In addition, the UALR community will bid farewell to the first group of 10 Rwandan students who came as UALR Presidential Scholars. They are representatives of the country’s top high school graduates selected for the program that is helping the central African country rebuild its intellectual capital in the wake of its 1994 war and mass genocide.

The first ceremony at 9:30 a.m. in the Jack Stephens Center will include graduates of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, the College of Education, and the College of Professional Studies. The second ceremony will be at 3 p.m. with graduates of the Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology (EIT), the College of Science and  Mathematics, and the College of Business.

The ceremonies will be streamed live over the internet. In between the two events at the Stephens Center, the graduation and hooding ceremony for graduates of the William H. Bowen School of Law will begin at 12:30 p.m. at the Wally Allen Ballroom of the Statehouse Convention Center.

Tharcisse Karugarama, Rwanda’s minister of justice and attorney general, and his wife will attend two of the day’s three ceremonies. Their twin sons, Mark and Matthew, will walk in the 3 p.m. ceremony as graduates of the College of Business.

The twins and eight other Rwandan students arrived at UALR four years ago from their homes in a small, war-torn country tucked between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda. Some of them barely were able to speak English. All carried on their shoulders the hopes and aspirations of a nation shattered by war and horrifying genocide now trying to heal itself.

They are the first group of UALR Rwandan Presidential Scholars financed by the Rwandan government and chosen by UALR for their scholarship and drive to help the country rebuild its intellectual capital. “There is a measure of grace on these kids who overcame so much and faced terrible things,” said Lajuanna Magee, director of International Friendship Outreach of Central Arkansas. “To us, it is history. To them, they lived it.”

Also walking in the afternoon ceremony will be Ryne Ramaker of Bentonville, leading the procession in the silver robe that signifies him as the 2012 recipient of the Edward L. Whitbeck Memorial Award, UALR’s top academic prize.The senior, who graduates with a B.S. degree in biology, arrived at UALR in the fall 2008 and was selected for UALR’s Donaghey Scholars Program and the Science Scholars Program – the first student accepted to both programs. He will graduate with a 4.0 grade point average. Nearly 1,500 students applied for graduation. Here are a few of their stories:

• Gavin Lee, a native of Cambridge, England, will be the first graduate of UALR’s Ph.D. program in criminal justice in the morning ceremony. He was a student at the University of California at Irvine, heading to a graduate program in Florida when he met Dr. Jeffrey Walker, who directs UALR’s Ph.D. program in criminal justice. Lee and his wife will be working on criminal justice issues in the Delta after graduation.

• Penn Ross Jackson will receive a B.A. degree in theatre arts in the morning ceremony. He is the first of his family to graduate from a four-year college. Before he turned 16, he saw his father leave the family, had to live with his mother out of a car on the streets of New Orleans, was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and underwent surgery. Then Hurricane Katrina hit. “Thanks to my mother, I have achieved so much and overcome the odds and adversity to get where I am today, looking into the light of a bright and successful future,” he said. She and Jackson’s step-father will be on hand to witness the milestone. In the fall, he will enroll in the master of fine arts program at the University of California at Irvine to continue his studies in stage management.

• At least one graduate at UALR’s commencement ceremony will be receiving his degree in a familiar place – a basketball arena. Scottie Thurman, a former University of Arkansas basketball standout shooting guard and now coach, will receive a master’s degree in secondary education at Saturday’s morning ceremony.

A Desire to Rebuild and to Lead

Some of them spoke very little English; all carried the hopes and aspirations of a nation on their shoulders. A country shattered by war and horrifying genocide now trying to heal itself.

Those 10 students – the first UALR Rwandan Presidential Scholars – will graduate on May 19 at the Jack Stephens Center with degrees in engineering, economics, management information systems, computer science, biology, and construction management. Some will go on to graduate school; others will head home immediately to begin to rebuild the intellectual capital of their country.

“Rwanda needs our force as young people,” Valens Nteziyaremye said shortly after he arrived at UALR in 2009. “There were men who studied and knew many things, and most of them died in the genocide. We have to help our country and our families.”

Four years later, Nteziyaremye will receive a degree in systems engineering.

Before he returns to Rwanda to help his country, he will go to graduate school at the University of Florida to earn a Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering.

“It’s gone so fast,” he said, reflecting on his time at UALR.

