professor emeritus Roy Reed and professor Gerald Jordan, of the Walter J. Lemke department of journalism at the University of Arkansas, joined Kearney to discuss the civil rights movement in Arkansas and the nation.
Professor Jeannie Whayne's Remnant Trust Lecture
2/18/2014
Main Lobby Area, Mullins Library
Professor Jeannie Whayne of the History Department lectured on slavery and emancipation in the United States, referencing the works Notes of the State of Virginia by Thomas Jefferson, My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass, and the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln, all materials in the Wisdom of the Ages Athenaeum exhibit of rare materials from the Remnant Trust.
Professor Ben Fagan's Remnant Trust Lecture
2/12/2014
Main Lobby Area, Mullins Library
Professor Ben Fagan of the English Department lectrued on Frederick Douglass's My Bondage and My Freedom, one of the materials in the Wisdom of the Ages Athenaeum exhibit of rare materials from the Remnant Trust
2013
iConnect 2013
8/24/2013
Donald W. Reynolds Center
In August the Libraries participated in iConnect, a program to familiarize underrepresented students with campus resources. The program also provides a series of academic workshops designed to address specific challenges students may encounter in their first year on campus. Library volunteers included Kate Dougherty, Tess Gibson, Jordan Nielsen, Martha Parker, and Sarah Spiegel. Approximately 150 students attended the event; most had not taken library tours at that point. The students appeared enthusiastic about the resources available to them.
2012
Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock Documentary Prescreening
1/19/2012
Donald W. Reynolds Center
In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. week, the University Libraries and Diversity Affairs hosted a prescreening of the PBS documentary Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little RockThe film's producer and director, Sharon La Cruise, discussed the documentary filmmaking process as well as the social and historical issues the film brings to focus.
2011
Sand Mandala V=Creation
5/12/2011
Helen Robson Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library
Tibetan traditions were the focus of events surrounding the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama during Tibet Week 2011.
Tibetan Buddhist butter sculpture demonstration with Sonam Dhargye
5/11/2011
Helen Robson Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library
Sonam Dhargye conducted a live demonstration of the building of a traditional Tibetan Buddhist butter sculpture, which is central to spiritual development in Tibetan Buddhism and are considered a high form of Tibetan art.
2010
Reception to Honor Chad Smith, Chief of the Cherokee Nation
11/8/2010
Helen Robson Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith visited the University of Arkansas in honor of Native American Heritage Month. The citizens of the Cherokee Nation elected Chadwick "Corntassel" Smith as principal chief in 1999. Smith has brought unprecedented growth in the Cherokee Nation budgets, bringing in more money from both federal agencies and tribal enterprises.
\2009
"We Surely Owe a Debt to these Long Downtrodden People"
11/18/2009
Giffels Auditorium, Old Main
The University of Arkansas Libraries' Special Collections Department joined with the UA Press to present "'We Surely Owe a Debt to these Long Downtrodden People': The Accidental Founding and Amazing Survival of Southland College, 1864-1925" by Professor Emeritus Thomas C. Kennedy. The lecture was based on Kennedy's research for A History of Southland College: The Society of Friends and Black Education in Arkansas published in 2009 by the UA Press.
Mandala: A Spiritual Experience of Tibet
3/29/2009
Helen Robson Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library
Geshe Dorjee, instructor at the University of Arkansas's Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, and Gedun Pekar of Fayetteville's Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas were joined by two visiting scholars of Tibetan culture, Zoepa Gyatso and Lama Agha, and the four created a Tibetan sand mandala in the Helen Robson Walton Reading Room of Mullins Library. The mandala was constructed as an educational tool for the students and community, and as an offering of peace and harmony. The event was open to the public, and visitors were invited to watch the creation of this sacred design.
Suffering Doesn't End Once the Killing Has Stopped
2/26/2009
Helen Robson Walton Reading Room, Mullins Library
Professor Samuel Totten gave a lecture titled "The Suffering Doesn't End Once the Killing has Stopped: The Plight and Fate of the Survivors of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide." Copies of Totten's book The Plight and Fate of Women During and Following Genocide were available for sale on site by the University of Arkansas Bookstore.
Jim Crow in the Natural State: A Look at White Supremacy in Arkansas History
2/25/2009
UA School of Law
Arkansas historian and author Grif Stockley gave a lecture in honor of Black History Month entitled "Jim Crow in the Natural State: A Look at White Supremacy in Arkansas History." Following the lecture, Stockley signed copies of his most recent book, Ruled by Race: Black/White Relations in Arkansas from Slavery to the Present, published by the University of Arkansas Press. The Press offered copies of the book for sale at the event, with proceeds going to the University of Arkansas Libraries' Special Collections Department.
2008
Walkin' Talkin' Gallery Tour
2/8/2008
Main Lobby Area, Mullins Library
Memphis artist George Hunt hosted two walk-through tours of his exhibit in Mullins Library. Hunt called them his "Walkin' Talkin' Gallery Tour," in which he described each painting and his motivation for painting it. Each lecture was followed by a reception and poster signing opportunity with Mr. Hunt. The event gave attendees the opportunity to listen to the creative process of this nationally-recognized artist and to ask him questions.
2007
Native American Symposium Kickoff 2007
11/6/2007
Main Lobby Area, Mullins Library
The 2007 Native American Symposium held its kickoff event at the University of Arkansas Libraries on November 6, 2007. Event co-chairs Gloria Young and Frank Scheide were on hand for the event, which began with a short welcome from Dean of Libraries Carolyn Allen. Participants in the symposium toured the Edward S. Curtis exhibit hanging in the main lobby area of Mullins Library before heading down to Special Collections to see the original Curtis portfolios housed in the rare books collection.
Before Little Rock: Successful Arkansas School Integration
9/12/2007 - 9/15/2007
Various Locations
Because the Little Rock Central High School Integration Crisis grabbed the national spotlight in 1957, most Arkansans are unaware of the positive strides taken toward integration in Arkansas before 1957. The University of Arkansas Libraries hosted a series of three events collectively titled "Before Little Rock: Successful Arkansas School Integration" to remind us of these historic moments. The events focused on the successful integration of the UA Schools of Law and Medicine in 1948, the 1954 integration of Fayetteville and Charleston public schools (the first public school integration below the Mason-Dixon Line), and the 1955 integration of Hoxie public schools.
The Photographic Mission of Ralph Armstrong
2/21/2007
Special Collections Reading Room, Mullins Library
Susan Marren, assoc. professor of English, lectured on the life and works of Ralph Armstrong, the Little Rock photographer whose exhibit was currently on display in Mullins Library. Seven members of the Armstrong family, including his son and daughter, were present for the event.