Three-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Lilly King will speak at ����vlog���� on Tuesday, April 7, as part of the University’s Walton Arts & Ideas Series.

The event will begin at 7 p.m. In the Walton Fine Arts Center on the Clarksville campus. There is no cost for admission and the public is invited to attend.

King has been one of America’s top breaststroke swimmers over the past decade and won a combined six medals — three gold, two silver, and a bronze — in the last three Olympic Games (2016, 2020 and 2024).

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke competition and also won a gold medal in the 4×100 meter medley relay, in which she swam the breaststroke leg. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, King won a silver medal in the 4×100 meter medley relay for her efforts in the prelims, the silver medal in the 200-meter breaststroke, and the bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke.

At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, she won her third gold medal in the 4×100 meter medley relay, where she swam the breaststroke leg. She is the current world record holder in the long course 100-meter breaststroke.

King retired from competitive swimming after the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

She also boasts 14 medals from the World Short-Course Championships, including seven gold, and set the world record in 100 -meter breaststroke (1:04.13) at the 2017 World Championships.

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Bethany Rivera Molinar, an ordained minister, community development leader and executive director of Ciudad Nueva Community Outreach in El Paso, Texas, will speak at ����vlog���� on Tuesday, March 17, as part of the annual Farmer Lecture Series.

The event will begin at 7 p.m. in the Rogers Conference Center. Molinar’s visit is made possible by the Cecil and Ruth Boddie Farmer Guest Speaker Endowment. There is no charge for admission and the public is invited to attend.

The title of Molinar’s talk will be, “What is God calling you to now in this moment in history?”

Said Molinar, “In a time when headlines can leave us feeling small and powerless, this lecture invites you to discern how God may be calling you to respond—right where you are. Drawing from Scripture and stories from the border, including the work of Ciudad Nueva, we’ll explore how God unfolds justice in the world through faithful communities in overlooked places—rural towns, border neighborhoods, and beyond.”

Molinar is a fronteriza Chicana living and working in El Paso, about a mile from the international border line of the United States and Mexico. She leads Ciudad Nueva Community Outreach, a holistic, asset-based, Christian community development nonprofit organization walking alongside their neighbors to develop youth, support families, equip leaders, and strengthen community in downtown-central El Paso.

Molinar is deeply passionate for Ciudad Nueva to be a place where community work unfolds and community members are actively engaged and accessing their gifts, skills, and resources to collectively lead towards a vibrant and thriving community. Along with her team and community, this passion has driven the work that she has done through Ciudad Nueva for over 10 years.

She also serves as chair for the board of the national Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) as well as other local boards.

Molinar earned both master’s of divinity and master’s of social work degrees from Baylor University.

In 2023, President Barack Obama selected her as one of 100 Leaders from across the United States for his inaugural Obama Leaders USA program.

She serves with prophetic strength and innovative leadership within local, regional, and national women of color faith circles. When not doing all of the above, Molinar enjoys spending time with her husband, Adrian, and their three children, running, urban gardening, and pursuing the crafty arts.

Molinar will also be speaking at the University weekly Chapel Service at 11:30 a.m. On March 17.

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New York Times bestselling author Sarah Penner will speak and hold a book-signing at ����vlog���� at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 27, as part of the “If All of Arkansas Read the Same Book” reading program, sponsored by the Arkansas State Library.    

The event will be held in the Rowntree Auditorium, located in the Walton Fine Arts Center. There is no cost for admission and the public is invited. The event will include an author talk, a Q&A session with the audience, and a book-signing.

The Amalfi Curse by Penner was selected as the 2025 title for “If All Arkansas Read the Same Book,” the state’s annual shared reading experience.

In The Amalfi Curse (Park Row Books, 2025), a nautical archaeologist’s search for sunken treasure leads to the discovery of dark secrets, ancient magic, and a love that defies centuries. Known for her bestselling debut, The Lost Apothecary, Penner returns with a suspenseful and atmospheric story perfect for summer reading.

Penner is the internationally bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary and The London Séance Society. Her books have been translated into more than 40 languages and her debut, The Lost Apothecary, has sold over one million copies worldwide. A graduate of the University of Kansas, Sarah spent 13 years in corporate finance and now writes full-time. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, yoga, and cooking. She also sits on the board of directors at her local animal shelter, Friends of Strays. She and her husband, Marc, live in Florida.

