Between April 9 and 11, the University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM) will host the 85th annual conference of the Arkansas Historical Association (AHA).  

Other local sponsors of the conference are Monticello’s A&P Commission and Commercial Bank. A complete program, which includes a full list of sponsors, is available on the AHA’s website. 

The Arkansas Historical Association has published the “Arkansas Historical Quarterly,” the state’s premier peer-reviewed history journal, since 1942. Each year, the organization holds a three-day themed conference. The theme for the 2026 meeting in Monticello will be “Arkansas at Work: Histories of Labor, Land, and Learning.” This year marks the first time that the conference will be held in southeast Arkansas in over two decades. 

The conference will kick off on Thursday afternoon with an archival workshop in the Gibson University Center, moderated by UAMS Historical Research Center Director Tim Nutt. This will be followed by an evening reception at the UAM Trotter House. On Friday and Saturday morning, historians and history students will gather in the Gibson University Center to present 36 selected research papers during 12 thematic sessions. 

Recently, the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville (UACCB) and the University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM) unveiled a new partnership designed to expand affordable higher education opportunities in Arkansas. This initiative allows UACCB students to earn bachelor’s degrees from UAM while benefiting from some of the state’s lowest tuition rates.

The agreement will enable UACCB students to pursue bachelor’s degrees in business and education from UAM through coursework offered in Batesville.

The Bachelor of Arts in K-6 Elementary Education program is slated to begin in May 2026, with the Bachelor of Business Administration program launching in August 2026. Both degree offerings are pending approval from the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Higher Learning Commission.