He and his classmates were infants during the 1994 war between the Hutus and the Tutsis – tribes that coexisted and intermarried in the past. The war culminated in a 100-day genocidal massacre where at least a million innocent people were killed.

“Pretty much every friend I have was deeply affected by the war and the genocide,” said Mark Karugarama, who came to UALR with his twin brother Matthew. They came through another Arkansas-Rwanda program, Bridge2Rwanda, and also are graduating Saturday. “I have other friends I have to comfort because they have lost pretty much everything they had. It has affected my life in many different ways.”

The war and killings stripped the country of leaders and left in its wake orphans, widows, disease, and poverty; no one in the country was unaffected.

A Bridge to Rwanda

“There is a measure of grace in these kids who overcame so much and faced terrible things,” said Lajuanna Magee, director of International Friendship Outreach of Central Arkansas. “To us, it is history. To them, they lived it.”

Her organization works with the consortium of public and private Arkansas institutions, providing host families for the students selected by the Rwanda Presidential Scholars Initiative. The program allows some of the best Rwandan students to come to Arkansas universities on four-year scholarships, financed by the Rwandan government.

The consortium was inspired by Bridge2Rwanda, a nonprofit effort co-founded by former Stephens Inc. investment banker Dale Dawson to help the country rebuild its intellectual capital.

In 2008, UALR administrators – led by Dr. Charles Donaldson, vice chancellor of educational services and student services – as well as representatives of Hendrix College, went to Rwanda to interview the students. Twenty-five came to Arkansas and following a summer of intensive English language training at UALR, the largest number, 10, enrolled here.

“These bright young people have struggled to learn while enduring hardships most of us cannot imagine,” Donaldson said.

Of the first group of Rwandan students spread out among six schools, 12 of the students achieved all A’s with a cumulative grade point average of 3.7.

“The two first years were a challenge. I was a little homesick,” said Patrick Kamongi. “The last two years, ‘No more’.”

The soon-to-be computer science graduate is weighing offers from two graduate schools, the University of North Carolina and the University of North Texas. He will pursue a Ph.D. in computer science.

Jimmy Shyaka, who is heading to graduate school before returning to Rwanda, credited Donaldson, who is almost a foster father for the students, for the group’s success. They learned early that the door to Donaldson’s office and home was always open – especially on Sundays, when the vice chancellor loves to cook for a crowd. Shyaka said Donaldson learned to cook several Rwandan corn dishes to help ease their homesickness.

They delved into student life, participating in student government, joining international clubs and activities, engaging in service projects, and working with scientists on research projects.

Toussaint Salvator Kaneza said at UALR, he learned about time management, how to budget his time, and how to work in teams. Homesickness was tough in the first two years of his college career, “but here at UALR, the community has been very receiving of internationals.”

He and his classmates also took advantage of travel opportunities. Kaneza visited New York City twice, including a visit to the World Trade Center memorial, the Great Smoky Mountains, and Washington, D.C.

“There is no better opportunity than this and it gives you great exposure to the outside world. It just broadens your mind and your perspective,” said Mark Karugarama.

He and his twin brother Matthew traveled, worked at the Office of Student Life, and won elections to the Student Senate which broadened their UALR experiences

“When I got here, I was a hopeless teenager,” said Janviere Umuhoza, a petite woman, with a large smile, the only female in the group.

“Now I am a hopeful young lady, vigorously ready to succeed and bring hope to people who are in hopeless situation,” said the confident systems engineering student. She lost both parents in the genocide.

Forgiveness is Freedom

Smiling, outgoing, and determined, Umuhoza and her UALR Rwandan classmates are examples of the nationwide effort in Rwanda to foster reconciliation and healing. The movement started at the grassroots level; promoted by the government, it seeks to help the country move forward and rebuild.

“To be honest with you, my family knows who they are and who I am, but I don’t know if I am a Tutsi or a Hutu because I don’t want to know. I am not interested to know,” said Jean Luc Umwungeri. “I don’t know if my friend is a Hutu or a Tutsi, I don’t care. It is erased from our minds.”

He and his friends are part of the younger generation of Rwandans working to erase the tribal differences that led to the divisiveness. They are part of the country’s concerted effort of reconciliation.

The twins, Mark and Matthew, are the sons of Tharcisse Karugarama, Rwanda’s minister of justice and the attorney general in the Rwandan government. The father has played an important role in the prosecution of crimes associated with the genocide and the movement for reconciliation.