The Arkansas State Library has coordinated the distribution of the book to libraries throughout the state, supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. For more details and event updates, visit 

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The Rev. Dr. Margaret Grun Kibben, the current chaplain of the United States House of Representatives and a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, will speak at ����vlog���� on Tuesday, April 22.

The event will begin at 7 p.m. in the Munger-Wilson Chapel. Kibben’s visit is made possible by the Cecil and Ruth Boddie Farmer Guest Speaker Endowment. There is no charge for admission and the public is invited to attend.

The title of Kibben’s talk will be “Leaders Lead: The Perils of Power.”

Kibben described her talk this way:  “Leadership enjoys, and endures, both luxury and loneliness. It means to experience the rewards of leadership AND to bear the weight of responsibility. Both need to be acknowledged and distributed in order to maintain the integrity of our calling and the spiritual strength of our souls.”

Kibben is an ordained Presbyterian Minister (PCUSA) and served over 30 years as a chaplain in the United States Navy, completing her career as the U.S. Navy’s 26th Chief of Chaplains. She also served as the 18th Chaplain of the Marine Corps. Her military service comprised a variety of both Navy and Marine Corps assignments where she served ashore, at sea, and abroad, to include a combat-tour in Afghanistan.

On Jan. 3, 2021, Kibben was elected by the House and sworn in by Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the 61st chaplain of the United States House of Representatives, becoming the first woman to serve as chaplain in either chamber of Congress. Speaker Mike Johnson appointed Kibben as acting House chaplain on Jan. 3, 2025.

Kibben is a graduate of Goucher College in Towson, Maryland.  She received both her master of divinity and her doctor of ministry from Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N.J.  She served as a fellow at the United States Institute of Peace and holds a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College. 

In addition to the Princeton Theological Seminary’s Board of Trustees, Kibben serves on the boards for the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence, the World War II Foundation, and the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. She is a faculty associate for Arizona State University’s School of Politics and Global Studies.

Kibben is married to Lt. Col. Timothy J. Kibben, USMC (Ret.) and enjoys cycling, swimming, and gardening.

The chaplain of the United States House of Representatives is the officer of the United States House of Representatives responsible for beginning each day’s proceedings with a prayer. In addition to opening proceedings with prayer, the chaplain provides pastoral counseling to the House community, coordinates the scheduling of guest chaplains, and arranges memorial services for the House and its staff. In the past, chaplains have performed marriage and funeral ceremonies for House members.

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KUOZ Productions at ����vlog���� will present “Election ’24” live coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

KUOZ Productions, a co-curricular organization at Ozarks, will present the live studio production to report local, county and national election results. The coverage will be shown on Cable Channel 6 in Clarksville as well as on the KUOZ Productions YouTube channel.

The production will last approximately three hours and will include students and faculty from the University’s communication studies program as well as other disciplines across campus. There will also be pre-packaged stories by students in the advanced media production class profiling different issues.

Russell Jones, instructor of broadcast/video/multimedia storytelling, said the emphasis of the coverage will be on local and county results.

“The interest in the general election helped us get students focused on local issues, and how local governments and voters make democracy work on a fundamental level,” said Jones.

Jones and Susan Edens, associate professor of communication, worked with students in the advanced media production class and the co-curricular program to develop their storytelling and live studio production skills.

(Photo Courtesy of Chloe Vieux).

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(Pictured, clockwise from top left) sand artist and storyteller Joe Castillo, wrongly imprisoned former professional boxer Dewey Bozella, artificial intelligence specialist Dr. Kathryn Conrad, and former NBA player and HOOPSLife founder Pat Burke headline the ����vlog����’ 2024-25 Walton Arts & Ideas Series (WAIS).

WAIS is made possible by an endowment established by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation. All of the events begin at 7 p.m. and there is no charge for admission.

This upcoming academic year’s series will feature six events, beginning on Sept. 5 with Castillo, an artist, pastor, author and storyteller. Castillo’s latest adventure in creative expression is called SandStory. Drawing in sand on a light table, he is able to create a powerful, fluid way of doing illustrations for large audiences. Powerful, visceral, are just a few of the words that have been used in attempting to describe what Castillo does. He has performed in over 20 countries, for Fortune 500 companies, Presidents, Kings, World Leaders, TED, CBS, NBC, BBC and reached the finals on America’s Got Talent.

The series continues on Oct. 10 with a speaking engagement by Burke, who became Ireland’s first NBA player in the early 2000s. After a 12-year professional playing career, Burke and his wife Peyton in 2013 founded HOOPSLife, a youth-development program that promotes leadership and life skills through basketball to young boys and girls throughout the United States and in Ireland.

