Arkansas Tech

Jerry Charles Young IV has been selected and is taking office as Arkansas Tech University campus ambassador as of Monday, May 4. A native Arkansan born in Dardanelle on Feb. 20, Jerry IV is the continuation of an Arkansas Tech tradition that dates back to the 1930s. ATU Student Government Association cast a unanimous vote on Oct. 23, 2013, to restore the tradition following a 76-year absence and install Jerry the Bulldog as ATU campus ambassador. Read more: arkansastechnews.com/arkansas-tech-…

No school was greater in the Great American Conference this spring! Arkansas Tech University continued its recent run of championship success on Sunday by clinching the 2026 regular season GAC softball championship outright and by winning the women's tennis GAC Tournament title. In addition, the Wonder Boys baseball team will host East Central for the championship series of the GAC Tournament beginning Friday, May 8, at Carl Baswell Field. Arkansas Tech earned that opportunity by going 3-0 during the first stage of the GAC Tournament this weekend in Hot Springs. All of this is on top of the GAC championships already earned this spring by the Wonder Boys and Golden Suns golf teams. Welcome to Russellville, Arkansas...title town of the GAC for spring 2026!

Arkansas Tech University students Eliza Mikles and Sidney Loosey Parker captured the top prizes in the inaugural Spark Tank business idea competition hosted by the ATU Center for Community Engagement and Academic Outreach and the Co-Create Innovation Hub. Read more: arkansastechnews.com/inaugural-spar…

A new makerspace on the third floor of Crabaugh Hall is preparing teacher candidates in the Arkansas Tech University Department of Teaching and Educational Leadership to use technology such as 3D printers to create custom-made solutions for their students with autism and other exceptionalities. Learn more: arkansastechnews.com/makerspace-hel…

The Arkansas Tech University Division of Student Affairs recognized students, faculty and staff who contributed to the quality of place at ATU during the 2025-26 academic year by hosting its annual Evening of Excellence on Tuesday, April 28, at the Bibler Conference Center in Ferguson Student Union. Read more: arkansastechnews.com/atu-celebrates…

The Arkansas Tech University College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) celebrated the achievements of its faculty and students during the 2025-26 academic year with an awards dinner at the Hull Building Event Center on Monday, April 27. Read more: arkansastechnews.com/college-of-ste…

Twenty-nine spring 2026 Arkansas Tech University graduates have earned the ATU Tradition Keeper designation. Read more: arkansastechnews.com/arkansas-tech-…

TOP 2 IN THE WORLD!!! The Arkansas Tech University robotics team advanced through the most challenging bracket (the Opportunity Division) at the 2026 VEX U World Championships in St. Louis to earn world runner-up honors on Monday, the best finish in ATU robotics history. Arkansas Tech also claimed the VEX U Think Award, which is presented to the team at the world championships that demonstrates the best and most consistent programming of all robots. Congratulations, ATU robotics!

An idea brought forth by a student in the French horn section will shine a new light on the Arkansas Tech University Symphonic Wind Ensemble for its final performance of the 2025-26 academic year. The show will begin at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 26, in Witherspoon Auditorium, 407 West Q Street on the ATU campus in Russellville. Admission will be free and open to the public. The concert will include a new stage lighting concept envisioned and developed by Caelah Carvin, a first-year ATU student from Hot Springs. Read more: arkansastechnews.com/a-bright-idea-…

Jocelyn Dong of Harrison is the 2026 champion of a book cover art contest sponsored by Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center and the Arkansas Tech University Department of Art. The contest challenges ATU students under the direction of Julie Benda in the Illustration Studio class to re-imagine classic or popular book covers. This was the fourth year for the competition. Dong earned the first-place award for her interpretation of a cover for “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Sady Long of Morrilton (second place, “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll) and Tori Woods of Pottsville (third place, “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster) were also recognized for their book covers. The contest winners posed for this photo along with Julie Benda (left), ATU visiting assistant professor of art, and Aubrey Viereck (right), ATU library supervisor. The award-winning pieces are now part of the Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center art collection. The winning pieces are located on the northeast wall of the library’s first floor alongside the winners from previous years.

