Key Communications

Fall 2024 Commencement Speech: Bounce Back

Success is not some linear progression towards more and better.  In fact, successful journeys are often inundated with peaks of accomplishments and valleys of disappointment. Too many times, when people experience the valleys, they become so overwhelmed that they wallow in defeat and despair, failing to see that the loss is simply an opportunity to learn the lessons that empower you to bounce back.   

Holiday Message to Students

The holidays are a time to reflect on the year’s successes and look ahead to new possibilities — and you’ve given us so much to celebrate. Your enthusiasm, hard work and determination make the University of Arkansas a place where great things happen every day.

 

Staff Appreciation: Thank You for Your Dedication to the U of A

As we celebrate Staff Appreciation Week, we want to thank each of you for your contributions to the University of Arkansas and its land-grant mission to serve the people of our state. Your hard work and dedication are the foundation of our success, and the progress we’ve made over the past year would not have been possible without you.

Update on Implementation of Compensation Projects

We’re excited to announce another milestone in the implementation of our Staff Classification and Compensation, Faculty Compensation and Graduate Assistant Compensation Benchmarking projects.

Welcome Message to Students

As we kick off the fall semester, it is my pleasure to welcome you and wish you a successful year. Whether you’re returning to campus or joining us for the first time, I want you to know that you belong here, and we’re thrilled to have you as part of the Razorback family.

Advice to Young Leaders at Arkansas Boys State

Leaders are dreamers. They're visionaries, they're people who can see things well before they happen. They are people who have energy in their dreaming so that their dreaming is infectious. When Americans dream, we dig into the granite of the impossible and unearth precious stones of new possibilities…When we dream as Americans, there is literally nothing too hard for us to do.

Thank You for an Outstanding Year!

This year has been filled with significant accomplishments that have strengthened our position as one of the nation’s top universities. We have outlined goals and objectives for our 150 Forward strategic plan, focusing on key growth opportunities in student success, research excellence, and enhancing our status as an employer of choice. While we activate the strategic plan, we keep setting records in enrollment, fall-to-spring first-year retention, and research expenditures.

Special Thanks to Our Outstanding Faculty

As we celebrate Faculty Appreciation Week, we want to thank you for your dedication and contributions to the University of Arkansas. Your passion and expertise are the cornerstones of our success, and we are profoundly grateful for all that you do.

Celebrating 153 Years of Excellence at the University of Arkansas

As we commemorate the 153rd anniversary of the founding of the University of Arkansas, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to each member of our campus community. Your talent, dedication and hard work are the driving forces behind our success, and I am very optimistic about what the future holds.

Congratulations to the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Class of 2024

I have pride in our university for being associated with and supported by so many of the distinguished members of the Hall of Fame; Pride in our state for being the birthplace or adopted home of these wonderful men and women; Pride in our nation for embracing the values and fostering the environment that empowers great individual accomplishment.

Welcome Message to Students

Season's Greetings

As the winter break approaches, we wish you happy holidays and thank you for helping make the University of Arkansas so special. Your hard work, inquisitiveness and kindness are major reasons why the U of A has become a destination school, with a record of academic achievement and a dynamic campus culture that attracts students, faculty and staff from around the world.

We wish you a joyful holiday season and a restful winter break. Enjoy this well-deserved time with family and friends.

Fall 2023 Commencement Speech: The Razorback Flow

Life, like the river, moves in the direction of the flow. That’s why for you today at this junction of your journey, one of the most salient questions that you will have to grapple with is how will you continue managing your flow?...Will you have a flow that unites and strengthens the bonds between people, underscoring our shared humanity and reviving the sense that all things are possible if we are willing to work together?...Or will you have a flow that causes people to seek hazard insurance when they deal with you?

Campus Leaders Deliver State of the University Address

The 2023 State of the University included several campus leaders who reinforced the U of A’s land-grant mission while providing updates on strategic efforts to strengthen student success and research excellence, as well as enhancing the university’s status as an employer of choice.