On Nov. 19, the Afrique Aya Dance Company, an African dance and drum group, will perform at the University. The Arkansas-based troupe will perform traditional West African dances, drawing on a rich tradition of story-telling and earth-based, lyric movement and music that convey a vibrant, universal narrative. The company has performed and taught residencies and workshops on the music and culture of West Africa in colleges and schools throughout the country.

The series continues on February 12, 2025, with a presentation from Bozella, a former professional boxer who spent 26 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit. His story of courage, strength, faith, and perseverance began in the late 1970s, when he was wrongfully accused of murdering Emma Crapser, a 92-year-old resident of Poughkeepsie, New York. Sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, Bozella fiercely maintained his innocence throughout his ordeal at Sing Sing, and even refused the prosecutor’s offer of instant freedom in exchange for admission of guilt. But in 2009, more than a quarter century later, Bozella would reclaim his identity and his humanity when his conviction was vacated. He was the recipient of the 2011 Arthur Ashe Courage Award and is the author of the 2016 book, “Stand Tall: Fighting for My Life, Inside and Outside the Ring.”

On March 19, the Celtic folk band and dance troupe Celtic Breeze will perform at the University. Founded in Arkansas in 2005, Celtic Breeze performs traditional Irish and Scottish tunes along with American folk songs. In 2014, the group was chosen for inclusion on the Artist on Tour roster of the Arkansas Arts Council. Dancers from the McCafferty School of Irish Dancers in Little Rock will also take part in the performance.   

The final event of the series will be on April 3 with a lecture from Conrad, a professor of English at University of Kansas and an AI technology and culture specialist. Conrad will explore the world of generative AI and the ethical issues that it entails from development to deployment, asking us to consider how we think about technological change and what we value about human work.

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Alice Driver, an investigative journalist and author from Arkansas, will speak at ����vlog���� on Thursday, Nov. 2, as part of the University’s 2023-24 Walton Arts & Ideas Series.

Driver’s presentation will begin at 7 p.m. in the Rogers Conference Center. There is no cost for admission and the public is invited to attend.

Driver recently completed a book about labor rights titled, “The Life and Death of the American Worker,” which documents “immigrant essential workers at America’s largest meat and poultry processing company.” The book is scheduled to come out in Spring 2024 via Astra Publishing House.

She writes for The New Yorker, National Geographic, and The New York Review of Books. In 2023, she won a James Beard Award for Investigative reporting. 

Driver was born in rural Arkansas in a house built by her potter father and her weaver mother. She attended Berea College in rural Kentucky, founded in 1855 to educate freed slaves and students with limited economic resources. Berea College charges no tuition, and thanks to its mission, Driver said she was able to take the years of financial risk needed to become a writer. She describes writing as a way she “seeks justice and equality in a world that is far from that.”

She is currently designing a workshop on gender-based violence for journalists in El Salvador via the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. She has a Ph.D.(2011) and a master’s in art degree (2008) in Hispanic Studies from the University of Kentucky, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico City. She studied Spanish and Portuguese at Middlebury College Language Schools.

Driver is currently working on a memoir about her family’s relationship with writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak titled, “Artists All Around.” This book tells the story of “a lifelong friendship between the author’s mother and the writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak.” Sendak, the author and illustrator of “Where the Wild Things Are,” and Driver’s mother, fiber artist Louise Halsey, exchanged letters for 57 years, beginning when Halsey was only 8 years old and continuing until Sendak’s death in 2012. “Artists All Around” is expected to release in Spring 2025 by Princeton Architectural Press.

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The Foreign Tongues Poetry Troupe will perform on the ����vlog���� campus at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 14, to kick off the University’s 2023-24 Walton Arts and ideas Series.

There is no cost to attend the event and the public is invited. It will be held in the Seay Theatre, located in the Walton Fine Arts Center.  

Based out of Little Rock, Foreign Tongues is a dynamic and diverse artistic collective that spreads the power of poetry across Arkansas and the United States. Their team is made up of accomplished authors, educators, entertainers, actors, visual artists, playwrights, award-winning slam poets, hip-hip artists, and entrepreneurs, all united by their passion for the written and spoken word.  

According to its website, “Through their … captivating performances, Foreign Tongues has made a name for themselves as a group that brings people together through the art of poetry. Whether you’re a seasoned poetry enthusiast or a newcomer to the genre, Foreign Tongues is sure to inspire and entertain you with their incredible talent and unwavering love for the craft.  Foreign Tongues Poetry Troupe will take the stage to deliver a powerful spoken word performance that promises to educate, empower and move the listening audience.”  

