Vote for a College Campus Champion of Change finalist: Arkansas

A message from the Chancellor's Office at the University of Arkansas


Dear friends: 

Your online vote today could decide the outcome! 

One of the University of Arkansas' most valuable student-led programs, Full Circle Food Pantry, is one of 15 finalists in a national competition recognizing student innovation and action called the "Campus Champions of Change Challenge." 

Led by student volunteer Julia Lyon, the food pantry helps those who are in personal crisis and do not have the financial resources to meet all of their nutritional needs. Julia and the food pantry were recently highlighted in USA Today and in other national media. 

The competition winners will be determined by an online vote, which ends Saturday evening. If the food pantry volunteers win, they will be honored in Washington, D.C. at a White House ceremony and will be featured in a national TV program. 

Voting has begun and these U of A students currently are in the top three -- and gaining! We urge you to support Julia and the other U of A volunteers, all of whom work extremely hard to serve individuals and families in need. Click here now to receive and cast your online ballot. (You may cast up to three votes for Full Circle.) 

Thank you in advance for supporting our students and their service to others! 

Sincerely, 

Dave and Jane Gearhart 

P.S. Please share this message with your online contacts and ask them to cast their votes as well. Like Julia and the other food pantry volunteers, we, too, can make a difference!

Full Circle Food Pantry - Julia Lyon, Volunteer Action Center, University of Arkansas

The Volunteer Action Center (VAC) Board, a program of the Center for Community Engagement, launched a student food pantry in February 2010 to serve the needs of students on and off campus who are in personal crisis and do not have the financial resources to meet all of their nutritional needs. The VAC launched a weekly program that provides food for students who make requests through an online, email system with goals that the program be accessible to students in proximity (on campus), free of obstacles, and that it must be dignified. Donations are at the heart of the work of the pantry, and student groups and offices from across campus filled the pantry in the Campus-Wide Food Fight. So far, more than 1,300 individuals gathered 1000’s of food items to stock the shelves.

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SEC Football: New Conference for Missouri, Same Disregard by Conference Leaders

The news about University of Missouri’s entrance into the SEC was a shock to no one by the time an official public announcement was made November 6, declaring the Tigers the 14th member of the Southeastern Conference after Texas A&M became the 13th member weeks prior.

Weeks of speculation about Missouri leaving for the SEC were confirmed only to have the Big East try to block West Virginia from leaving for the newly reformed Big 12 due to a 27-month notification period written within the league’s bylaws. Confusion over conference realignment still ensued.

Looking back a couple of questions have been left unanswered and perhaps none more important than did Missouri trade one unstable situation in a premiere conference for a role as an afterthought in another premiere conference?

Everyone knows that conference realignment is all about financial decisions. TV contracts and Neilson Ratings have sold out student athletes and 100 year old rivalries for the almighty dollar. Regardless of the thousands of miles that may separate one campus from another and the financial toll moms and dads may have to endure to see their children play college sports albeit football or gymnastics, the money train has left the station and Missouri is another academic institution that made a financial decision based on their bottom line not for those individuals that support or the students athletes that compete for the university.

From the outside peering in, Missouri along with Texas A&M may have made the best monetary decision for their university but at what costs to the athletic programs, primarily their football program?

The SEC has welcomed Missouri not because of their play on the football field but because of their campus’ proximity to St. Louis and Kansas City and the TV market value both cities represent. As a former Missouri resident I can share with those outside of the immediate area that St. Louis is a professional sports town and by and large could care less about Mizzou football.

The heart of downtown Kansas City is a 40 mile trip from Lawrence, Kansas, making Kansas City a melting pot of Kansas City Chiefs and Royals fans, Kansas Jayhawk fans, and Missouri Tiger fans.

The question begging to be asked is what did the SEC really gain by adding Missouri to their conference other than market share? Also, what kindness has the SEC given Missouri, other than split revenue, with their welcoming?

Missouri cut ties with the Big 12 and every form the Big 12 has embodied dating back to 1907, including their days in the Big Eight. As a warm welcome the SEC put the Tigers in the SEC East. What logic does this serve? The SEC in so many words said, “Thanks for joining our conference. We like things the way they are right now so you are going to have to go sit over in the corner and take whatever scraps we give to you.”

