Dear Members of the University of Arkansas System Community,

I hope this message finds you well as we begin a new chapter in the prestigious history of the University of Arkansas System together. It is with a profound sense of responsibility that I step into the role of president of the state’s largest higher education system. Serving this remarkable system of unique campuses, divisions and units, and its dedicated students, faculty, staff, and alumni is both a genuine honor and a privilege.

The UA System has long been a beacon of opportunity and progress for our state, providing access to quality education, maintaining a crucial role in the economy of Arkansas and preparing future generations of leaders both in Arkansas and around the globe. This legacy is a testament to the dedication of those who came before me, and I am deeply committed to honoring that tradition while guiding us into the future.

Students at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts earned recognition at the 59th Arkansas Model United Nations Conference recently held at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. 

Among the recognition students earned were awards for Best Position Paper for a nation and as an Outstanding Delegate representing a nation on a committee. 

Three ASMSA students served as delegates for Denmark at the conference, and they were recognized among the awards for Best Position Papers. The students who represented Denmark were senior Rosie Garner of White Hall, junior Tristan Henson of Maumelle and junior Tatum Polzin of Little Rock. 

Aarush Goyal, a junior from Little Rock, representing Saudi Arabia, was named the Outstanding Delegate for the Executive Board of the World Food Programme committee. 

Kalyn You, a senior at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, was named a 2025 National STEM Festival Finalist.

The National STEM Festival is a nationwide initiative to foster creativity, critical thinking and a passion for STEM among middle and high school students. The Festival accepts entries from students in grades 7-12 that explore STEM innovations, inventions and research addressing real-world problems, according to a release. Entries for the Festival were accepted in six categories: Environmental Stewardship, Future Food, Health & Medicine, Powering the Planet, Aerospace Innovation and Tech for Good.

You of Everton was selected as a Finalist for research conducted during her junior year. Her project focused on new psilocin derivatives that could result in potential new treatments for depression. You’s research was conducted as part of a physical science capstone course taught by ASMSA faculty members Dr. Brian Monson and Dr. Burt Hollandsworth.

You said she used a computational chemistry suite to model psilocybin-related compounds to find correlations and predict potency values for fluorinated psilocybin.

“The goal of my project is to not only find new medicines that could be useful to psychiatry but also to raise awareness for unorthodox treatments for mental health disorders that are more efficacious than conventional ones,” You said.

The competition is sponsored by EXPLR, a streaming video and curriculum service for students in the 5^th through 12^th grades as well as teachers and families.

Filmmaker Roger Beebe will bring a 16mm multi-projector performance to the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts on Thursday, Feb. 13.

Since 2006, Beebe’s work has consisted primarily of multiple-projector performances and essayistic videos that explore the world of found images and the “found” landscapes of late capitalism. The upcoming program celebrates the 25^th anniversary of his first touring program.

Beebe is a professor in the Department of Art and the Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts at Ohio State University. He has screened his film around the world, including at the Sundance Film Festival and the Museum of Modern Art as well as other venues such as the CBS Jumbotron in Times Square in New York City, the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, the Anthology Film Archives, The Laboratorio Arte Alameda in Mexico City, the the Los Angeles Filmforum among others. He also ran Flicker, a festival of small-gauge film in Chapel Hill, N.C., from 1997-2000 and was the founder and artistic director of FLEX, the Florida Experimental Film Festival from 2004-2014.

The current touring program includes newer films as well as some of his best-known projector performances, including the seven-projector film “Last Light of a Dying Star.” Beebe will also include a sampling of recent essayistic videos presented as live-narrated documentaries.

The program will be held in the Creativity and Innovation Complex on ASMSA’s campus at 200 Whittington Ave. in Hot Springs. The performance is is sponsored by the ASMSA Art Department. It is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. with the performance set for 7 p.m.

“We are thrilled to welcome Roger Beebe and his incredibly unique ‘live cinema’ event to campus,” said Dan Anderson, ASMSA’s digital arts instructor. “Roger makes movies on classic 16mm film and creates performances with multiple film projectors in the same way a band would play musical instruments. He is one of the most well-known and active experimental filmmakers of the 21^st century, but his shows must be seen in person to fully appreciate.”

More information about Beebe and his filmmaking may be found at rogerbeebe.com.

Note: This event was originally schedule for Saturday, Jan. 11, but was postponed due to inclement weather.

The STEM Pathways program at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts continues to serve as an important resource for students and educators across the state for the 2024-25 academic year.

The hybrid online learning and teacher professional development program is serving 3,645 students and 93 teachers across the state through its Computer Science Plus, Advance Biology Plus and Advanced Statistics Plus cohorts. The Computer Science Plus Program is serving more than 3,000 students and 50 teachers statewide alone.

