Ouachita Stories

Ouachita has faced high times and low times. Years of strength and years of struggle. Through all these seasons — institutional and individual — one certainty remains: God's faithfulness.

The Why Behind Our Traditions

While we often want to hold on to the comfort of traditions, I think it’s important to ask why they were important to us. What about the behavior do we long to preserve? I often remind students to think beyond the behavior of a tradition and consider the belief behind it. What is it about the tradition that is important? Often, the importance is found in the why.

Staff Profile: Sonny Jackson

One member of the Ouachita family was Sonny Jackson. Once a professional middleweight boxer in the Pacific Northwest, Sonny wasn't a Ouachita graduate. But he was very much part of the family as a member and later the head of Ouachita's grounds crew.

Staff Profile: Rosemary Chu

When I give the newly arrived freshmen a taste of Ouachita history before classes start each fall, I tell the inspirational story of Rosemary Chu. What Chu had was the investment she had made in Ouachita. And Ouachita invested in her.

Faculty Profile: Phil Rice

What an honor it is to share a few words about a man who impacted my life so profoundly. As a good Baptist, I thought I would arrange my thoughts around three alliterative points: paper, people and purpose.

Ken Sandifer (left) with two students conducting field research on poisened fish. Photo from the 1965 Ouachitonian yearbook.

Faculty Profile: Kenneth Sandifer

Tim Knight shares about his professor and colleague, Kenneth Sandifer, professor emeritus of biology at Ouachita.

Faculty Profile: Bill Downs

Melinda Mayo reflects on her professor, Bill Downs, professor emeritus of mass communications, who served Ouachita for 41 years.

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