Karugarama’s sons and their classmates are ambassadors of sorts for a philosophy that forgiveness is freedom. It is a mantra they offer to American classmates whose society still suffers from social, racial, and political divisions.

“How to forgive and move on? That is very difficult. It is a process that doesn’t happen overnight,” Matthew said. “Forgiveness begins at the deep, deep psycho-spiritual level. Sometimes we don’t even try to get away from the pain because sometimes the best way to get over pain is to endure it and overcome it without running away from it.”

The twins were born as refugees in Uganda during the years of war that preceded the 1994 genocide. The family now includes an adopted brother the father found living in the streets, a five-year-old who had lost both arms. The boy’s natural father chopped off the limbs.

“His father cut his hands because his father was participating in genocide, and this boy told on him to the authorities, so his dad cut off his hands and then burned them,” Mark said. “In Rwanda during the genocide, if I am Hutu and you are Tutsi and you are my wife, the people who are perpetrating the genocide said, ‘well, you have to kill her. She’s not us. Kill your wife. Kill your children’. I mean, the nastiest things that you can imagine.”

He added, “Human beings are capable of crazy things. It is very hard to imagine, but it happened in the Holocaust, it happened in Bosnia, in the Sudan. And it happened in Rwanda.”

The twins said the movement for reconciliation came from the people themselves.

“The people decided, if we are not of the same mind, we’re not going to work together,” Mark said. “This is our only option. We have to forgive each other and reconcile and make things happen, and try to walk together, or we’re going back to a downward spiral, going back to a bad history.”

As a result, the government has organized national unity and reconciliation programs in which perpetrators return to their villages after serving sentences and seek forgiveness from the families of their victims.

“It takes a human being to go more than above themselves to be able to forgive you and live with you because they know without that – forgiveness – we’re not going to move forward,” Mark said. “If I’m going to hate you, you are going to hate me, and everybody is going to hate each other; we are never going to move forward. So the only way is for the people to work together and get over their hate. It is very hard for the mind to understand. It is hard, but it is possible.”

The twins tried their hands at student government and tried to understand the American political scene.

“They can’t agree on anything, not even with the smallest things, not just because of the issues, but because you are Republican and I am Democrat,” Mark said.

“But it is important at a time like this when relations have reached a very volatile point, it is important for government and individuals to stay as far away as they can from hatred, from sowing hatred, or from fostering hatred,” Matthew Karugarama said.

Mark and Matthew’s parents will be at the UALR commencement ceremonies to see their sons graduate. The father will be speaking at the Clinton School of Public Service on Monday following Saturday’s commencement.

For the first time in their lives, the twins will separate for graduate school. Mark is heading to graduate school in Switzerland and Matthew to Amsterdam.

The 2012 UALR Rwandan Presidential Scholars are Jimmy Shyaka, Silas Habimana,  Jean Felix Ganishuri, Jean Luc Umwugeri, Toussaint Salvator Kaneza, Janviere Umuhoza, Patrick Kamongi, Jean de Dieu Mutangana, Innocent Twesigye, and Valens Nteziyar.

The Design Group’s chief executive officer, Myron Jackson, made the announcement about Cruz’s appointment.

Born in Hidalgo, Mexico, Cruz moved to Arkansas in 2001. She is finishing up two bachelor’s degrees in international business and in international and second language studies with a concentration on Spanish.

To broaden her skills as a marketer, she completing a six-month exchange program in Madrid, Spain, where classes deepened her knowledge of the Spanish economy and its marketing and advertising strategies. She is expected to graduate in 2013.

For the fourth consecutive year, UALR was the only university to place two teams in the national finals for the prestigious worldwide competition – Team Physically Kinected from the College of Business and Team Culture from the Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology (EIT).

Members of Team Physically Kinected are undergraduate student Aaron Rothberg majoring in management information systems and MIS graduate students Daniel Harrod, James Taylor, and Stephen Burks. Dr. Janet Bailey, associate professor of management, mentored the team.

Members of Team Culture are Ecehan Bayrak, a University of Central Arkansas undergraduate student majoring in international relations, UALR graduate student Engin Mendi majoring in computer science, and graduate students Ocal Ozyavuz and Ali Emrah Pekesen from Istanbul Kultur University in Turkey, majoring in computer engineering. Dr. Coskun Bayrak, UALR professor in the Computer Science Department, mentored the team and financed funding for the Turkish students to travel to the competition.

