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News - Alumni Stories

Ethan Harbour
September 25, 2024 • Posted in ,

2012 Grads to Receive Emerging Philanthropist Award

A trio of 2012 University of the Ozarks graduates — Tristan and Andrea (Muffuletto) Cooper of Clarksville, Ark., (pictured left) and Ethan Harbour of Booneville, Ark. — have each been chosen to receive the 2024 Emerging Philanthropist Award by the University’s Office of Advancement and Alumni Engagement. The awards will be presented during the Ozarks […]

Brenda Sandoval '19
September 20, 2024 • Posted in , ,

Sandoval ’19 Making Difference in Guatemala

University of the Ozarks alumna Brenda Gabriela Sandoval ’19 is another notable example of a Walton International Scholar who is using her Ozarks education to make a difference in her home country. Sandoval, from Guatemala City, earned a B.A. degree in international business and history with Summa Cum Laude honors from Ozarks in 2019. Returning […]

alumni award recipients 2024
September 5, 2024 • Posted in ,

Alumni Association to Honor Four During Homecoming 2024

The University of the Ozarks Alumni Association will honor four of its own during the 2024 Ozarks Awards Ceremony, held in conjunction with this year’s Homecoming celebration. The ceremony is scheduled for 6 p.m., Friday, Oct. 18, in the Rogers Conference Center. Tickets for the event are $25 and can be purchased by visiting: https://ozarks.edu/alumni/homecoming/ […]

Tyra Nicole Omier
March 8, 2024 • Posted in

Nicole ’13: A Champion for the Vulnerable and Marginalized

In 2023, University of the Ozarks alumna Tyra Nicole Omeir ’13 earned the prestigious honor of representing her home country of Nicaragua as a “One Young World – European Commission Peace Ambassador” in the United Kingdom, capping a decade of work as a champion for the underserved and for victims of human trafficking. The former […]

Morgan Jackson and family
March 7, 2024 • Posted in

Team’s Success is Important to Jackson ’12

As director of global logistics-delivery for Walmart, there’s no better feeling for Morgan (Goates) Jackson ’12 than watching her team succeed. Jackson, who graduated from University of the Ozarks in 2012 with a degree in business, leads a team at Walmart that supports and manages the movement of containerized goods — merchandise, food, and perishables […]

Lilian Cruz
March 6, 2024 • Posted in

Teaching Ethics Becomes Career Path for Cruz ’90

The Business Ethics class that Lilian Cruz de Santizo ’90 took at University of the Ozarks in the late 1980s made such an impact on her that she made it her career. The former Walton Scholar earned a business administration degree at Ozarks in 1990 before returning to her home country of Guatemala where she […]

Jae Lynn Huckaba
March 5, 2024 • Posted in

Law and Spanish Opened the World for Huckaba ’18

It didn’t take Jae Lynn Huckaba ’18 long to discover that her undergraduate education at University of the Ozarks gave her an advantage over her classmates at the University of Miami School of Law. The first-generation college graduate from Forrest City, Ark., earned majors in English and Spanish with high honors from Ozarks in 2018 […]

Lauren Ray
March 4, 2024 • Posted in

Ray ’13 Inspiring Love of Outdoors in Others

In the decade since graduating from University of the Ozarks, Lauren Ray ’13 can appreciate even more the customized undergraduate education she received at the University. Ray has worked for the National Park Service in a number of locations since leaving Ozarks, including Arches National Park in Utah, Pecos National Historical Park in New Mexico, […]

Kaye Bagsby Person
February 29, 2024 • Posted in

Person ’77 Shares Iconic Moment 50 Years Ago

(The following article was written by Janice Penix and appeared in the Feb. 28 edition of The Graphic newspaper in Clarksville. It is reprinted with the permission of The Graphic.) Students at Clarksville Junior High heard an inspirational message on Thursday from local native Kaye Bagsby Person, who was crowned the first Black Miss College […]