Jordan J. Oroark, MS, joined the COPH Office of Student Affairs in January to serve as the Director of Admissions. He was a faculty member in the Division of Academic Success at Pulaski Technical College and previously worked as the Associate Dean of Students at Henderson State University. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology/Sociology from the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) and a Master of Science degree in Higher Education Administration from UCA, and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR). He is the president of the Arkansas College Personnel Association.
Mr. Oroark is a Texas native who moved to central Arkansas as a youngster and graduated from Jacksonville High School. He and his wife, Ashley, have been married seven years and have one daughter and are expecting another this spring.
Sara Prior, Ph.D., joined the COPH this month to work as a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Igor Koturbash, studying the effects of high LET (linear energy transfer) radiation on the DNA methylation patterns of retrotransposons and repetitive elements. Dr. Prior is from Sherwood and graduated from University of Arkansas at Monticello in 2009. She earned her Ph.D. at UAMS in December 2014 while working in the laboratory of Dr. Masahiro Higuchi.
Shaquina Danielle White joined the Department of Epidemiology as a Graduate Assistant in December. Ms. White, who is from North Little Rock, earned a Bachelor of Science degree, with an emphasis in Health Education and Promotion, from UALR. In her new job, she is working on a project with Department Chair Eric Johnson, M.D.. Ms. White is a student in the MPH program and plans to concentrate in Biostatistics. Her goal is to work as a statistician to help lower the spread of infectious disease in Arkansas. “I know that my time here at UAMS will be very beneficial to my future,” Ms. White says.