Thirteen students and two faculty members from the University of Arkansas at Monticello spent their spring break touring Washington, D.C.

The trip was part of the Horizons Program sponsored UAM’s School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Each student was required to research and make a presentation about various sites in Washington and important historical events that have shaped the nation’s history, according to Dr. Carol Strong, assistant professor of political science.

UAM graduate Zack Baumgarten, an aide to Fourth District Congressman Mike Ross, arranged for the students to tour both the Capitol and the Pentagon. Another UAM graduate, Mishelle Miller, organized a tour of the Secret Service Museum and counterfeiting unit.

Dana Brooks, a UAM graduate currently working as senior director of government relations for the National Milk Producers’ Federation, hosted a dinner for the UAM students at the Old Ebbitt Grill.

Other stops on the trip included visits to the National Archives, the Library of Congress, Arlington Cemetery, the Smithsonian Institute, the Holocaust Museum, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, the World War II, Korean and Vietnam War Memorials, and the International Spy Museum.

Students participating in the trip included Diana Bailey, a junior political science major from Star City; Anthony Boykin, a sophomore political science major from Monticello; Angelia Buford, a senior social work major from Monticello; Hunter Gillum, a sophomore political science major from Monticello; Yvonne Hinshaw, a junior political science major from Monticello; Britney Hornaday, a senior history major from Thornton; Quinton Morgan, a freshman accounting major from Monticello; Starr Rabb, a post-baccalaureate student from Monticello; Tiffany Reed, a freshman education major from Austin; Laura Robertson, a senior psychology major from Watson; Amanda Rosing, a senior political science major from McHenry, Illinois; Adrienne Smith, a sophomore criminal justice major from Pine Bluff; and Zack Tucker, a sophomore political science major from Marked Tree.

The students were accompanied by Strong and Crystal Ratliff, instructor and director of academic advising.

Psi Chi was established in 1929 and currently has over 1,000 chapters across the United States and Canada. Its purpose is to “encourage, stimulate and maintain excellence in scholarship, and advance the science of psychology,” according to Berry.

Berry cited the work of Dr. Myeong Kim, associate professor of psychology, for his work in securing the chapter for UAM. Kim will serve as faculty sponsor with assistance from Dr. Benjamin Brown, assistant professor of psychology.

Membership in Psi Chi is limited to students who rank in the upper 35 percent of their class, have a 3.0 grade

The first induction ceremony for the charter class of Psi Chi will be held April 21 in the Senate Room of the John F. Gibson University Center at 6 p.m. Students interested in pursuing membership in Psi Chi should contact Kim, Brown, or Berry in the Office of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences or call (870) 460-1047.

The dean of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Monticello thinks Arkansans have been shortchanged by an educational system that teaches very little about their native state.

Berry set about rectifying the problem by authoring an Arkansas history textbook for grades 5 through 7 entitled The Arkansas Journey, published in 2007. Now Berry and a colleague on the UAM faculty are working to fill a void in the state’s history at the collegiate level.

Berry and Dr. Kyle Day, assistant professor of history at UAM, have recently published Arkansas History: A Collegiate Reader to be used as a supplemental text for college curricula. The 610-page book is a collection of articles and primary documents to be used as a resource for Arkansas history classes at the collegiate level.

The book contains newspaper editorials, including the famous editorial penned by the late Harry Ashmore of the Arkansas Gazette on the crisis at Little Rock Central High School. Also included are autobiographies, reminiscences, explorer’s diaries, inaugural addresses of the state’s governors, an essay on the legacy of Governors Bumpers, Pryor and Clinton, and primary documents such as the state Slave Code and the Articles of Secession.

Berry and Day spent two years compiling the information for the book. “One of the things we’ve found out in this process is the dearth of books about Arkansas history,” said Berry. “There are fewer books about Arkansas history than almost every state in the union. This is a state with a rich, colorful, fascinating history that needs to be told.”

Arkansas History: A Collegiate Reader is being distributed to college faculty across the state. The reader will serve as a companion piece to a new collegiate textbook on Arkansas history currently in the planning stages by Berry and Day. “We want to create a true Arkansas history textbook for the collegiate level,” said Day. “We want to fill a void and improve the teaching of Arkansas history.”

Berry and Day hope to have the new textbook completed in two years.

For more information, contact the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at (870) 460-1047.

A mix-up in paperwork meant a pleasant surprise recently for members of a University of Arkansas at Monticello honor society.

The UAM chapter of Phi Alpha Theta history honor society was informed by its national office that it has been selected to receive the National Best Chapter Award for 2008. The notification came after the chapter was told earlier that it had received honorable mention recognition. The award was presented based on new programs, service projects, the academic quality of its student membership, and activities completed during the previous academic year.

Phi Alpha Theta was founded at the University of Arkansas in 1921 and today has 839 chapters and over 275,000 members at colleges and universities across the country. Members must maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or higher and earn at least 12 credit hours in history.

The UAM chapter is one of the nation’s newest. Organized last year by Dr. Kyle Day, the chapter has 11 students and five faculty members.

“This is a great testament to the work of Dr. Kyle Day and the charter student members of our new chapter,” said Dr. Trey Berry, dean of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. “They were competing with chapters throughout the country at much larger schools with enrollments of 3,000-9,000 students.”

Last year, the new UAM chapter participated in an initiation session, study trips to Arkansas Post and Natchez, Mississippi, and they also sponsored a bake sale as a fund raiser. During the spring semester of 2009, UAM will host the state conference of Phi Alpha Theta.  This will mark the first time UAM has hosted this group.

Dr. Clinton Young: Dr. Clinton Young was raised in Philomath, Oregon.  In 1998 he graduated from the University of Rochester with a B.A. in History and Spanish.  He did his doctoral studies at the University of California, San Diego and received his Ph.D. in 2006.  During 2001-2002, he served as a Fulbright Scholar to Spain; while there, he began his current research on the ways that musical theatre was used to develop and disseminate nationalism in Spain between the 1870s and the 1930s.  He is a member of the Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies.  Before coming to UAM, he spent three years as a Visiting Professor at Western Carolina University.  In his free time, he enjoys listening to classical and jazz music, reading detective fiction, and watching old movies.

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