The Advanced Biology Plus program is serving 558 students and 38 teachers, an increase over the 2023-24 academic year. There are 40 students and five educators enrolled in the Advanced Statistics Plus program, which is in its third year of a pilot program.

Ten students from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts recently received honors in the College Board National Recognition Programs. 

The programs celebrate students’ hard work and academic performance. Students who take eligible PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10 or AP eligible exams and meet the score requirements are considered for awards. The five national recognition programs include the National African American Recognition Program, National First-Generation Recognition Program, National Hispanic Recognition Program, National Indigenous Recognition Program and the National Rural and Small Town Recognition Program. 

ASMSA students earning recognition and their recognition program include: 

• Damian Biggs, a senior from Washington County, First-Generation, Indigenous and Rural and Small Town;
• Violet Dailey, a junior from Sherwood, First Generation;
• Alice Dong, a senior from Arkadelphia, First Generation;
• Lakaylah Hall, a senior from Little Rock, First Generation;
• Jaime Hernandez Perez, a senior from Decatur, First Generation and Hispanic;
• Kelvin Orduna, a senior from Huntsville, First Generation and Hispanic;
• Sarah Pham, a senior from Hot Springs, First Generation;
• Finneas Salazar, a senior from Searcy, Hispanic; and
• Sage Torres, a senior from Fairfield Bay, First Generation and Hispanic.

The academic honors offer recognized students an opportunity to share their strong academic achievements with colleges and scholarship programs that are seeking to recruit diverse talent, according to a release from College Board, a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity that was founded in 1900. The organization’s membership includes 6,000 educational institutions. 

Students apply for the programs through College Board’s BigFuture initiative, which offers participants opportunities to connect directly with higher education institutions, search for scholarships and explore possible careers. 

Six students from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts have been named Commended Students in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program. 

ASMSA students named Commended Students include: 

• Calen Long, a senior from Fort Smith;
• Sarah Pham, a senior from Hot Springs;
• Thor Seay, a senior from Hot Springs;
• Jonathan Tucker, a senior from Batesville;
• Alan Ye, a senior from Conway; and
• Charlotte Young, a senior from Paragould.

About 34,000 Commended Students were recognized across the nation. Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 students in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Competition but were not chosen among the finalists. Students take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as a junior to qualify for the competition. 

Twelve Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students earned the Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy for the Fall 2024 semester.

The Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy is awarded each spring and fall to students in ninth through 12th grades who demonstrate a proficiency in English and at least one other language before graduating high school.

The program is sponsored by the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association and the Arkansas Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. The Arkansas Department of Education officially endorsed the seal in June 2018. The Seal of Biliteracy program is recognized in 49 states and Washington, D.C.

ASMSA students who earned the seal this fall include:

• Morgan Broadway, a senior from Mablevale, Spanish;
• Alice Dong, a senior from Arkadelphia, Chinese;
• Madeline Liachenko, a senior from Benton, Russian;
• Emily Lin, a junior from Little Rock, Chinese;
• Preston Lowe, a senior from Mayflower, Spanish;
• Kelvin Orduna, a senior from Huntsville, French;
• Yongjun Park, a junior from Maumelle, Korean;
• Meera Patel, a senior from Hot Springs, French;
• Sage Torres, a senior from Fairfield Bay, Spanish;
• Kris Torres, a senior from Fairfield Bay, Spanish;
• Jonathan Tucker, a senior from Batesville, Spanish; and
• Luis Vidal Jr., a junior from Fort Smith, Spanish.

Since the 2017 pilot year in Arkansas, a total of 6,017 students from 108 high schools around the state have attained this certification across 32 languages other than English, according to a release from the Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy Committee.

Six Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts seniors received full-ride scholarship offers in the 2024 QuestBridge National College Match Program.

The students who received matches include:

• Jaime Hernandez Perez of Decatur, Brown University;
• Hailey Judkins of Benton, College of the Holy Cross;
• Sarah Pham of Hot Springs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT);
• Katherine Quintanilla of Nashville, University of Pennsylvania;
• Ezekiel Summers of Paragould, Johns Hopkins University; and
• Plinio Tola of Little Rock, Wesleyan University.

QuestBridge is a nonprofit organization that connects exceptional low-income youth with leading institutions of higher education. QuestBridge works with top universities across the country to offer four-year, full scholarships to deserving students who may otherwise be unable to afford to attend those institutions. The organization partnered this year with 52 colleges and universities to offer scholarships at institutions such as Duke University, Columbia University, Yale and others.