Collectively, Foreign Tongues has over 50 years of spoken word/poetry slam experience.  In 2014, The Foreign Tongues Poetry Troupe finished second at the Southern Fried Poetry Slam, the second largest poetry competition in the nation.

For the last two years Foreign Tongues has partnered with the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center to create a performance poetry series entitled, “Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Piece.” The poetry series brings poets and writers from across the country to perform for and educate the Central Arkansas community and inspire youth to write, read, and channel their emotions through creative outlets. The event also allows middle school and high school students to perform their own poetry in front of hundreds of people and alongside world renowned poets. “Speak Now” is free to the public and takes place quarterly.  

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A renowned former National Geographic photographer, a Middle Eastern Dance Company and a Hollywood science consultant are just a few of the highlights of the ����vlog����’ 2023-24 Walton Arts & Ideas Series (WAIS).

WAIS is made possible by an endowment established by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation. There is no charge for admission to any of the events.

This year’s series, titled “Enlightened and Engaged,” will feature six events beginning on Sept. 14 with the Foreign Tongues Poetry Troupe out of Little Rock.  The lineup also includes former National Geographic photographer Dick Durrance on Oct. 17, the Mirana Middle Eastern Dance Company on Feb. 8 and Hollywood science consultant Dr. Erin Mcdonald on April 4.

The full 2023-24 lineup:

Foreign Tongues Poetry Troupe

7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 14

Seay Theatre/Walton Fine Arts Center

Based out of Little Rock, Foreign Tongues is a dynamic and diverse artistic collective that spreads the power of poetry across Arkansas and the United States. Their team is made up of accomplished authors, educators, entertainers, actors, visual artists, playwrights, award-winning slam poets, hip-hip artists, and entrepreneurs, all united by their passion for the written and spoken word. Through their engaging workshops and captivating performances, Foreign Tongues has made a name for themselves as a group that brings people together through the art of poetry. Whether you’re a seasoned poetry enthusiast or a newcomer to the genre, Foreign Tongues is sure to inspire and entertain you with their incredible talent and unwavering love for the craft.  Foreign Tongues Poetry Troupe will take the stage to deliver a powerful spoken word performance that promises to educate, empower and move the listening audience.

Dick Durrance, National Geographic Photographer

7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 17

Rogers Conference Center

Dick Durrance has been described by the director of photography at National Geographic as one of the most versatile photographers of his generation. His presentations are based on real-life experiences and the creative instincts he developed while traveling the world as a photographer. Durrance has photographed combat in Vietnam, National Geographic stories, global advertising campaigns, National Parks and the world’s great golf courses. His peers have celebrated his gift for photography throughout his career: National Press Photographers of America honored his combat pictures with a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in their Military Photographs of the Year competition; White House News Photographers Association named him their Magazine Photographer of the Year; and American Society of Media Photographers named him their Advertising Photographer of the Year. Durrance brings a uniquely comprehensive understanding of the creative process to helping audiences harness the full power of their imaginations to further develop a creative vision for themselves.

Alice Driver, Author and Journalist

7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 2

Rogers Conference Center

Author Alice Driver has spent the past three years reporting on workers at the largest meatpacking company in the U.S. as they grieve loved ones lost to Covid and struggling to pay medical bills. Her book, about their fight for justice from their employer, ”The Life and Death of the American Worker” (Astra House), will be published in 2024.  Driver is a writer from the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas who writes for The New Yorker, National Geographic, and The New York Review of Books. In 2023, Driver won a James Beard Award for Investigative Reporting.  She is also working on a memoir about her family’s relationship with writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak titled, “Artists All Around” (Princeton Architectural Press 2025). She is the author of “More or Less Dead: Feminicide, Haunting and the Ethics of Representation in Mexico” (University of Arizona, 2015) and the translator of Abecedario de Juárez (University of Texas, 2022). 