Logic would dictate that Missouri be in the SEC West moving Alabama and Auburn over to the SEC East with the addition of Texas A&M and Missouri, two schools west of the Mississippi River. Still the SEC has said Missouri will start off in the East.

Missouri’s new SEC East rivals will have to be University of Kentucky, Vanderbilt University, and University of Tennessee as Missouri’s boot heel barely touches both bordering states making this a fierce rivalry all SEC fans and national media outlets will want to cover.

UK is about 470 miles from Columbia, Missouri, Nashville is about 435 miles, and Knoxville is about 610 miles away. Seems difficult to set up recruiting battles and new rivalries when your closest counterpart is at least seven hours away much less the 1,000 plus miles between Columbia and Gainesville. Good luck to the women’s softball team for either school that has to take a bus ride between the two campuses.

The SEC has said that the conference alignment with Missouri in the East may only be a temporary solution. That’s reminiscent of a parent telling their child “we’ll get that toy for you next time we come back”. Translation, it ain’t ever going to happen.

Does SEC commissioner Michael Slive really expect the Tiger fan base to travel to South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and/or Tennessee a couple of times per season? The clear message from the rest of the conference to Missouri is “thanks for giving us the 21st and 31st biggest television markets in the U.S. good luck the rest of the way you are on your own”.

When Missouri officially joins the SEC July 1, 2012, the West division will consist of Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Texas A&M. The East alignment will be Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Missouri.

The SEC has seemingly forgotten that Missouri recruits Texas heavily. One would think that having Texas A&M guaranteed on the schedule every year would work in Missouri’s favor in recruiting battles along state lines or within a day’s drive of a parent seeing their child play.

Did the SEC also forget that Missouri shares a border with Arkansas? The Tigers’ campus is only 300 miles away from Arkansas’ campus. Seems like a new natural rivalry without needing much media hype. Sorry Razorback and Tiger fans, the SEC does not want to put Alabama and Auburn in the same division with Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee.

After Florida and Tennessee’s play over the past two years in football it would behoove the SEC to put Alabama and Auburn in the East division.

Jokes and financials aside, does the SEC or the University of Missouri ever expect the Tigers to be competitive in the SEC with the current alignment? Why would the SEC allow Missouri to join the conference and promise revenue sharing to a team that may not be able to pull their own football weight because the divisional alignment prohibits the Tigers from being competitive on and off the field?

Why has Missouri’s Chancellor Brady J Deaton traded one bad situation for the Tigers athletic program for another?

What would you like to clarify?

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Fall Practices begin for the University of Arkansas Razorback Baseball Team

The Arkansas Razorback baseball team began their fall preparation for the 2012 college baseball season with their first practice on Friday. The fall practices include seven intra-squad games called the Cardinal-White series. The first game of the seven game series will be played on Saturday, October 15, at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.

The Razorbacks finished the 2011 baseball season ranked 14^th in the nation after posting a 40-22 record. Hopes are high for the Razorbacks to surpass last year’s team that won the SEC West Division but lost in the Tempe Regional after going 2-2 in regional play. This was the Razorback’s second straight season ending loss to Arizona State University in the NCAA Tournament; 2010 Super Regional.

Arkansas’ head baseball coach Dave Van Horn will rely heavily on a young team and young pitching rotation; the Razorbacks only had one senior in 2011, Kyle Robinson. Junior pitcher DJ Baxendale and the rest of Dave Van Horn’s returning staff will have to carry the Hogs as they replace four everyday starters from last year’s squad.

DJ Baxendale was an All-SEC player in 2010 after posting a 10-2 record with three saves in 19 appearances. He posted a 1.58 ERA which was second best on the team behind freshman Colby Suggs .90 ERA in 20 innings of work. Sophomores Astin Barrett, who was second on the team with 5 wins, and Nolan Sanburn, who had a team high 8 saves, return to help fill out the pitching staff.

The four everyday players returning for the Hogs in 2012 include senior Tim Carver, junior Matt Reynolds, senior Bo Bigham and sophomore Dominic Ficociello. Arkansas has 12 players from last year’s team that saw significant playing time during the season. Those 12 players along with a talented group of incoming recruits will fight for the final four starting positions during fall practices.

