During the Arkansas State University Board of Trustees meeting Friday in Little Rock, Chancellor Tim Hudson presented a video report highlighting faculty and student activities and achievements from the fall and early spring semesters, including commencement, the Distinguished Faculty Awards, the Apple Distinguished Program award, construction progress, and additional campus highlights. The video is now available online.

Dr. Russ Hannah, associate vice chancellor for business and finance, has been appointed as a Peer Review Corps member for The Higher Learning Commission. He completed his first accreditation team visit to Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. Peer reviewers evaluate member institutions for adherence to the Commission's criteria for accreditation and offer consultative feedback. Hannah will serve a five-year term.

Dr. Fabricio Medina-Bolivar, associate professor of plant metabolic engineering, has been re-elected president of the American Council for Medicinally Active Plants (ACMAP) for 2015. ACMAP promotes research, production and conservation of medicinal and other bioactive plants useful to human health.  He chaired the ACMAP conference at A-State in 2012, and he is helping organize the 2015 conference in Spokane.  He also will be program chair for the 2016 ACMAP conference in Lima, Peru.

The College of Agriculture and Technology and the work faculty members are doing to establish its new agricultural systems technology concentration were featured in the latest issue of Arkansas Grown, a magazine published in partnership with the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. The article cites faculty members Dr. Peter Larbi (center), assistant professor of agricultural systems technology, and Dr. Keith Morris, associate professor of agriculture and spatial technologies. The magazine is available online (scroll to pages 32-25).

Congratulations to Dr. Ruth Hawkins, director, Dr. Elista Istre (left), assistant director, and staff of Historic Dyess Colony: Boyhood Home of Johnny Cash, which won the "Cultural Heritage" award at the 15th annual Delta Awards. The awards recognize tourism achievement in the 15 counties that comprise Arkansas Delta Byways, the region's tourism promotion association. Recent visitors include the cast of "The Cash Legacy," the Studio Tenn musical production now running in Nashville.