Tuesday Kudos: New Bowen Law School Dean & More

Four developments on the promotions and accolades front.

LAW SCHOOL DEAN
Michael Hunter Schwartz of Lawrence, Kansas, has been named the new dean of law at the William H. Bowen School of Law.

Schwartz comes to UALR with more than 20 years of experience in legal education and is currently associate dean for Faculty and Academic Development at the Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas. He is also co-director of the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning and Professor of Law at Washburn.

Professor Paula Casey, a former U.S.  attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, has served the law school as interim dean since July 2012. She will continue to serve until Schwartz starts on July 1. Casey will then resume her role as professor.

Prior to joining Washburn in 2006, Schwartz was a professor of law at the Charleston School of Law in South Carolina and at Western State University College of Law in Fullerton, Calif.

He also practiced law in California as an associate attorney at Graham & James law firm in Newport Beach and as an associate attorney at Hufstedler, Miller, Kaus & Beardsley law firm in Los Angeles. His background is in  contracts, insurance, and construction law.

DIXON TO LEAD PRYOR CENTER
First Randy Dixon, former news director of KATV in Little Rock, has been chosen to be director of the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History at the University of Arkansas. He began his duties Monday, Jan. 14.

In addition to daily duties, Dixon will be responsible for two major upcoming projects: launching the Arkansas Story Bus, a project intended to generate more interviews with people across the state; and supervising the center’s move to new facilities on the downtown Fayetteville square.

The mission of the Pryor Center is to document Arkansas history by collecting audio and video interviews and images from the people who have witnessed and been a part of the state’s past.

The center staff has compiled hundreds of interviews and images over the past 14 years, and its archive has grown to include 24,000 hours of video and news film, dating back to the 1950s, that was donated by KATV in 2009. The goal of the center is to make this material available to the public and to students and researchers at all academic levels.

The Pryor Center was established in 1999 with a gift of $220,000 from unexpended campaign funds by then-Sen. David Pryor. In 2005, a $2 million gift from Don Tyson and his family provided an endowment for the center, enabling it to expand its staff and purchase additional equipment. The university Board of Trustees renamed the center in honor of Sen. Pryor and his wife, Barbara.

“Randy Dixon will be an outstanding addition to the Pryor Center and the important work it has to do in the coming years,” said Archie Schaffer, chair of the center’s advisory board.  “Having spent over 30 years in the television news business in Arkansas, he knows our state, its history and its culture. Randy is intimately familiar with the KATV archives that have been donated to the Pryor Center. He has been a consultant to the center for the past year, working to digitize those important records and make them accessible to school children and others interested in the oral and visual history of Arkansas. The Pryor Center is poised to move to the next stage in its development, and Randy Dixon is the ideal person to provide the leadership needed to make that happen.”

PRITCHARD TO JOIN BRENT STEVENSON ASSOCIATES
Former GOP State Senator Bill Pritchard of Elkins has partnered with Brent Stevenson President/CEO of the lobbying firm Brent Stevenson Associates located in Little Rock.

Pritchard served six years in the Arkansas House of Representatives and six years in the Arkansas Senate for parts of Washington and Benton Counties.

The former senator was assigned to serve on legislative committees such as Public Health, Welfare and Labor, State Agencies & Governmental Affairs and several senate sub-committees. Pritchard also owned and operated a successful business in northwest Arkansas for 30 years.

“Our firm welcomes this opportunity to provide our clients with additional experience, knowledge and high yield results. Bill Pritchard has served his constituents well in northwest Arkansas over the past 12 years and I am excited to have a person of his caliber and high standards for excellence as a member of our team,” said Stevenson.

Brent Stevenson Associates has been serving its clients in the area of lobbying and government affairs since 2001. The firm offers a wide variety of services including development and implementing of government affairs strategy, trade association management and legal counsel.

CONWAY CHAMBER EARNS PACESETTER AWARD
The Conway Area Chamber of Commerce received the Business Pacesetter award from the Arkansas Campaign for Grade-Level Reading for its pre-Kindergarten efforts.

Arkansas Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, which is dedicated to increasing the number of children who read proficiently by the end of third grade, presented the chamber with the award at the statewide AR-GLR Action Summit. The Arkansas Campaign for Grade Level Reading is a collaborative effort of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.

In October 2012, the Conway Area Chamber announced a partnership with local nonprofit Lifelong Learners Inc. to develop a pre-K program focused on kindergarten readiness, parental involvement and quality instruction. To fund the effort, the Chamber will commit $50,000 annually from its Toad Suck Daze festival proceeds.

“The Chamber has been an advocate for high-quality education in Conway for more than 100 years; our goals haven’t changed,” SVP Jamie Gates said. “While we will continue to support higher education in our area, we also recognize the importance of early learning. We want to equip our day cares, preschools and parents with the best in training and teaching materials.”