Dr. Sandra Combs, associate professor of multimedia journalism production, is co-author of a paper published in Newspaper Research Journal. The authors' study examines business trends for African American newspapers from 1993 to 2013, the period in which digital distribution emerged and the Great Recession occurred. The refereed journal is published by a division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

An article co-authored by Dr. Fabricio Medina-Bolivar, professor of plant metabolic engineering, was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. A major portion of the article is from Tianhong Yang's molecular biosciences doctoral dissertation, which Medina-Bolivar supervised. The article describes the first genes involved in diversification of peanut phytoalexins, compounds with multiple applications in human health and agriculture. Earlier they filed a patent application.

Dr. Elizabeth Hood, Lipscomb Distinguished Professor of Agriculture, chairs the Arkansas Advanced Energy Foundation (AAEF), which met in conjunction with the Arkansas Advanced Energy Association's annual meeting. A founding member of both groups, Hood presented association awards to companies and individuals who contribute to advanced energy technologies. AAEF's mission is to educate Arkansans regarding energy technology benefits, including job creation and reduced energy costs.

Dr. Bill Smith, associate vice chancellor for marketing and communications, received the 2017 Innovative Community Development Program Award from the Arkansas Community Development Society (ACDS) at its state conference. ACDS awards chair Whitney Horton commended the Northeast Arkansas Bicycle Coalition (NEABC) for its outstanding work to educate and encourage the use of bicycles.  Smith serves on the NEABC board of directors.

Tommy Raffo, head baseball coach, has been named chair of the American Baseball Coaches Association NCAA Division I All-America Committee. He has served as head of the central region for the past four seasons. The national committee establishes and executes procedures for selecting the all-region and three all-America teams, and determines the recipients of the major coaching and player awards.