The College of Education and Health Professions has named 2024 Alumni Award winners and can honor them at a night celebration on March 8.

The awardees are Naccaman Williams, Curtis L. Ivery, Judd Semingson, Jennifer Ash and Jordan Glenn.

“These five alumni represent the best of the best in the fields of education and health, and we can’t wait to shine the light on their distinguished careers,” stated Dean Kate Mamiseishvili. “Each is making a substantial difference through innovative thinking and creativity, leading by example and transforming people’s lives with genuine care.”

Distinguished Public Service Award

Naccaman Williams is the director of particular initiatives on the Walton Family Foundation (WFF), overseeing massive grants and different grant-making organizations and serving as a senior adviser to the workplace of the chief director. Williams at present serves on the boards of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Arkansas Food Systems, Camp War Eagle, the Arvest Foundation and the U of A Fayetteville Campus Foundation. He can be the only real member of the Spring Creek Food Hub and a workers member of the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.

Williams has been with WFF since December 1996. He has served in a number of larger schooling roles, together with director of the P.Okay. Yonge Developmental Research School on the University of Florida and assistant dean and director of minority schooling companies within the College of Education on the U of A. He served seven years on the Arkansas State Board of Education, together with two years as chairman. He additionally served a four-year time period on the Southern Regional Education Board and a five-year time period on the Arkansas Charter School Advisory Panel. Williams holds bachelor’s and grasp’s levels from Ouachita Baptist University, in addition to an academic specialist and doctorate in schooling administration from the U of A.

Williams has acquired quite a few awards through the years, together with the Martin Luther King Jr. Faculty Staff Award and the Martin Luther King Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award. He has additionally been inducted into the Arkansas Charter School Hall of Fame. Williams is a Life Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He is married to Angela Seawood Williams, they usually have two grownup sons — Naccaman Williams II and Nathan Williams — and three grandsons.

Distinguished Career in Education Award

Curtis L. Ivery, chancellor of the Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD), is a nationwide thought chief, educator, columnist, writer, scholar and fairness advocate. Under his management, he has reworked WCCCD into the state’s largest city multi-campus group faculty district.  

Ivery has assembled main tutorial, group, enterprise and authorities leaders throughout a sequence of nationwide roundtables and conferences to develop methods to develop instructional fairness and financial mobility within the area and all through the nation. He has been an invited signatory on quite a few U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs targeted on schooling and financial fairness and led the creation of the faculty’s “Urban Summit Series.” Prior to turning into chancellor of WCCCD, Ivery served as vp of instruction and performing president at Mountain View College of the Dallas County Community College District, serving over 85,000 college students. He was additionally the commissioner/CEO of human companies for the State of Arkansas, managing greater than 3,000 workers and a funds of over $1 billion yearly. He was the primary African American and the youngest appointee to the cupboard of the governor of Arkansas.

Ivery has acquired quite a few awards all through his profession, together with being named the inaugural CEO of the Year by the American Association of Community Colleges in 2022 and Michiganian of the Year by the Detroit News in 2005. Ivery has authored almost 20 books and contributed quite a few articles for publication.

Distinguished Career in Health Award

Judd Semingson brings over 24 years of invaluable healthcare expertise to his function because the chief government officer at Community Clinic, a cornerstone of major care and group connection in Northwest Arkansas. From his begin as a registered nurse to a profession evolution as a sophisticated observe nurse specializing in household observe, Semingson’s management is deeply rooted in a wealthy medical background that merges empathy with strategic imaginative and prescient.

An Arkansas native, Semingson holds a bachelor’s diploma in nursing from the U of A and a grasp’s diploma in nursing from the University of Cincinnati. Complementing his medical experience, he earned a grasp’s diploma in enterprise administration with a specialised give attention to healthcare administration from Western Governor’s University.

Before steering Community Clinic as CEO, Semingson led an orthopedic and sports activities medication observe, emphasizing operational and strategic progress. His return to Community Clinic in 2018 marked the start of a transformative journey. Initially assuming the function of affiliate medical director in 2019, he took the pivotal place of CEO in January 2020.

Despite formidable environmental challenges, Semingson’s management has pushed Community Clinic towards operational progress and increasing service choices.

Semingson oversees a dynamic management crew dedicated to remodeling Community Clinic into a company providing distinctive, accessible and complete care. At the guts of this mission lies a dedication to patient-focused service, embodying Semingson’s imaginative and prescient for transformative and accessible healthcare.

Emerging Leader in Education Award

Jennifer Ash is the director of the National Center for Rural Education Research Networks (NCRERN) on the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University. As director of NCRERN, she ensures the middle fulfills its mission of empowering rural faculty districts to make use of knowledge and proof to enhance pupil outcomes.

Prior to becoming a member of CEPR, Ash served as an schooling researcher at Abt Associates, the place she held management roles in research of packages designed to advertise faculty enrollment and success. Previously, she served because the managing director of the Office for Education Policy on the U of A, the place she managed the manufacturing of analysis reviews, coverage briefs and weblog posts about Arkansas schooling coverage points.

While on the U of A, she participated in a number of initiatives targeted on rural schooling, together with main a examine of a school scholarship program based mostly in El Dorado, Arkansas, and serving on the Arkansas Teacher Corps choice committee. Ash is a former center faculty language arts instructor, and she or he acquired her Ph.D. in schooling coverage from the Department of Education Reform on the U of A.

Emerging Leader in Health Award

After finishing his Ph.D. on the U of A, Jordan Glenn was an assistant professor at Louisiana Tech University. From there, he started his profession in well being tech, becoming a member of Omada Health, the place he has used his experience in train, diet and getting older to give attention to enhancing illness states similar to diabetes and heart problems.

As Neurotrack’s chief science officer, he at present focuses instantly on Alzheimer’s illness — working to enhance how our healthcare system handles evaluation and subsequent intervention for folks liable to creating the illness.

At Neurotrack, Glenn leads the scientific pipeline and informs the corporate’s product, enterprise growth and partnership methods. He has authored over 90 scientific publications and is the first investigator on the DC-MARVEL challenge, the primary examine ever to analyze the results of totally distant, digital well being teaching on Alzheimer’s illness danger.

About the College of Education and Health Professions: The College of Education and Health Professions’ six departments put together college students for a spread of careers in schooling and well being. In addition to its longstanding function of getting ready educators and academic leaders, the faculty trains nurses, speech-language pathologists, public well being specialists, recreation and sports activities professionals, counselors, occupational therapists, athletic trainers, and train scientists.