Thanking Our Staff — A Message from Chancellor Robinson and Provost Martin

As we celebrate Staff Appreciation Week, we want to thank you for all that you do for the University of Arkansas.

We’ve made a lot of news recently, setting institutional records in areas that are crucial to fulfilling our land-grant mission such as overall enrollment, number of Arkansans enrolled, scholarships and grants awarded, degrees awarded, six-year graduation rate, first-year retention rate and research expenditures. None of those achievements would have been possible without your hard work, your unwavering dedication to the U of A and our land-grant mission, and your tireless support of our students, faculty and your fellow staff members.

Update from Chancellor Robinson

With the fall semester underway and the Razorbacks set to play their first Fayetteville home game of the 2023 football season this weekend, I have a bit of good news to share. Our preliminary ‘11th day’ numbers indicate that we have 32,140 students enrolled this semester, breaking the previous enrollment record we set last fall. Moreover, both our freshman class and our overall total enrollment include a record number of Arkansas students ever enrolled at the U of A, breaking the marks we set last fall as well. So, we are fulfilling our land-grant duty of uplifting Arkansans through education as never before. And last, but certainly not least, the incoming freshman class has the highest average GPA ever (3.79).

Fall Semester Kick Off Message from Chancellor Robinson

As we begin the fall semester, I am thrilled to welcome both new and returning students.

What a time to be a Razorback! We’ve set several institutional records recently, and it looks like that trend will continue this semester as we anticipate setting a new record for enrollment as well as a new record for the number of Arkansans in the incoming freshman class. Moreover, our incoming freshman class has an average high school GPA of 3.81, breaking last year’s record of 3.76.

150 Forward Update from Chancellor Robinson

Through a series of town halls, we have validated our strategic pillars of student success, employer of choice and research excellence. Each pillar now has emergent goals and performance metrics. When we return to campus in the fall our colleges, schools and units will be able to develop strategies and tactics that align with the University’s goals while reflecting each unit’s unique strengths and opportunities. As we go through this process, we will be realigning resources to position the University of Arkansas to better meet its mission. Our first realignment will focus on supporting the student success and employer of choice pillars.

University’s ‘150 Forward’ Strategic Planning Process Underway

The University of Arkansas’ 150 Forward strategic planning process is underway with a series of three campuswide town hall discussions scheduled in February and March. The town hall sessions will focus on advancing the university’s three strategic priority areas: student success, research excellence and the university’s status as an employer of choice. Other strategic planning activities are happening in parallel, designed to examine the state of the university and assist with setting goals and objectives.

Plan for My First 100 Days

I want to thank you for the notes, calls, texts and visits in the days since I was named chancellor. Despite being in the seat for the past 15 months and the fact that we, together, have not stopped advancing the mission of the University of Arkansas in that time, I assure you that I have emerged from the search process reinvigorated – and ready to get to work.

Early Voting Message From Chancellor Robinson and ASG President Loften

Your voice matters and we hope all of you who are registered to vote will take part in the upcoming local, state and federal elections as a part of the early voting period on campus, or on Election Day elsewhere.

Statement from Chancellor Robinson

Interim chancellor reinforces campus values of curiosity, creativity, character and our shared humanity.

Chancellor Robinson Reinforces Campus Values

The University of Arkansas remains committed to fostering a campus that always embraces and celebrates our shared humanity.

2022 National Day of Racial Healing University of Arkansas Proclamation

Interim Chancellor Robinson issues a proclamation

Robinson Delivers State of the University Address

Interim Chancellor Charles F. Robinson recently shared his vision for the University of Arkansas’ next year with an audience of faculty, staff, and students during the 2021 State of the University Address at Faulkner Performing Arts Center.

Robinson Named Interim Chancellor

University of Arkansas System President Dr. Donald R. Bobbitt today announced that Charles F. Robinson, Ph.D., currently provost and executive vice chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, has been named interim chancellor at the flagship campus beginning Aug. 16.