UCA President discusses changes coming to higher ed, ‘enrollment cliff’

by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)

University of Central Arkansas President Dr. Houston Davis has helped guide the Conway-based university to some solid enrollment gains over the last four years. Earlier this fall, UCA welcomed one of its largest incoming freshman classes with 2,183 students, marking a 26% increase in incoming students from fall 2023, according to preliminary data.

The incoming freshman class represents the largest year-to-year increase in at least 25 years with 446 more students over last year. This cohort of 2,183 is the second-largest incoming freshman class among all Arkansas four-year universities for the ninth consecutive fall.

Overall enrollment for fall 2024 at UCA is 10,123 which is a 3.4% gain from the previous year. New graduate and transfer students, as well as the incoming freshman class, helped to fuel overall growth at the university.

UCA President discusses changes coming to higher ed, ‘enrollment cliff’

AGFC adds seven new game wardens in graduation ceremony

BY Randy Zellers

CONWAY — United States Magistrate Joe Volpe Friday swore in seven new members of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s enforcement ranks at the official graduation ceremony of the 2024 agency’s game warden training program at the Antioch Baptist Church.

Judge Joe Volpe swears in the graduating class of new AGFC game wardens. Photo by Mike Wintroath.

This year’s graduating class was smaller than typical years, which is a testament to the level of commitment required to become an AGFC game warden.

The process to become a wildlife officer began in May when 16 individuals were selected from hundreds of applicants to participate in the training program.

“In addition to applications, interviews and extensive background checks, we talked with community references to ensure prospective candidates were able to handle the extreme pressures of the job as well as being a role model for conservation and law enforcement in their hometowns,” Maj. Brian Aston, assistant chief of the AGFC Enforcement Division, said.

Col. Brad Young commends the graduating class of AGFC game wardens for their perseverance and dedication. Photo by Mike Wintroath.

During the next 18 weeks, cadets spent most of their waking hours at the H.C. “Red” Morris Training Center east of Mayflower on Lake Conway. They received 835 hours of training in self-defense, firearms, first aid and rescue, drug enforcement, physical conditioning, criminal law and wildlife code enforcement.

Capt. Sydney Carman directs the cadet-training program, with many AGFC enforcement officers serving as instructors. Other experts teach specialized topics.

“Once a game warden is assigned to their region, they have to handle a variety of tasks beyond wildlife code regulation, which can include state and federal law enforcement, forensics, interviewing and public relations and community outreach,” Carman said. “We have instructors and experts come in and assist with training on such things as recognizing and dealing with child abuse and domestic violence situations, which our officers may have to engage in once they’re on their own.”

Each of the remaining cadets celebrated during Friday’s formal graduation ceremony before heading to their assigned duty stations. Each officer is assigned to a duty station based on the current needs of the Commission, but accommodations can be made to ensure officers that are familiar with certain areas are assigned near them if possible.

From left to right: Capt. Sydney Carman, training instructor; Brandon Trammell; Clayton Bramel; Brandon Bybee; Doug Carpenter; Heath Hampton; Aaron McNew; Alyssa Mostrom; Lt. Tracey Blake, assistant training instructor. 

“We always try to place officers in counties where they are already part of the community,” Aston said. “But we also have to ensure vacancies are filled across the state. Sometimes an officer will work in a county far from home for a few years until a vacancy opens up closer to their hometown. Sometimes they decide to stay at their original duty station once they become a part of that community.”

The 2024 graduates and their county assignments are:

• Clayton Bramel of Benton County, assigned to Phillips

• Brandon Bybee of Craighead County, assigned to Crittenden County

• Douglas Carpenter of Yell County, assigned to Sebastian County

• Heath Hampton of Gleason, Wisconsin, assigned to Cleveland County

• Aaron McNew of Faulkner County, assigned to Dallas County

• Alyssa Mostrom of Marion County, assigned to Ouachita County

• Brandon Trammell of Stone County, assigned to Desha County

The AGFC will begin the process to accept applications for the next class of cadets to fill vacancies soon. Visit www.agfc.com/enforcement for more information on becoming a wildlife officer.

Roofe elected Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics board speaker

By Mary Hightower
U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

CHICAGO — Nina Roofe has been elected to serve a one-year term as speaker of the house of delegates for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Roofe, assistant vice president for Family and Consumer Sciences for the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, began her term on June 1 and will serve until May 31, 2025. She just completed a one-year term as speaker-elect.

“It has been an honor serving as speaker-elect this past year,” she said. “I look forward to leading the house of delegates this year. I work with the best of the best when it comes to movers and shakers in the world of dietetics and nutrition. Together we can achieve great results.”

