Chris Hancock ’10 has taken on an important role in telling the history of Arkansas while also helping to reinvigorate its capital city.

Hancock works for the Historic Arkansas Museum as the communications manager, where he is responsible for strategic communication efforts including website development and content creation. More importantly, this role dovetails his love of writing and history.

“Thankfully, my role allows for regular creative work,” Hancock said. “I have always been interested in history, and especially Arkansas history, even though I wasn’t a history major.”

Hancock was an English major and a Schedler Honors College interdisciplinary studies minor at the University of Central Arkansas. He attributes skills learned in the Honors College, such as using evidence to form and defend arguments, creative problem solving and civil discourse even with extremely different views, to his becoming a “citizen-scholar.”

“The Honors College has had a huge impact on me personally and professionally,” said Hancock. “My career and volunteer community projects require research, thoughtful communication, collaboration, creativity and diplomacy.”

Hancock volunteers with PopUp in the Rock, a community development organization that places temporary exhibits in neighborhoods to showcase their possibility.

“We demonstrate the underutilized potential of city areas through short-term demonstrations aimed at achieving long-term impact,” said Hancock.

In 2015, the effort focused on historic West Ninth Street. PopUp West Ninth was along three city blocks between the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, Dreamland Ballroom and across an overpass to the campus of Philander Smith College.

That area was once the epicenter of African-American life with churches, restaurants, grocery stores, salons, pharmacies, hotels and other businesses located in the area. Historical figures such as Booker T. Washington, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington would often visit the area.

“We encouraged our community to use the overpass as a bicycle and pedestrian bridge,” said Hancock. “The campus and historic West Ninth were once connected before I-630 tore through the district, so it was functional and poetic to bridge that gap.”

Hancock recognizes that his work is a great societal contribution and furthers his role as a “citizen-scholar.” “There’s no feeling like seeing the tangible impact of your effort in the community,” said Hancock. “It has broadened my vision of what’s possible while also making me more aware that our communities need more citizens to participate.”

Mary Dunlap ’14 works to create lasting change for Arkansas communities and corporations through technology education.

Dunlap is the Little Rock campus director at The Iron Yard, a fully immersive coding academy that takes its students from little to no experience as a developer to qualifying for junior level positions in 12 weeks.

“A huge purpose of The Iron Yard is to fill a hole in the workforce, which is developers, and we are here to create a pipeline of developers and engineers that have been lacking here,” said Dunlap.

Dunlap attributes her time as a public relations major at the University of Central Arkansas for influencing her success and accomplishments at The Iron Yard. Dunlap was an active leader in student organizations, including Delta Zeta, where she served as president, chaplain and representative on All-Greek Council. She also interned for the campus police department.

“The management course taught by Dr. Amy Hawkins [assistant professor, Department of Communication] taught me more than just tactical skills, it taught me to be self-aware, kind and thoughtful,” said Dunlap. “My time spent as a member of Delta Zeta helped me understand the value of time management, leadership and the ability to love others without condition.”

At The Iron Yard, she is responsible for student recruitment and retention, as well as logistics and campus operations. She also helps with career support after students graduate.

“Not only are we involved in producing developers and helping them find jobs, but we are also helping them leap into starting their own companies and being involved with the entrepreneur community here in Little Rock, which is pretty neat,” said Dunlap.

Another aspect of her position is networking with individuals, groups and industry leaders. “I’ve been able to meet and get to know the central Arkansas community especially well, and I am very thankful for their open arms,” said Dunlap. “I am continually inspired by The Iron Yard’s mission and the feedback from the community confirms that belief.”

As Dunlap continues her journey of helping to build a new and innovative workforce in the state of Arkansas, she has some advice for current BT����students.

“Take time to slow down and to listen,” said Dunlap. “I gained a lot from personal conversations and putting down my phone or my notebooks and being able to actually talk to people and kind of slow down — to step away from that for a minute was very influential for me.”

Freshman and Entrepreneurship, Public Scholarship, Innovation and Community Engagement (EPIC) Residential College student Armani Famous was named the Top EPIC Student of fall 2015.

To earn the award, she attended EPIC events and participated in projects to attain the highest number of points. She was the only University of Central Arkansas student in the program who attended all of the events.

“When they announced that I was the Top EPIC Student, I was confused because I had forgotten all about the point system,” Famous said. “I went to all of the events because I genuinely wanted to go and be a part of the program. Then, once I realized what was happening, I was really excited because I felt like as a freshman, or the underdog, I had somehow left my mark on UCA.”

The EPIC College’s focus on business experience and community engagement was what drew her into the program. A nutrition and pre-medicine major, Famous hopes to attend medical school after college and to one day open her own family clinic. She believes being involved in the program will help her with her future goals.

Even though the EPIC program is usually for upperclassmen, Famous applied and was accepted. “I wanted to challenge myself and the expectations set for me,” she said.

The EPIC program has changed Famous’ life in positive ways. The business-based lectures and projects that dealt with problems and solutions in the EPIC program were challenging, but in a good way, Famous said. “I am far more confident and self-aware,” she said. “I am more honest with myself because I know it is okay to be who I am. Odds are you are going to find people who like the things that you like and appreciate the same things you appreciate. The ones who don’t make you think.”

Famous said her mother, Kristy Carter, director of marketing for the Division of Outreach and Community Engagement, is her inspiration. “My mom has worked so hard since I was born; she made it her life’s mission to make sure I succeeded,” she said. “I want to do the same with my life. I just want to do the best I can to make someone else’s life better.”

Famous is a member of the Residential Housing Association, Student United Way, NAACP and is on the executive board of Griot society. She works at the Reynolds Performance Hall.

Anthropological archaeologist professor Dr. Duncan McKinnon has always had a love for history and culture.

“I like to look at the diversity that exists and ask, ‘Why do people have different perspectives on life and why do people look differently?’” McKinnon said. “Anthropology allows people to step outside of their box that they grew up in and appreciate people from other cultures.”

Between his work as a professor and working on his own personal research, McKinnon found the time to join a team of researchers on PBS’s “Time Team America” that aired in August 2014.

“I wanted to become involved because I thought it would be a great experience, and I wanted to work with others in my field,” McKinnon said. “Plus, it’s a television show!”

The four-episode series took the team of McKinnon and other researchers to Colorado, Oklahoma, Georgia and Maryland to unearth sites that not only could help further research but could also help the local communities become interested in archeology. The team explored the Lost Pueblo Villages in Cortez, Colorado, the Bones of Badger Hole in the panhandle of Oklahoma, the Lost Civil War Prison in Jenkins County, Georgia and the homestead of former slave Josiah Henson in Bethesda, Maryland.

“The show was designed so that people could not only understand what it is that we are doing, but also appreciate it and become involved themselves,” McKinnon said.

By utilizing geophysical methods (using technology to look beneath the surface of the Earth), McKinnon, along with two other researchers, were able to create maps of the sites that excavation teams used to dig to find cultural pieces.

“These methods allow us to see how cultures changed over time,” McKinnon said. “By finding their clothing and pottery, we can tell what they ate, how they lived; it gives us a look at who these people were.”

McKinnon said working the 14- to 16-hour days it took to film the show was worth every challenging minute.

“I see challenges as growth, not obstacles,” he said. “The only way society can grow is with change.”