Engaged Students

The educational programs at JBU are designed to stimulate curiosity and new discovery. Every day, JBU students are exposed to thought-provoking lectures and interactive projects which prepare them for life after college.

For example, JBU Business students design and present a comprehensive marketing plan for a local organization or business enterprise. JBU Marine Biology students SCUBA dive in Florida during spring break to fulfill their lab requirement. Seniors in JBU’s Construction Management program coordinate and supervise a large-scale construction project in the area. Family and Human Services majors conduct a formal psychological study and submit their results to a professional organization of their choice in order to develop the selected organization’s services. Art students partake in internships where they can apply what they learn to the workplace, and they later develop individual portfolios of their work that they present in the Senior Portfolio Review to potential employers. JBU students studying Renewable Energy maintain a partnership Spanish company Sankyo Energy for collaborative research in wind-generated energy.

JBU encourages students to study abroad for a semester or summer because it is such a valuable, life-changing experience. Students can study in over twenty countries including Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Scotland, England, China, Guatemala, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Uganda. Wherever you go – a JBU classroom, the Louvre in Paris, or the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England – JBU seeks to give you every opportunity to grow and change through their academic pursuits. JBU provides with opportunities to make your education the most pervasive and constructive it can be.

JBU encourages students to study abroad for a semester or summer because it is such a valuable, life-changing experience. Students can study in over twenty countries including Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Scotland, England, China, Guatemala, Australia and Uganda. Wherever you go – a JBU classroom, the Louvre in Paris, or the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England – JBU seeks to give you every opportunity to grow and change through their academic pursuits. JBU provides with opportunities to make your education the most pervasive and constructive it can be.

Great Teaching

At JBU, professors are equipped to prepare students for life after college. Over 76 percent of our faculty hold Ph. D.’s or other terminal degrees in their field of study from universities like Oxford, Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Purdue, Stanford, and of course, JBU.

Many of our faculty and staff are currently applying and expanding their education. Dr. David Vila manages an archeological dig in Northern Jordan every summer, typically taking students with him. Dr. Thomas Lamborn teaches English for the summer in Lithuania. Dr. Gloria Gale is conducting research in Washington D.C. with the National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Other JBU professors are working on research projects in Liberia, Ghana, Scotland, England, France, and Alaska, developing art exhibits on Christian practice in North American Indian tribes, presenting research papers internationally, speaking at national conferences and writing books.

JBU has the highest graduation rate in Arkansas; 67 percent of students who enter the university complete a degree within six years, and 99 percent of JBU students have a job or are in graduate school within 6 months of graduation. The success of JBU students is due in part to the 14:1 student to faculty ratio. Because JBU classes are small and professors have a contemporary understanding of their fields, classes become think tanks and discussion groups on topics of study.

Professors at JBU are role models to the students not only in their academic pursuit, but also their display of moral character and devotion to Jesus Christ. Professors regularly invite students to their homes for dinner or meet with them in the cafeteria on a weekly basis. JBU professors make it a priority to know their students well.

In the past six years, JBU has raised over $117 million to build state-of-the-art facilities for students’ academic needs. JBU recently finished construction on the Berry Performing Arts Center, the Bill George Arena and the Balzer Technology Center, as well as the renovation for a second art facility and the restoration to the historic Cathedral Group buildings. Through these new and newly-renovated buildings, JBU students have access to cutting-edge technology which enhances their academic performance and pursuit.

Vibrant Community

At JBU, students have incredible opportunities to learn as a member of the JBU community and the greater Northwest Arkansas community. Over the years, JBU has hosted a number of internationally renowned guest speakers including:

• President Bill Clinton as Governor of Arkansas
• Reverend Billy Graham, evangelist
• Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister
• Sam Walton, Founder and CEO of Walmart
• Chaim Potok, American Jewish author and rabbi
• Blake Mycoskie, founder and Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS shoes
• Franklin Graham, founder of Samaritan’s Purse
• Paul Harvey, American radio broadcaster
• Tyler Merrick, founder of Project 7
• Gwendolyn Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
• John M. Perkins, founder of the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation& Development

The liberal arts departments at JBU have also hosted a series of acclaimed artists for recitals, master classes, and gallery exhibits:

• Chamber Orchestra Kremlin
• Christine Donahue, renowned soprano
• Chan Kiat Lim, acclaimed pianist
• Shawn Roy, acclaimed baritone
• Terry Lowry, award winning pianist
• Makoto Fujimura, founder of the International Arts Movement ; acclaimed artist, writer, speaker
• Charles Pearce, world-renowed calligrapher: “The Painted Word: Calligraphic Abstractions
• Eudora Welty, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and photographer:  “Continuous Thread of Revelation”
• Tony Tiger, painter: “Perceptions of Being”
• “The Saint John’s Bible”

Still other university departments sponsor resume writing workshops, networking workshops, and dating, engaged and married couple seminars. JBU faculty and staff often host documentary and film viewings for discussion and student development.

JBU’s Student Activities Committee plans an extensive calendar of events like Anberlin, NeedtoBreathe, Switchfoot and Building 429 concerts, Mock Rock, and the JBU Talent Show. In the fall of 2012, JBU will host the third annual Next Big Thing, a music competition with a grand prize of a 4-song EP recording package and the opportunity to open for JBU hosted concerts. Students also attend off-Broadway productions and performances by top artists at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville. The Crystal Bridges Museum of America Art houses some of the most valuable and well-known paintings by American artists, from Norman Rockwell’s Rosie the Riveter to Charles Willson Peale’s George Washington. JBU also offers a campus-wide retreat for students to get off-campus for bible study, teaching, and outdoor recreational activities.

Successful Outcomes

JBU trains students to live purposeful lives both during and after college. In just these past few years, JBU students have accomplished some amazing things:

• NASA invited five JBU engineering students to compete in the NASA Lunabotics Mining Competition. The team won second place in the “Systems Engineering Paper” category, third in the “Outreach Award” category, fourth in the “Lunar Dirt Mining” category, and fourth place overall out of nearly 60 teams.
• JBU business teams swept first and second place in the undergraduate division at the 2012 Tri-State Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Business Plan Competition held in Las Vegas.
• Ann Clipperton ’06 with the team at International Princess Project (IPP) opened a new PUNJAMMIE™ sewing center in Andhra Pradesh, India, providing work for 32 women rescued out of forced prostitution. Today, IPP provides work for 110 women freed from the red light districts of India.
• JBU student Kevin Leon was awarded the Harry S. Truman Scholarship to fund his research and implementation of “Juntos Podemos” (Together We Can), a program designed to reduce the National Hispanic drop-out rate.
• Katie Sessler ’10 received a Discovery Scholarship from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia – one of the highest national honors for students graduating in Engineering – and is attending graduate school there.
• Charles Greathouse ’10 – JBU SIFE president (09-10) and implementer of The Garden project in Siloam Springs, AR and St. Charles, MO – completed Walmart’s Merchandizing Leadership Program and now manages Walmart’s Cat food, treats and litter businesses for the nation.
• Chris Merick ’08 completed his third year of medical school at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine and plans to do international medical missions upon his graduation.
• The JBU Forensics Team won first place in Team Sweepstakes at the Ozark Rookie Championships.

Because of the involved and encouraging faculty and staff and JBU’s liberal arts education, students graduate with big dreams and practical, well-rounded experience. These JBU students work to meet the needs they see in their community and the world through inter-university competitions, new business plans, student development programs, social justice organizations, medical missions. The options are endless.