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Lion Legacies

UAFS came into existence as Fort Smith Junior College in 1928. As we approach our 100th year, your Alumni Association has partnered with Publishing Concepts Inc. (PCI) on an ambitious project called Lion Legacies to collect the stories of our alumni in their own words. Your stories celebrating the impact your college experience had on your life and the lives of your family and friends will be preserved in both a hardbound publication and digital format. Every year we don't capture and preserve these stories is an opportunity lost, so we're excited to get started!

Has Your Contact Information Changed?

As part of Lion Legacies, we are taking the opportunity to make it easier for you to stay connected to UAFS and your classmates. PCI will help us collect updated contact information if you've moved or changed your phone numbers or email address.

Your Story

What Lion Legacy story will you tell?

  • Was your life impacted by a faculty or staff member?
  • Did you find your sweetheart on campus?
  • Can you trace your successful career path to a defining moment with a professor or friend on campus?
  • Have connections you made on campus turned into lifelong friendships?
  • Were you on campus during a defining historical moment?
  • Are you a legacy Lion? Who are the other Lions in your family?

PCI Partnership

With our limited staff and resources, it would take us years to contact and record stories from our 48,000-plus alumni. By partnering with PCI, we're able to access their trained staff of real people to help us capture and preserve your stories. Please note, we have only shared your address and email address with PCI for this project, and they will destroy the information upon completion. We have NOT sold your information or otherwise used it for outside marketing.

Do I Have to Buy Anything?

No! This project is being conducted at NO COST to UAFS or your Alumni Association. It is being funded by alumni who CHOOSE to purchase the Lion Legacies hardbound book and digital copy that will be distributed at the end of the project. The book and digital copy will be offered at $150. PCI will also offer you the option to purchase other UAFS-branded merchandise, such as a hat, T-shirt, sweatshirt, or travel bag. You are welcome to purchase these branded items, but you are not required to buy them to participate in the project or order the Lion Legacies book.

What's Next?

Soon you will receive an email and a postcard from PCI with instructions on how you can choose to participate. We invite you to share one of your stories about your campus experience and take part in this one-of-a-kind project to honor your voices and memories! We look forward to hearing from each of you on what "Once a Lion, Always a Lion" means to you!

FAQs

It is indeed legit! Your Alumni Association has partnered with Publishing Concepts Inc. (PCI) to produce an oral history publication for UAFS. PCI is a family-owned business based in Dallas that has published directories and oral history publications for educational institutions across the nation for almost 100 years. This project allows the Alumni Association and our alumni who participate to hear about your personal experiences and explain how UAFS, Westark, or Fort Smith Junior College helped shape your life.

Yes, in several different ways:
  • Collecting updated contact information allows us to communicate with you effectively.
  • Lion Legacies stories preserve the history of our school.
  • Revenue generated from book sales and donations will go to the Alumni Legacy Scholarship Endowment to support the educational goals of future Legacy Lions.
  • Wearing apparel purchased with the Lion Legacies publication will display your pride and support of UAFS.

PCI is committed to protecting your information. It will be held confidential during the project except to the extent it is used for the oral history project and except as required by court order or by law. Upon project completion PCI will redact personally identifiable information from any electronic files we have supplied or that were produced by PCI in connection with the production of the project. Participating alumni will be asked for their consent for UAFS to use their stories for recruiting purposes and to promote the university.

When you call to update your information, you can tell the PCI representative if you prefer any of your information be excluded. You can also communicate your preferences to PCI's customer service help desk at 1-800-982-1590.

You can call PCI at any time to share your story. A phone number will be supplied when PCI begins this project, so check back here for the number. 

You will receive an email with a link to upload up to two photos (black and white or color) plus captions. If you purchased a book but do not have an email address on file, you will be sent a photo mailer to send photos to be scanned and printed. Photos will only be returned if you include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

You will receive an email with a link before publication to review your transcribed story and make edits. 

No. The Lion Legacies oral history publication is only available to UAFS, Westark, and Fort Smith Junior College alumni.

The Lion Legacies project will take about 12 months to complete. Since we began the project in August 2021, the books should be distributed in August 2022. If you ordered UAFS branded items, you can expect those to arrive about 30 days after purchase.

Contact PCI's customer service help desk at 1-800-982-1590 or email customerservice@publishingconcepts.com and they will take care of this for you.