This year there were 192 countries competing in Imagine Cup. In the United States alone there were 113,000 students and 40,000 teams participating this year. Of these, only 76 students participating on 22 teams – 10 in the Software Design competition, six in XBox Gaming, and six in Windows Phone Gaming – were selected to compete at the national competition.

Two other teams from the College of Business also did well in the competition. Team MISfits won an Honorable Mention, making it among the top nine teams in the country in the spring competition. Team members are Mohammad Alzaher, Tammy Holman, LaShuna Jackson, and Vincent Simpson, all MIS undergraduates.

Team Mayhem – Alec Crow, Brian Fellone, and Matt Herron – is the only team in the U.S. to have made the Microsoft Imagine Cup world semi-finals in the Windows Phone Challenge. World finalists will be announced at the end of May. Students on the team are undergraduate MIS majors.

In addition to their third place finish at nationals in Software Design, Team Physically Kinected is one of only 10 teams in the United States competing in the world semi-finals of the Kinect Challenge. World finalists will be announced in early June.

“Dr. Angi Brenton has been an excellent dean and is one of the most talented people I know. She has exhibited an ability to provide effective leadership for major undertakings both on and off campus,” said UALR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson.

“It won’t be long before Western Carolina University and the region of North Carolina around the university feel the good effects of her presence. I am most grateful for her service as dean here, and I wish her and her family all the best as she becomes provost at WCU.”

Brenton cited Anderson as well as former chancellor Charles Hathaway, interim Provost Sandra Robertson, Vice Chancellor Charles Donaldson, and former Professional Studies dean John Gray as “generous mentors.”

“I came to UALR in the fall of 1982 with a new Ph.D., and in many ways this institution has formed and shaped me,” Brenton said. “My views on access to education, putting student success first, community engagement, and fostering innovation were nurtured here. It is hard to leave the faculty, staff, and students who have become like my family. I am grateful for the opportunities I’ve had for growth and leadership, and will always have a special place in my heart for UALR.”

Dean at UALR since 2001, Brenton was responsible for the departments of audiology and speech pathology, criminal justice, and speech communication, the School of Social Work, the School of Mass Communication, the Institute of Government, public radio stations KLRE-KUAR, and the Mid-South Center, which is responsible for all child welfare training in the state of Arkansas. She oversees 150 faculty and staff in a college with an annual budget of $12 million.

She has been awarded $7.7 million in annual grants and contracts for UALR, with a grant-writing success rate of 84 percent, and has helped raise approximately $7.2 million in endowments and external support for scholarships, research equipment, clinical programs, and faculty development. Under her leadership, UALR developed three new doctoral programs and graduate certificate programs in conflict mediation and nonprofit management.

Brenton spearheaded the creation of a Leadership Academy to nurture future faculty and staff leaders and led several initiatives aimed at improving race relations within the community. She developed six centers within the college to serve as a focus for research and community outreach, including the Center for Environmental Criminology, the Center for Senior Justice, the Center for Juvenile Justice, the Center for Stuttering Treatment and Research, the Center for Public Collaboration, and the Center for Nonprofit Organizations.

Prior to joining the administration at UALR, Brenton was dean of the Graduate School and associate provost for research and service at Abilene Christian University and head of the department of communication and mass media at Southwest Missouri State University, now Missouri State.

She holds a doctorate in communication studies from the University of Kansas, master’s degree in communication from the University of Oklahoma, and bachelor’s degrees in mass communication and speech communication from Oklahoma Christian College. She earned a management and leadership in higher education certificate from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.

But Jackson survived and thrived. On Saturday, May 19, he will receive his Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre arts at UALR’s morning commencement ceremony at the Jack Stephens Center.

He is the first in his family to earn a degree from a four-year college.

Next on his playbill: enrollment in the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of California, Irvine to continue his studies in stage management.

“Thanks to my mother, I have achieved so much and overcome odds and adversity to get where I am today -  looking into the light of a bright and successful future,” he said. She and Jackson’s step-father will be on hand to witness the milestone.

By all means, Jackson could have been a depressing statistic. He dropped out of school at 13. The New Orleans schools listed him as a homeschooler, but in reality, he was taking care of his mother when his father left the family.

“After a couple of years and plenty of relocating around the city, we were forced to live out of our vehicle for about three months,” he said.

