Faculty/Staff
Christa Neal to serve as Ouachita Title IX coordinator, Community and Family Services program advisor
April 16, 2021Ouachita Baptist University has announced its appointment of Christa Neal as both Title IX Coordinator for the university and program advisor for the Community and Family Services academic program, effective June 2021. Neal is the founding executive director of the Percy & Donna Malone Child Safety Center in Arkadelphia, Ark., a licensed professional counselor (LPC) and a licensed family and marriage therapist (LMFT) in the state of Arkansas.
Shepherd returns to Ouachita with goals for belonging: A Q&A with Dr. Lewis Shepherd
March 11, 2021Dr. Lewis Shepherd returned to his alma mater in August as special assistant to the president. In an interview for the Winter 2021 Circle, Dr. Shepherd answers questions about his new role, conversations he is having with students and alumni of color and university goals for working toward a sense of belonging on campus.
Faculty Profile: Ruth Plymale, holder of the J.D. Patterson Chair of Biology
March 10, 2021Ask Dr. Ruth Plymale what she loves about Ouachita, and her answer is easy – the students! Born in Japan and growing up in Texas and Northwest Arkansas, Plymale arrived at Ouachita to teach biology in 2009 after earning degrees at the University of Arkansas and Penn State. Now Arkadelphia feels like home and her students like family.
Staff Profile: Rob Hewell, director of Online Learning Initiatives & professor of music
March 10, 2021While many of us were home in March learning to bake homemade bread or binging Netflix, Dr. Rob Hewell was working swiftly with IT Services and other campus partners to shift every Ouachita student to remote learning. Hewell thrived not only assisting current students but also faculty and staff with moving courses to Zoom and Moodle while continuing his typical daily work with students in Ouachita’s online degree programs.
Pandemic Profiles: Chester Mitchell, Sr., and Coleman Rogers
March 09, 2021With nicknames like “double trouble” and “salt and pepper,” Chester Mitchell, Sr., and Coleman Rogers are the carpentry team for Facilities Management at Ouachita and are not only rarely seen apart but also good friends. With the work the duo had cut out for them last summer, any less than two sets of hands and a good sense of humor would have made overhauling campus with needed protective measures incredibly difficult.
Adapting in an unprecedented, challenging, remarkable year
March 08, 2021"2020: The Worst Year Ever,” declared the Dec. 14 Time magazine cover. Thinking in terms of “worst” primes us to dwell on all that went wrong this year. Thinking of the ways 2020 is unprecedented invites us to acknowledge the negatives but to be grateful, too, for the good in this very challenging year.
Composing the story of us
March 08, 2021Whose story gets told, and who gets to tell it? These questions and others lie at the heart of my flagship course History of American Women, which I am fortunate to teach this semester. As an historian of women and gender, I eagerly anticipate every opportunity to teach the class. We all participate in the course of human events; we all deserve to see ourselves represented in the historical record.
Pandemic Profiles: Kristi Seals and Kristin Kesterson, Ouachita's COVID-19 Testing Center
March 01, 2021For many Ouachita students, the slightest sign of COVID-19 symptoms or the realization that they have been exposed to a positive case causes anxiety, naturally. But since students returned to campus for residential learning in August 2020, they have had two on-campus “mommas” to call for guidance: Kristin Kesterson and Kristi Seals.
Hamilton awarded $20,000 Arkansas INBRE grant to purchase lyophilizer, enhance Ouachita's School of Natural Science laboratories
February 24, 2021Ouachita’s Dr. Sharon Hamilton, assistant professor of chemistry, has been awarded $20,000 in funding by Arkansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) to purchase a lyophilizer freeze-dryer, an instrument used to remove aqueous solvents in industry and research. The instrument will be used to enhance both course-based undergraduate research and independent research projects in Ouachita’s Patterson School of Natural Sciences.
Ouachita to host Art and Design Faculty Biennial Exhibit through Feb. 26
February 18, 2021Ouachita Baptist University’s Rosemary Adams Department of Art and Design is hosting its Art and Design Faculty Biennial Exhibit in the Rosemary Gossett Adams Gallery, located in Moses-Provine Hall, through Friday, Feb. 26. The exhibit features the work of the Ouachita’s Art and Design faculty members and is free and open to the public.