Three highly regarded recruits along with four position players were lost to the 2011 MLB Draft.

Players with University of Arkansas ties that were drafted in the 2011 Major League Draft:

*#13 OF   Brandon Nimmo, Arkansas Signee, NY Mets, R1

*#44 P      Michael Fulmer, Arkansas Signee, NY Mets. R1

*#67 P      Dillion Howard, Arkansas Signee (Searcy), Cleveland Indians, R2

*#76 C      James McCann, University of Arkansas, Detroit Tigers, R2

#179 1B  Greg Bird, Arkansas Signee, NY Yankees, R5

#385 SS   Joe Serrano, Arkansas Signee, Cincinnati Reds, R12

#505 OF  Connor Costello, Arkansas Signee, Cincinnati Reds R16

*#531 OF  Collin Kuhn, University of Arkansas, Detroit Tigers R17

#628 IF    Brian Anderson, Arkansas Signee, Minnesota Twins, R20

#707 P     Trent Daniel, University of Arkansas, Detroit Tigers, R23

#815 P     Chris Oliver, Arkansas Signee (Shiloh Christian) B. Orioles, R27

*#861 OF   Kyle Robinson, University of Arkansas, Chicago White Sox, R28

#917 P      Greg Milhorn, Arkansas Signee (Arkansas High School), Detroit Tigers, R30

*#940 OF   Jarrod McKinney, University of Arkansas, Houston Astros, R31

#1298 P    Geoffrey Davenport, University of Arkansas, Cleveland Indians, R43

*Signed a Major League Baseball contract.

R = Round Drafted

Razorback Baseball Facts:

Arkansas has made six College World Series appearances. Their last appearance was in 2009.

Dominic Ficociello, Nolan Sanburn, and Astin Barrett were Freshmen All-Americans in 2011. The last Razorback to earn Freshman All-American honors was Brett Eibner in 2008. Eibner earned All-American honors in 2010.

19 Arkansas players have been awarded All-American honors.

Jeff King 1985-1986, Kevin McReynolds 1980-1981, Nick Schmidt 2006-2007, Phillip Stidham 1990-1991, and David Walling 1998-1999 were awarded All-American honors multiple times. 

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Petrino Releases Two More Players

And then there were none

Coming off a great season and run to Arkansas’ first BCS appearance in the Sugar Bowl, few fans of the Razorbacks have much room to question head coach Bobby Petrino and his handling of the football team. But one has to wonder if his penchant to “cut the fat” from the roster will end up costing him a game or two in the future. Two more players were released from the Razorback football team on Monday; redshirt freshman defensive lineman Jatashun Beachum and redshirt freshman tight end Denton Simek.

Reports from Fayetteville, Arkansas claim that Beachum left due to academic woes and Simek left because of the backlog of players at tight end. Simek was moved from center to tight end during the 2010 season, before senior Seth Oxner left the team for Arkansas-Monticello. The “backlog” of tight ends on the Razorback depth chart currently include junior Chris Gragg, sophomore Austin Tate, freshman walk-on Garrett Uekman, and junior Colton Miles-Nash, a position transfer from defensive end.

Times are changing with the Razorback football program, hopefully all for the better. At some point the loss of players, seemingly, will negatively affect their graduation rate which could cost the team scholarships in the upcoming years. Speculation is several current Razorback underclassmen will make the jump to the NFL following the 2011 season. Depth and graduation rates will remain an outside concern for university officials and fans until given a reason to no longer worry.

10 and Counting

Ten scholarship players are no longer with the Razorback football team since spring practice ended. A few of these departures cause reasons for concern with quality depth and scout team preparations.

The Departed

WR Lance Ray

LB Austin Moss

OL Cam Feldt

K Eduardo Camara

OL Seth Oxner

OL Anthony Oden

TE Ryan Calender

OL Colby Berna * medical hardship

Another Preseason Watch List for Knile Davis

Knile Davis has been listed on the Doak Walker Award list and the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award watch list. The Doak Walker Award is given to the top running back in Division-1 football and the Walter Camp Award is given to the top college football player regardless of position.

Davis is coming off a 2010 season when he rushed for 1,322 yards, 204 rushing attempts with a 6.5 yards per carry average and 13 touchdowns. 

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