In the post-Katrina upheaval, Jackson and his mother landed in a small town near Lafayette, La., where schools were enrolling displaced residents without paperwork due to the hurricane. He was the appropriate age of a sophomore, but scored at the senior level.

Another move took them to Hot Springs, Ark., where Jackson found his passion for theatre. He graduated from Lake Hamilton High School as senior class president and earned a full scholarship to UALR in theatre arts.

“I began stage managing my first semester and have continued to build my resume as a professional stage manager since,” he said. “It quickly appealed to me because of the organization and responsibility required. Because I have lived such an unstable life, the stability involved in this career is what has fueled my love for it.”

“Though stage management is my emphasis, I have taken advantage of the general theatre degree offered at UALR where I have been trained in areas of design, administration, and a variety of performances.”

Offstage, Jackson was a student ambassador for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and has been consistently on the Dean’s List.

Off-campus, he has worked for the Arkansas Repertory Theatre as a box office assistant, production assistant, and assistant stage manager. He held similar positions at the Weekend Theatre, the Arkansas Festival Ballet, Rock City Dance Center, and Wildwood Park for the Arts.

“I am also the producing artistic director of my own theatre company, the Unified Artists Movement. The company was conceptualized and brought to life by six UALR students,” he said. “One of them, Crystal Mercer, is now a theatre instructor for the Children’s Guild of Baltimore. We hope to begin a second branch of the company together in the future.”

Jackson credits his mother for instilling in him a drive to succeed despite the roadblocks life has placed in his path.

“She, despite all of our trials and tribulations, has never allowed me to believe that I am weak or a failure. She pushed me in every way possible to be sure that my number one objective in life is my education,” Jackson said.

Within a few weeks, ground will be broken on the new garden, which will be located on Fair Park Boulevard near U.S. Pizza. The garden will be constructed on the fenced Worth James property east of Lots 2 and 3 and south of Lot 12 and the parking deck.

The UALR Sustainability Committee issued a call for proposals on March 1 and agreed to invest up to $1,500 for the garden.

The group will create a sustainable organic garden focused on native Arkansas plants indigenous to and suitable for the local climate. Objectives of the garden are to promote local biodiversity, develop low maintenance, local gardening strategies, and to provide a laboratory for educational studies.

“The garden will be available for educational use by all UALR students, faculty, and staff,” said Dr. Nancy Landrum of the Sustainability Committee.

To volunteer to help in the garden or to schedule a visit, send an email to gardenadmin@ualr.edu.

“A public listserv for the garden – campusgarden@ualr.edu – is also available for anyone on campus or in the community who wants to keep up with garden news and information, including volunteer work days, open house days, and so on,” said Landrum.

“She was a wonderful lady and an asset to the college. Her devotion to her husband during his illness was amazing,” said Shawna Diaz, executive director for administration and finance in the College of Business Dean’s Office. “She was a sweet woman.”

Moore was preceded in death by her husband of 48 years, Charlie Moore. She is survived by her daughter Beth Moore and her husband Jay of Grand Prairie, Texas; sons Jeff Moore and wife Jeanette of Broken Arrow, Okla.; Glen Moore of Bryant, Ark.; and six grandchildren.

A funeral was held Tuesday, May 8, at Henderson United Methodist Church in Alexander with interment at Forest Hills Memorial Park. To sign a guest book, visit Griffin Leggett Forest Hills Funeral Home.

In a recent story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Oak Forest Pastor Russ Breshears said UALR students already have connected families with much-needed resources. They helped the family of a severely ill child file for government aid they didn’t know they could receive.

“This graduate student, in one minute, profoundly changed this family’s life just by showing them a government benefit,” Breshears told the Democrat-Gazette. “We feel we can change lives in a profound way.”

Dr. LaVerne Bell-Tolliver, associate professor and coordinator of the postgraduate marriage and family therapy program at UALR’s School of Social Work, said students from both the bachelor and master of social work programs began working with the Shepherd’s Hope Clinic during the fall of 2011.

“A range of services were provided, beginning with future BSW students hoping to enter the program. Those students accumulate volunteer service hours assisting with clerical work,” Bell-Tolliver said.

Currently enrolled BSW juniors conducted assessment and referral services for clients who were in need of assistance for a variety of services. Master’s level students provided additional types of services, including assisting older clients with finding drug prescription coverage plans and providing individual and family therapy.

“This is the beginning of what we hope to be a big, consistently ongoing program,” Bell-Tolliver said. “It has increased their learning exponentially.”