Nina Roofe, of Conway, Arkansas, will serve as the speaker of the house of delegates for a national nutrition and dietetics organization. She is head of Family and Consumer Sciences for the Cooperative Exension Service. (U of A System Division of Agriuclture photo)

Roofe said she and the other board members listen to, identify, and respond to critical issues facing the profession of nutrition and dietetics.

“Currently we are engaged with two issues. In one, we are mobilizing educators, professionals, and industry experts across the nation to ascertain how to best use artificial intelligence in classrooms and worksites, and to solve challenges ethically and innovatively,” she said.

“For the second issue, we are studying the issue of student enrollment in dietetics and nutrition programs at all levels nationwide to determine how much of the decline is due to the shift in demographics versus other factors like the mandatory master’s degree, pay scale, or perceived respect by others on the healthcare team,” Roofe said.

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Board of Directors for 2024-2025 are: 

• Carl Barnes, MS, RDN, LDN, Director-at-Large (Rockville, Maryland)
  Barnes is the executive director of The Wholesome Village Inc., in Germantown, Maryland, and the president of United Nutrition Group LLC and Chow Solutions LLC, both in Kensington, Maryland.

• Don Bradley, MD, MHS, CL, Public Member (Durham, North Carolina)
  Bradley is a consulting professor at Duke University School of Medicine and core faculty member at the Duke Margolis Institute for Health Policy. He retired from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina in 2014 after serving as senior vice president for health care and chief medical officer.

• Deanne Brandstetter, MBA, RDN, CDN, FAND, President-elect (Naples, Florida)
  Brandstetter is vice president of nutrition and wellness at Compass Group North America, a global food service company, author of numerous scientific journal articles and book chapters, and a speaker to professional and consumer groups.

• Harlivleen "Livleen" Gill, MBA, RDN, LDN, FAND, President (Bethesda, Maryland)
  Gill is president and CEO of Apostle Group LLC, a consulting company that provides innovative solutions to clients in health care, food and nutrition. She is also the CEO of The Wholesome Village Inc., a non-profit centered on equitable access to healthful foods.

• Amanda Goldman, MS, RD, LD, FAND, Treasurer (Lexington, Kentucky)
  Goldman is the system vice president of Food and Nutrition Services at CommonSpirit Health, where she leads the overall food service and clinical nutrition operations for their national program.

• Leslene Gordon, PhD, RDN, LDN, Director-at-Large (Lutz, Florida)
  Gordon retired in 2023 as the Hillsborough County community health director for the Florida Department of Health, where she had worked since 2005. She is an affiliate assistant professor at the University of South Florida's College of Public Health.

• RoseAnna Holliday, PhD, MPH, RDN, LD, FAND, Speaker-elect (Twin Falls, Idaho)
  Holliday is an assistant professor and former chair of the department of health sciences human services at the College of Southern Idaho.

• Suzanne Jiménez, MS, RDN, LND, Director-at-Large (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico)
  Jiménez is a public health dietitian and currently works at Head Start/Early Head Start Quintana Baptist Church, providing nutrition-related services and education to program participants, families and staff.

• Sherri Jones, MS, MBA, RDN, LDN, FAND, House of Delegates Director (Wexford, Pennsylvania)
  Jones was a clinical nutrition manager for 13 years before transitioning into quality improvement in 2012 and earning her Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality national certification in 2020. She was formerly the quality manager at UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside.

• Young Hee Kim, MS, RD, LDN, CNSC, FAND, House of Delegates Director (Windsor Locks, Connecticut)
  Kim most recently worked as a clinical nutrition manager from 2012 to 2023 at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts.

• Marcy Kyle, RDN, LD, FAND, Foundation Chair (Rockport, Maine)
  Kyle provides nutrition counseling via telehealth for the diabetes management and nutrition programs at Eastport Health Care (EHC), a Federally Qualified Health Center in rural Maine, and nutrition education for Penobscot Bay YMCA and EHC distance Diabetes Prevention Programs.

• Ainsley Malone, MS, RDN, LD, FAND, Past Speaker (New Albany, Ohio)
  Malone is a clinical practice specialist with the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.

• Patty Riskind, MBA, Public Member (Chicago)
  Riskind is a healthcare technology leader and most recently served as the chief executive officer and is now the board chair of Orbita.

• Christina Rollins, MBA, MS, RD, LD, FAND, Treasurer-elect (Rochester, Illinois)
  Rollins is the owner of Rollins Nutrition, LLC. She is also the finance administrator in the Department of Surgery at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

• Nina Roofe, PhD, RDN, LD, FAND, Speaker (Conway, Arkansas)
  Roofe is the assistant vice president for Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service in Little Rock, Ark.

• Tracy Wilczek, MS, RDN, LDN, FAND, House of Delegates Director (Boston)
  Wilczek is a regional wellness director with FLIK Hospitality in Boston.