Top-2 in the nation! Arkansas Tech University engineering students Nathan Gibbons, Michael McCarty and Logan Ashley finished second in the crewed displacement category of the 2026 Promoting Electric Propulsion boating competition, which is sponsored by the U.S. Navy Office of Naval Research and the American Society of Naval Engineers. The 2026 event took place in Portsmouth, Va., and featured more than 350 students representing more than 45 colleges and universities from across the United States. A total of 55 electric-powered vessels competed on the waters of the Elizabeth River. It is the third consecutive year that Arkansas Tech has placed top-2 nationally in the Promoting Electric Propulsion competition. Read more: arkansastechnews.com/the-value-of-p…

Twelve Arkansas Tech University students participated in the 2026 Wall Street Experience study away opportunity provided by the ATU College of Business and Economic Development. Read more: arkansastechnews.com/atu-students-t…

An historic building at Arkansas Tech University has new tenants and a new purpose. Hughes Hall is now home to staff members from the ATU Division of Administration and Finance. They moved into the 86-year old building in April following the completion of a renovation project that began in October 2025. Read more: arkansastechnews.com/historic-hughe…

Josiah Carter of Sanford, Fla., and Ashley Muller of Cabot received the top two annual student awards presented by the Arkansas Tech University LeMoyne Smith School of Business during an awards reception at Chambers Cafeteria West Dining Room on Tuesday, April 21. Read more: arkansastechnews.com/carter-muller-…

For the second time in less than a week...Conference Champions Once More! The Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys golf team won the 2026 Great American Conference Tournament Sunday through Tuesday with a 54-hole team total of 880. The tournament was contested at The Club at Forest Ridge in Broken Arrow, Okla. Jacob Peetom's 50-foot eagle putt on the final hole helped put the finishing touches on a 6-stroke Wonder Boys' victory among a field of 10 teams. With the win, Arkansas Tech University earned its 132nd conference championship in intercollegiate athletics. It is the 15th conference title in ATU men's golf history. The Wonder Boys were Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference champions in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1984, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995; Gulf South Conference champions in 2004; and Great American Conference champions in 2013, 2019, 2021 and now 2026. The title, paired with the GAC women's golf championship captured by the Arkansas Tech Golden Suns April 13-15, marks the third time that Arkansas Tech has won both GAC golf titles in the same year. The Golden Suns and the Wonder Boys previously swept the GAC golf championships in 2019 and 2021. Congratulations to Coach Lowell Stephens and the Wonder Boys!

Arkansas Tech University President Dr. Russell Jones accepted an invitation to serve as keynote speaker on Tuesday for a lunch and learn session designed to benefit graduate assistants in the ATU Division of Student Affairs. Dr. Jones shared reflections on his career path, discussed the ways in which strategic planning helps ATU remain true to its mission and answered questions from the ATU graduate students.

The Arkansas Tech University agriculture program will host its 42nd annual spring plant sale on Tuesday, April 28, at the ATU Greenhouses on the north side of the Arkansas Tech campus in Russellville. The sale will be open 8 a.m.-7 p.m. or until all items are sold. Signs will direct customers to the greenhouses, which have a GPS address of 380 W. Harrell Drive in Russellville. Cash, checks and credit cards will be accepted for payment.

Students in an Arkansas Tech University senior-level tourism class visited Mount Magazine State Park and the Fort Smith National Historic Site on Saturday, April 11, and Sunday, April 12, to gain hands-on experience with public lands. Read more: arkansastechnews.com/atu-tourism-st…

Arkansas Tech University named the winners of the institution’s top three undergraduate senior awards for 2026 during a reception at Ferguson Student Union on Sunday, April 19. ATU’s top senior award winners for 2026 are (from left-to-right): Hannah Melton of Clarksville, Jill Lestage Brown Service Leadership Award Carson Smith of Russellville, Alfred J. Crabaugh Outstanding Senior Award Allie Stoll of Benton, Margaret Young Outstanding Senior Award The reception also featured recognition of ATU’s Who’s Who students for 2026. Read more: arkansastechnews.com/melton-smith-s…

The Arkansas Tech University choirs will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States of America with a concert entitled “The Caged Bird Sings for Freedom” on Sunday, April 19. Read more: arkansastechnews.com/final-atu-choi…