Arkansas Tech University Homecoming 2018 provides students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends with an opportunity to celebrate ATU and its traditions Oct. 15-20.
Learn about events for alumni and friends.
Homecoming videos and photos will be posted here as the week unfolds.
Dr. M. Diane Gleason, Arkansas Tech University alumna and former member of the ATU faculty, is the 2018 recipient of the Booker Worthen Literary Prize from the Central Arkansas Library System.
Gleason was honored for “Dardanelle and the Bottoms: Environment, Agriculture, and Economy in an Arkansas River Community, 1819–1970,” which was published by the University of Arkansas Press in August 2017.
A graduate of ATU with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Gleason went on to obtain Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the University of Arkansas. She taught at the secondary level for 22 years before serving on the Arkansas Tech Department of History and Political Science faculty for 11 years.
Gleason retired retired from ATU at the rank of associate professor of history in May 2017.
The Booker Worthen Literary Prize was established in 1999. It is awarded each year to the best work, fiction or non-fiction, by an author living in central Arkansas. It is named in honor of William Booker Worthen, who served on the Central Arkansas Library System Board of Trustees for more than 20 years.
A free concert by Arkansas Tech University alumnus and Show Dog Nashville recording artist Lance Carpenter will be among the highlights of ATU Homecoming 2018, which is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 19, and Saturday, Oct. 20.
Carpenter will perform during Party at the Plaza, the pre-game tailgating celebration outside Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field, beginning at noon on Saturday, Oct. 20. Admission to Party at the Plaza is free and open to the public.
Originally from Ozark, Carpenter graduated from Arkansas Tech in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree in emergency administration management. He was a member of the 1999 Wonder Boys football team that won the Gulf South Conference championship and made the institution’s first appearance in the NCAA Division II Playoffs.
In addition to his success in the classroom and on the football field, Carpenter picked up a skill that would be important to his future while a student at Arkansas Tech. He taught himself how to play guitar.
Carpenter’s musical aspirations led him to move to Nashville, Tenn., in 2011. He landed a publishing contract within 18 months of arriving in town and released his self-titled debut album in 2013.
He co-wrote “Love Me Like You Mean It,” which was recorded by Kelsea Ballerini in 2015 and became the first debut song by a female artist to go to No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart since 2006.
Carpenter signed with Toby Keith’s Show Dog Nashville label in 2017.
Alumni and friends interested in registering for the ATU Homecoming 2018 events listed below may do so online at www.atualumni.com/homecoming.
For more information about Homecoming 2018 events for alumni and friends, call (479) 968-0242 or send e-mail to alumni@atu.edu.
Friday, Oct. 19
8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Barnes and Noble College ATU Bookstore Open
Young Building
8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Welcome and Check-In
Alumni House
8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Norman Hall Art Gallery Exhibition
Cluttered with Wishes, works by Sandra Luckett
8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Arkansas Tech Museum Open
Techionery
9 a.m.
Check In and Coffee, Homecoming Classic Golf Tournament
Chamberlyne Country Club
3-Person Scramble
$80 per person/$240 per team
$300 team and sponsorship/$150 hole/cart sponsor only
10 a.m.
Shotgun Start, Homecoming Classic Golf Tournament
11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Kendra Scott Gives Back Party
Lake Point Conference Center
Noon
Ladies ‘Champagne Bingo’ Luncheon
Lake Point Conference Center
$15 per person (sold out; waiting list available)
5:30 p.m.
Hall of Distinction Social Hour and Reunion Dinner
Lake Point Conference Center (invitation only)
7 p.m.
African American Alumni Chapter Stroll Competition
Doc Bryan Student Services Center Lecture Hall, $5 admission
Saturday, Oct. 20
9 a.m.-Noon
Welcome and Check-In
Doc Bryan Rotunda
9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Barnes and Noble College ATU Bookstore Open
Young Building
9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Norman Hall Art Gallery Exhibition
Cluttered with Wishes, works by Sandra Luckett
9 a.m.
Class of 1968 50th Reunion and Campus Tour
Caraway Hall Lobby
9:30-11 a.m.
Alumni Career Networking
Dr. Robert Charles Brown and Jill Lestage Brown Hall Lobby
9:30 a.m.
ROTC Hall of Honor Induction
Doc Bryan Lecture Hall
10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Arkansas Tech Museum Open
Techionery
10 a.m.
Reunions
• Phi Mu Alumnae, Lake Point Conference Center
• Medical Assistant Alumni, Baswell Techionery second floor
• ROTC, Doc Bryan room 242
11 a.m.
Golden T Society Induction and All Alumni Luncheon
Young Ballroom, $15 per person
11 a.m.
Opening of Student Veteran Lounge
Doc Bryan room 104
11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Party at the Plaza
Centennial Plaza
12:30 p.m.
T-Club All Sports Meeting
Lettermen’s Lounge, Hull Building
1 p.m.
Stadium Bookstore Opens
Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field
1:30 p.m.
Pre-Game Ceremonies
Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field
2 p.m.
Arkansas Tech vs. SW Oklahoma State
Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field
5 p.m.
Alumni and Friends Celebration
Courtyard by Marriott Lobby, $5 per person
5 p.m.
Reunions
Courtyard by Marriott
• Student Government Association
• Kappa Alpha Order
• Lambda Chi Alpha
7 p.m.
Col. George T. Hudgens Evening of Excellence
Lake Point Conference Center, $30 adults/$20 students
Johnny Carrol Sain, managing editor of About the River Valley magazine, will be the featured speaker for the Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center Second Monday Author Series on Monday, Oct. 8.
Sain will speak at 7 p.m. in Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center room 300B, 305 West Q Street in Russellville. Admission will be free and open to the public.
In addition to his leadership of About the River Valley, Sain is also a freelance writer and photographer. He will speak about the evolution of his profession as well as the opportunities and challenges created by a changing industry.
Sain graduated from ATU in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism.
For more information about the Second Monday Author Series, call (479) 964-0569.
Dr. Donovan Horn, a 2007 inductee into the Arkansas Tech University Hall of Distinction, died on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. He was 84.
Horn was the starting point guard during one of the most successful eras in the history of Wonder Boys basketball. He helped Arkansas Tech win Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championships and make NAIA National Tournament appearances in 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1955.
The Wonder Boys were 106-14 overall and 65-1 in AIC play during Horn’s four-year career, and they advanced to the NAIA national semifinals during his junior and senior seasons.
Horn was voted All-AIC in 1953, 1954 and 1955, and he was selected All-America in 1955.
Sam Hindsman was the basketball coach at Arkansas Tech from 1947-66, and he once remembered Horn as one of the finest players he ever had the pleasure of coaching.
On the day his former star point guard was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1969, Hindsman described Horn as “a peerless leader, unselfish, a coach on the floor who read the defense and made others better.”
Horn went on to win two state championships as a high school basketball coach in Waldo. He attained master’s and doctoral degrees from East Texas State University and joined the Mississippi State University Department of Kinesiology in 1966.
By 1973, he had earned a full professorship and was the department chair. Horn retired from Mississippi State in 1995 and was granted professor emeritus of kinesiology status.
Horn is survived by his wife, Marlene Edwards Horn, of Starkville, Miss., and two daughters, Vicki Wolfe (John) of Calera, Ala., and Susan Cox (Faris) of Golden, Colo. He had seven grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
Consistent with Horn’s wishes, his family plans a private memorial service at a later date. Remembrances of Horn may be recorded at www.welchfuneralhomes.com.
