GARVER 

Creative Communications Leader 

I wanted to live in a city that had an identity separate from its university. And I had enlisted in the Army, so I knew I probably needed an institution that could accommodate some flexibility. Sure enough, my junior year I deployed to Bosnia. Not only did UA Little Rock stay in touch with me and celebrate my accomplishments while I was deployed, but I re-integrated into classes seamlessly.  

I lead creative communications at an engineering firm. I lean on individual pieces of knowledge I learned in college every single day. I’m not speaking passively – I actively think about my professors standing at the front of the class 20+ years ago saying the words I took to heart. All of them took a practical approach to how I would apply my education in my professional life.

A fundamental role of educational institutions is about exposing students to new academic interests and then providing them with risk-free opportunities to explore those interests under the tutelage of professors who not only understand the history of those fields, but who also have a firm grasp of how they apply beyond academia.

I had an idea of what I wanted to study when I walked onto campus as an economics major, but that first semester of classes I had a passionate composition teacher who saw a talent for writing in me. I have no idea if she actually believed it – and I haven’t been able to find her to ask – but she made me feel like I had a gift that I was unaware of. She encouraged me to attend an open house at the Rhetoric & Writing Department. The next semester, I switched majors and spent my entire college experience connecting with one professor after the next. Now, every time I walk into my office or into a meeting, I carry the confidence those connections instilled in me during my time at UA Little Rock.