Mirana Middle Eastern Dance Company

7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 8

Seay Theatre/Walton Fine Arts Center

Founded by Marion “Mirana” Thompson in 1974, the Mirana Middle Eastern Dance Company was the first to bring this art form to the state of Arkansas. Mirana’s love and respect for the style of dance inspired her to pursue new opportunities for Middle Eastern dance to be showcased in the most prestigious theaters and performances in Arkansas. Mirana steered away from using the term “belly dance.” Middle Eastern dance was too vast and culturally rich that it should not be reduced to what we now commonly know as belly dance. She fought to keep the integrity of this art form to her very last breath during her battle against cancer (May 1993). Mirana appointed Shannon Sahr to keep her mission alive, to keep Middle Eastern Dance relevant, and to continue developing her troupe into one of the highest professional level dance groups in Arkansas. A member of The Arkansas Arts on Tour, the company is recognized nationally and known to provide quality dance performances that are unique but maintain the traditional elegance of its origin.

Mystical Arts of Tibet

Monday thru Friday, March 4-8

Walton Fine Arts Center

Monks of The Mystical Arts of Tibet from Drepung Loseling Monastery will be on campus throughout the week of March 4-8 to create a Mandala sand painting and present a pair of public lectures. The lectures include, “The Symbolism of Mandala,” on Tuesday, March 5, at 7 p.m., and “Meditation for Focus & Stress Relief,” on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m. From all the artistic traditions of Tantric Buddhism, that of painting with colored sand ranks as one of the most unique and exquisite. Millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of days or weeks to form the image of a mandala. Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning sacred cosmogram. These cosmograms can be created in various media, however, the most spectacular and enduringly popular are those made from colored sand. To date the monks have created mandala sand paintings in more than 100 museums, art centers, and universities.

Schedule of Events

•  Opening Ceremony: March 4, 1 p.m., Stephens Gallery

•  Creation of Mandala: March 4-8, Stephens Gallery

•  Lecture: The Symbolism of Mandala: March 5, 7 p.m., Seay Theatre

•  Lecture: Meditation for Focus & Stress Release: March 7, 7 p.m., Seay Theatre

•  Closing Ceremony: March 8, 1 p.m., Stephens Gallery

Dr. Erin Macdonald, Hollywood Science Consultant

7 p.m., Thursday, April 4

Rogers Conference Center

Dr. Erin Macdonald will present a lecture titled, “Representation Matters: How STEM in TV and Movies Led Me to Hollywood.” This personal journey will take the audience through Macdonald’s varied career, teaching that passion and seeing yourself represented can be a guiding light as one finds their path. Macdonald hails from Fort Collins, Colo., and received her Ph.D. in astrophysics at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, doing research into gravitational waves as a member of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. After leaving research in 2014, life took her to Los Angeles where she began speaking at official Star Trek events and working as a science consultant for the entertainment industry. In 2019 she was hired as the official science consultant for the ever-expanding Star Trek Universe and is currently working on all shows in development. She discovered a skill and passion for writing as well as consulting and currently has multiple projects in development. 

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����vlog���� will present cross-disciplinary performer, poet, educator, conceptual dramaturg, and social engagement artist Robert Farid Karimi to campus on Friday, April 14, as part of the University’s 2022-23 Walton Arts & Ideas Series.

The event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Rogers Conference Center. There is no cost for admission and the public is invited.

In his show titled, “Food, Fun and Games to Nourish the People With,” Karimi said the interactive performance “explores how we nourish ourselves through playfulness and food.”

With his Iranian-Guatemalan heritage as a point of departure, Karimi plays a diverse group of characters in his solo and collaborative shows, from the mystical Disco Jesus to pop star Freddie Mercury to the idealist cook Mero Cocinero, who has cooked for luminaries MF Doom,Yuri Kochiyama and families and change-makers worldwide.

Karimi made healthy messaging delicious with the “Diabetes of Democracy,” a culinary engagement project which inspires audiences to exchange their cultural culinary histories, connect with one another over humor and food, and discover their own power towards personal balance.

A Creative Capital artist, Karimi has been featured on NPR, The Smithsonian, South X SouthWest, HBO’s DefPoetryJam, Los Angeles Times, Callaloo, Mizna, Total Chaos: An anthology of Hip Hop theory, Asian-American Literary Review, and A Good Time for The Truth: Race In Minnesota as well as various other platforms and spaces worldwide.

As a creative developer, comedic storyteller and cook, Karimi combines humor and food in his Peoples Cook Project, designed to bring people together through sharing their cultural histories and connecting across the table.

Karimi currently designs games and interactive performance experiences to spark audiences, in all manner of civic spaces, to imagine worlds of mutual community nourishment. Their research focuses on the power of play and playfulness in socially engaged art and the role of cultural collision in shaping the non-binary imaginary.

Karimi serves as assistant professor in the School of Music, Dance and Theater department at Arizona State University. More information can be found at RobertFaridKarimi.com

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