• Lauri Wright, PhD, RDN, LDN, FAND, Past President (Tampa, Florida)
  Wright is an associate professor and the director of nutrition programs at the University of South Florida's College of Public Health.

• Krista Yoder, MPH, RDN, LDN, FAND, Past Treasurer (Miami Beach, Florida)
  Yoder is the chief operating officer of Eat Ahara®.

• Wylecia Wiggs Harris, PhD, CAE, Chief Executive Officer (Chicago)
  Harris has oversight of all entities under the Academy's umbrella and is also the chief executive officer of the Academy's Foundation.

Representing more than 112,000 credentialed nutrition and dietetics practitioners, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals.

To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow us on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk. 

NAACP leader calls stabbing of Conway teen 'hate crime'

KUAR | By Maggie Ryan

The Faulkner County NAACP held a community meeting Monday night in response to a violent altercation that took place in Conway over the weekend.

According to the mother of one victim, who wishes to remain anonymous, a group of teenagers went to Maly’s, an entertainment facility in Conway, Saturday night. Soon after the group arrived, the mother received a phone call from her son who said he’d been stabbed in the face.

She described leaving her home in a rush as soon as she received the call. Once she arrived, she said the police had yet to arrest members of the group responsible for her son's injury.

NAACP leader calls stabbing of Conway teen 'hate crime'

Eddie Munster calls Conway ‘home’

by George Jared (gjared@talkbusiness.net)

Conway businessman Keller Johnson was at a pinball machine convention in Dallas when he came across a nostalgic figure from his youth – Butch Patrick, the child actor who played werewolf Eddie Munster in the iconic television show “The Munsters” that aired from 1964 to 66.

The two struck up a quick friendship, and Johnson invited Patrick to Toad Suck Daze, an annual festival held in Conway. Patrick accepted the invite, and he liked the town so much that he moved there several years ago, he told Talk Business & Politics. Patrick travels frequently, and Arkansas’ relatively central location makes that part of his life easier.

“I like Conway. It has a small town feel with all the amenities of a city,” the 70-year-old said.

Eddie Munster calls Conway ‘home’

Baptist Health Opens UAMS Milk Bank Depots in Conway and Stuttgart

LITTLE ROCK — Baptist Health, in support of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Milk Bank, has opened milk depots at two of its medical centers in Conway and Stuttgart.

The Conway Baptist Health Milk Depot and the Stuttgart Baptist Health Milk Depot are designated spaces for women to donate milk, which will be sent to the UAMS Milk Bank for screening, pasteurization and nutritional analysis. After processing, milk will be sent, according to need, to hospitals throughout Arkansas.

Located in the Monroe Building just off UAMS’ main campus in Little Rock, the UAMS Milk Bank, the first facility of its kind in Arkansas, focuses on the health of mothers and newborns in Arkansas through encouragement and support of breastfeeding. The new milk bank helps ensure a ready supply of donor milk for sick and vulnerable infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) around the state, shortening the time it takes for regional hospitals to receive critical milk supplies and improving outcomes for babies.

Baptist Health Opens UAMS Milk Bank Depots in Conway and Stuttgart

The Conway Baptist Health Milk Depot and the Stuttgart Baptist Health Milk Depot will support the UAMS Milk Bank. Image by Andrew Vogler

Cleveland steel firm acquires Conway, Tulsa facilities

by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

Olympic Steel Inc., a leading national metals service center, today announced that it has acquired Central Tube & Bar of Conway. The all-cash purchase is expected to be immediately accretive. Terms were not disclosed.

Central Tube & Bar was founded in 1996 and serves large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and fabricators across the Mid-South from three facilities in Conway, Arkansas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, totaling 162,000 square feet of warehouse and production space.

The business offers a range of value-added fabrication services, including tube laser cutting, tube bending, robotic welding, flat laser burning and brake press forming.

Cleveland steel firm acquires Conway, Tulsa facilities - Talk Business & Politics

Westrock Coffee to build $70 million distribution center in Conway

by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)

Westrock Coffee Co. announced Tuesday (Jan. 31) an agreement to develop a $70 million, 530,000-square-foot distribution center with Tempus Realty Partners, an Arkansas-based real estate investment partnership that was represented by Colliers Arkansas.

The 30-acre site will be located near heavily trafficked I-40 in Conway, just 30 miles from Little Rock.

Westrock Coffee will fully occupy the tilt-wall distribution center following construction, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. It is expected to support product and packaging produced at Westrock Coffee’s expanded extract and ready-to-drink manufacturing facility in Conway and additional distribution needs.

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/01/westrock-coffee-to-build-70-million-distribution-center-in-conway/

Rendering of new Westrock Coffee distribution center.