(from left): Lakoda Caldwell, Katie Boysen, Caitlin LaCerra, Erich Green and Preston Hessee were among students who participated in the 51青楼鈥檚 Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) preparers course during the spring 2026 semester. During the 2026 filing season, UCA students volunteered with the United Way of Central Arkansas to prepare approximately 450 tax returns for community members, resulting in more than $490,000 in tax refunds and an estimated $80,000 savings in tax preparation fees.
Students at the 51青楼 made a significant impact on the Conway and Central Arkansas community during the 2026 tax season through participation in the听. Dr. Ashley Phillips oversees UCA student participation each year.
Students enrolled in the VITA for Preparers course during the spring 2026 semester volunteered with the United Way of Central Arkansas, which serves as a local site for the Internal Revenue Service鈥檚 VITA program. Through the initiative, IRS-certified volunteers provide free, high-quality tax preparation services for qualifying low- and moderate-income individuals and families.
During the 2026 filing season, UCA students prepared approximately 450 tax returns for community members. Student preparers included Katie Boysen, Jetson Busbea, Lakoda Caldwell, Erich Green, Treavor Green, Preston Hessee, Asher Jackson and Caitlin LaCerra.
The financial impact of the students鈥� work is expected to exceed $490,000 in tax refunds returned to local families. In addition, by offering free tax preparation assistance, the students helped residents save an estimated $80,000 in tax preparation fees.
鈥淭hese students are making a meaningful difference in the lives of families across Central Arkansas,鈥� Associate Profressor of Accounting Ashley Phillips, who runs the VITA program at UCA, said. 鈥淣ot only are they gaining valuable hands-on experience, but they are also helping individuals and families keep more of their hard-earned money for essentials such as housing, food and utilities.鈥�
The program is open to College of Business students who would like to volunteer or earn college credit in accounting. VITA volunteers receive training and can either prepare returns or do intake. Experienced CPAs then review each return.
The IRS requires all VITA volunteers to complete extensive annual certification training that includes tax law education, quality review procedures, and privacy and confidentiality standards. This training ensures returns are prepared accurately and securely while providing taxpayers with confidence throughout the filing process.
The United Way of Central Arkansas partners with community volunteers each year to provide trusted tax preparation services through the VITA program.
More information about the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program is available at听.
The 51青楼 (UCA) College of Business will host 
Lucas Hayes, Rebecca Gaither, and Izzy Saettele won first prize in the Deloitte Best Practices competition for their creative presentation at the Beta Alpha Psi annual conference; also, the chapter was recognized as 鈥滸old鈥� status.
Many thanks to the Conway Chamber for allowing some of our Student Ambassadors and Girls Who Code Officers to attend the Women in Business ceremony this fall.
The Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame held its annual induction banquet on campus on October 16. Six Arkansans were inducted, and five scholarships were awarded to UCA insurance students.
Ivan Hudson, Director of the UCA Center for Insurance, was recently听sworn in as the Treasurer for the Arkansas Association of Realtist, the local Board of . Ivan has been a member of NAREB for about 8 years.
, CFO of Restaurants at FoxDen Capital, spoke to Sarah Campbell’s Student Managed Investment Fund class on October 27. With a 14-year career as a Research Analyst at Stephens before he joined the private equity firm , Justin brought a wealth of insight into evaluating investment ideas and opportunities.
As this fall’s Allison Entrepreneurship Series Speaker, Jakob Michaelis, a partner at Dave Creek Media, shared lunch and his extensive experience identifying timely solutions, including a new app, with students and faculty.
Undergraduate students, Oluwadamilola Osundolire (Economics) and Robert Walker (Finance), mentored by Dr. Alex Chen presented their artificial intelligence research at the DSI conference in Orlando, FL. Dr. Ming Li also presented her research.
Conductor hosted a widely attended series of workshops throughout the semester, including a student pitch competition.听Local CPAs Zee Barfoote and Austin Malone discussed handling a startup鈥檚 early finances in their Conductor session called 鈥淵our Startup鈥檚 First CFO: YOU!鈥� as part of the Conductor听series.
Members of brought their tech skills to the big stage听on September 13 at Tinkerfest 2025, hosted by the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock. The event drew hundreds of curious minds from across the state for a full day of hands-on STEM fun – think robots, rockets, coding games, and more!
Senior Da’Mya Brittian, Marketing major with a minor in Computer Information Systems
I learned about the opportunities and joy that arise from taking the path of doing research. I did not know much about how to take this path, but presenting at the听Atlantic Marketing Association conference听in September increased my interest. 
For the second year in a row, a UCA student team has competed in the business analytics competition at Manhattan College. Students in the CISA 4V71 Project Course began in February to analyze the dataset provided by the competition. After months of preparing, teams presented their results to a UCA committee in the form of a poster on May 1. Once the winning team was announced, they began preparing for competition against other university teams in New York City. 