Ouachita Stories

Return to Sundance

Every other spring, Dr. Rebecca Jones, professor of communications at Ouachita, takes a group of students from the OBU at Sundance class to Park City, Utah, to experience the Sundance Film Festival. This was the first year for the trip since the COVID-19 pandemic. Jones and 12 students – some of whom experienced Sundance virtually in 2021 – spent Jan. 22-27 in Utah participating in the festival.

Moore named first recipient of Wink Scholarship at Ouachita

Alex Moore, a junior English and philosophy double major from Gulfport, Miss., was named Ouachita Baptist University’s inaugural Johnny and Susan Wink Scholarship Award winner. He was recognized during an April ceremony in Ouachita’s Young Auditorium.

Ouachita students honored for their work published in "Assayers 30"

Three Ouachita students received awards for their nonfiction work featured in “Assayers 30,” the annual publication by Ouachita’s Department of Language and Literature.

Susan Wink's "Ben Kimpel" biography published posthumously

The late Dr. Susan Wink, professor emerita of English at Ouachita Baptist University, authored Ben Kimpel, a biography of the longtime chairman of the English Department at the University of Arkansas. The book was posthumously published earlier this year and is available at on Amazon.com.

From the "Ouachitonian": Mattie Motl

For many students, college was a time when an abundance of new opportunities were in their grasp. Mattie Mae Motl, a senior English major from Arkadelphia, took advantage of one such opportunity when she applied for a travel grant through Ouachita's Honors Program.

Ouachita alumnus Eli Cranor returns to campus to share authorial journey

With a masked beard and a shirt that read in bold blue letters,: “READ MORE BOOKS,” Ouachita Baptist University alumnus Eli Cranor gave an author’s reading in Young Auditorium Thursday, Nov. 12, at 7:30 p.m. Ouachita’s Department of Language and Literature had invited him to share his unusual authorial journey with current students.

Ouachita's Riley-Hickingbotham Library receives copy of Arkansas' Porter Fund Literary Prize Collection

Ouachita Baptist University’s Riley-Hickingbotham Library is among five Arkansas universities, as well as only one of two private libraries, chosen to receive a copy of the Porter Fund Collection, a curation of works by award-winning Arkansas writers. The collection will be available for Ouachita students, faculty and staff to read virtually, and an exhibition is to be held in the spring of 2021.

Why you should choose a college that supports your dreams

“You’ll never find a job. You’ll have to forge your own connections, which are hard to make in that world.” As a young senior in high school in search of where I would spend the next four years of my life, these weren’t the words I was expecting to hear from my potential professors and deans about my wanting to study English.

Why Read C. S. Lewis?: Literature both sweet and useful

Like so many readers, I first encountered C. S. Lewis’ books as a child: one summer, I stashed a copy of The Chronicles of Narnia in my suitcase before a family vacation and, after staying up far later than I should’ve to discover how Shasta and Bree, Aravis and Hwin would end their adventures in The Horse and His Boy, I devoured the rest of the series in days.

Ouachita to host author, retired Lt. Col. Mark McGraw for memoir reading on Nov. 5

Ouachita Baptist University’s Department of Language and Literature will host author Dr. Mark McGraw in a debut reading of his newly published memoir, Behind Friendly Lines: Memoirs of a U.S. Marine in Chile, on Tuesday, Nov. 5, at 6 p.m. The event will be held in room 200 of Hickingbotham Hall and is free and open to the public. There also will be time for questions from the audience after the reading.