Campus Update, October 19, 2026

Written By: Terisa Riley

Dear colleagues and students,

Due to travel and off-campus commitments, I did not send a campus update last week. I’ll use today as my opportunity to provide you with some information about initiatives at UAFS.

Last week, Chief of Staff Jennifer King and I had the opportunity to travel to Little Rock where I attended a meeting of the Arkansas Criminal Justice Institute. As a member of the Board of Directors, I learned about the valuable law enforcement training they provide for school and community safety. Following that meeting, Ms. King and I toured the new facilities housing the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service located at One World Avenue, Little Rock. We had a lengthy meeting with Dean Victoria DeFrancesco Soto about the new facilities and the fantastic graduate programs available for UAFS graduates.

On Thursday morning, we were joined by CFO Carey Tucker where we participated in the Legislative Budget Hearings. At this meeting, state legislators review budgeted requests and recommendations for all of higher education. This meeting is preliminary as we move into the biennial legislative session which begins in January.

On Friday, I was joined by Provost Ray Green, Associate Provost Margaret Tanner, Deans Toni Alexander and Duncan Pelly, and Exec. Director Amanda Seidenzahl for meetings at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and Arts (ASMSA), a residential high school for gifted and talented students. UAFS is the exclusive provider of concurrent coursework for students at ASMSA, and our visit provided us with the opportunity to share information about our academic programs and to encourage graduates to come to UAFS for college. We left with several ideas for ways to improve our communications and relationships under the leadership of their new director, Dr. Derek McDowell.

A big thanks to everyone who made Family Weekend such a rousing success. We had our largest ever participation in the 5K, and many students and families enjoyed the chili cook-off, pumpkin painting, and basketball showcase. I want to recognize Arkansas Tech University for providing us with such a fun scrimmage opportunity.

Best of the Best: Once again, UAFS was recognized as the “Gold Award” winner in the River Valley Best of the Best. Congratulations also go to the “Silver Award” winner, Arkansas Tech University, and “Bronze Award” winner, University of the Ozarks. I give the credit for this award to our fantastic faculty and staff of the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith for consistently actualizing our mission by providing excellent education while caring deeply for each and every student.

As you saw from my earlier message, Governor Sarah Sanders has announced Wednesday, October 21 will be Capital for A Day in Fort Smith. UAFS will host a meet and greet opportunity at noon in the Reynolds Room, and you must register to attend.

Engineering: This week, UAFS will host site visitors for ABET Accreditation for the engineering programs offered on our campus by the University of Arkansas. Best of luck to our colleagues in engineering during this review. The standards for ABET accreditation are high, and I have no doubt we meet and exceed all of them. I look forward to meeting with the site visitors on Saturday morning.

Please join me this week for some awesome events:

UAFS Volleyball: Monday at 6:00 p.m. in the Stubblefield Center

Stacey Jones Season of Entertainment—Fall Choral Showcase at 7:00 p.m. at the ArcBest Performing Arts Center

 

Have a great week, Lions.

 

Terisa Riley

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