University of the Ozarks

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The University of the Ozarks is a four-year private liberal arts university in Clarksville, Arkansas. It was founded in 1834 and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The school was previously known as Arkansas Cumberland College and the College of the Ozarks. The 1834 founding date is actually the date of the founding of Cane Hill College, in Cane Hill, Arkansas by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. By the late 1880s, the development of the University of Arkansas in nearby Fayetteville convinced Cumberland Presbyterian denominational officials that the school would not be able to compete with its stronger neighbor, so they withdrew their support of it.

In 1891, they founded Arkansas Cumberland College at Clarksville, Arkansas as the successor institution. Little Cane Hill College acutally lasted until 1892, when it folded.

The college changed its name from The College of the Ozarks to the University of the Ozarks in the 1980s, at least partly because, in many of the countries that its foreign students are from, college and high school mean the same thing and all education above the high school level is called university. The current College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, MO is a completely separate institution and the similar names can cause confusion. For most of its history, the Point Lookout school was called The School of the Ozarks, even though it was a college.

A former logo of the college shows a picture of Old Main, the first building at Clarksville that was destroyed by a fire in the 1920s.

Walker Hall, built in 2000, is a replica of the main classroom building built in 1922, often called Hurie or Davis Hall.

Most of the early buildings were built by students under the supervision of Prof T L Smith. Maclean Hall was also built by students with money Dr. Wiley Lin Hurie raised in New York City.

The school is justly proud of the attention that it pays to students as individuals. Professors know all of the students by name and will take the initiative in seeking out a student who is not doing well in a way that few other colleges do. The professors live in college owned housing on the fringes of the campus and being invited to come over to the professor's house is not uncommon. One graduate's fondest memory is seeing the a former president of the college walking around with the names of the graduates on a list in his pocket the week before commencement, because he was practicing pronouncing all of the names right. Another student remembers walking up to the president of the college with an idea and being invited into the president's office to talk about it, further. Some of the faculty and staff are life long employees who could get more money elsewhere, but stay because they feel that they are in an atmosphere condusive to teaching and learning. The small student body has a tendency to turn students into leaders because there is enough room for every student who wants to head up some sort of organization or club to do so. It is not unusual for every athlete trying out for a team to be given a uniform and a chance to play.

The college was the first predominantly white college in the south to integrate.

The majors are good preparation for graduate study. A student looking for a highly focused major, such as Zoology, would probably be better off elsewhere, but the College is the ideal place for an 18 year old away from home for the first time. Most of the students live within a few hundred miles of the college and go home weekends, but there is a large body of foreign students. Many of the leaders in the education field in Arkansas and elsewhere are graduates of the University of the Ozarks. Its seniors usually score at or near the national average on the undergraduate record exam, even though they came from small, rural, local high schools in the Ozark mountains and had very low test scores as high school seniors.

It is relatively easy to gain acceptance as an entering freshman at U of O, and the schools biggest problem is attracting enough qualified applicants to its rural location. There is a good financial aid program and a student should discuss his financial needs candidly with the admissions office before deciding that he can't afford to attend the school.

I remember seeing at least one student, who had flunked out of a large university, go on to make the dean's list, not because U of O's standards are low, but because he had fewer distractions in this small town environment and a faculty that was available when he needed help. He later went on to a distinguished career in the military.

The University of the Ozarks has been ranked as a top Tier University for 6 consecutive years by the U.S. News and World Reports. It also has been awarded the title of the Best buy Best Value in the South by U.S. News and World Reports.

Ozarks also has a Seven Million Dollar Communications facility that was dedicated in 2002. This building houses KUOZ Channel 6 News and KUOZ 100.5 Radio. The television station provides live television news programming as well as indepth interviews and numerous other programs. The T.V. station has been under the Direction of Instructors Susan Edens and Dr. Jane Cater for the last 5 years, however Ozarks has allowed students Evan Hoffmeyer, Tiffany Rose, and Ryan Rose to play a large part in the production process as these three students are recognized as Producers...Hoffmeyer and Ryan Rose have been producers since 2004. It appears as though after the Graduation of the Rose's and Hoffmeyer a new breed of producers will soon come and take the reigns for Channel 6. This new crew will be led by Alex Gossett, Allan Arroyo, Michael Moore, and Possibly Ana Garcia. Channel 6 Looks to be promising in the years to come with a powerful returning Lineup.

The school has been continuously accredited since 1965.

[edit] Statistics

As of 2005

Size—630 Students
Student/Faculty Ratio—14:1
Faculty with Highest Degree—over 90%
Average Class Size—16
Average Freshman ACT score—22.9
Average Freshman SAT score—1035
Average Freshman HS GPA—3.33
States Represented—22
Countries Represented—20

[edit] Athletics

Nicknamed the Eagles and are classified NCAA Division III, Ozarks participates in the American Southwest Conference against schools from the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

Men's Basketball The Eagles are led by Head Coach Matt O'Connor (Davidson College 1991). O'Connor took over in the 2001-2002 season after being an assistant at Colorado School of Mines, and through 2007, produced a record of 73-79. The Eagles compete in the on-Campus Mabee Gymnasium (Max. Capacity 2500). During the 2005-2006 season, O'Connor was assisted by Serbia and Montenegro native Bojan Jankovic, currently a Women's Assistant at Centenary College. For the 2006-2007 Season, The Eagles will be assisted by Alex Hausladen (University of Arkansas 2006).

Baseball University of the Ozarks' baseball program is a member of NCAA Division III and the American Southwest Conference, which is comprised of non-athletic scholarship schools from Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. The Eagles play their home games at the newly named Lonnie R. Qualls Field, a cozy on-campus ballpark that seats 400. A yearly schedule of 40 games includes match ups with such in-state rivals as Hendrix College, University of Central Arkansas and Arkansas Tech University.

The Eagles are coached by Jimmy Clark, a former standout at the University of Central Arkansas. Clark was named the 2005 American Southwest Conference East Division Coach of the Year after leading the Eagles to the most wins since 1996 while also leading the team to their first winning season in nine years. Clark was a four-year starter for the Bears at various positions. After finishing his collegiate career, Clark became an academic advisor at University of Arkansas-Little Rock. Upon completion of his master's degree, he accepted the head coaching job at Heber Springs (Ark.) High School and led the Panthers to three conference titles and a regional title in nine seasons.

Clark's coaching philosophy emphasizes pitching and defense. "To be successful in baseball at any level, you must have pitchers who consistently throw strikes and change location and speed," Clark said. "Combine that with error-free defense and you are in a position to win, whether you're hitting or not. The type of student-athletes that I plan to recruit at Ozarks are ones who are versatile; players who can run and throw and hustle from the time he steps on the field. They must be self-motivated to work hard on their school work and work hard on their baseball skills. I want to surround myself with people who have very high expectations for themselves and who are willing to work hard to achieve those goals. Our goals here at the U of O are to win the ASC Championships, qualify for the regional tournament, and win the school's first national championship."

Cross Country

Men's Soccer

The Men's Soccer program started in 1996. Scott Placek was the first head coach. In 1999, Dave De Hart was named men's soccer coach. In 2001, the program qualified for the conference tournament for the first time. He has led Ozarks to seven consecutive winning seasons and his teams have reached the ASC post-season playoffs for a conference record six straight seasons. Four of those trips resulted in playing in the championship match. In 2003, Ozarks reached the NCAA Championship tournament—the first Ozarks team in any sport to achieve that milestone.

Tennis