FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — About 40 University of Arkansas faculty, Chancellor Joe and Sandy Steinmetz and Provost Jim Coleman head out today on a bus tour of Arkansas this week, expanding a tradition started last year.

Steinmetz toured Arkansas last year as a way to learn more about the people and places that make Arkansas so unique. He found that experience so valuable that this year the tour opened up to include new faculty.

"The best way for our new faculty to learn about Arkansas is to get out and see the state and meet Arkansans," said Ro DiBrezzo, vice provost for faculty development and enhancement and interim vice provost for diversity and inclusion. "We hope to make this a fun annual tradition for our new faculty."

This year's tour loops the northern half of the state, with other areas planned for the tours in the coming years. The tour will include stops in Wilson, where the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design holds a summer Design Camp, at Mountain View, where the department of music faculty are performing as part of their own statewide tour, and Arkansas State University.

Jeannie Whayne, professor of history at the U of A and adjunct curator of American history at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, will be the tour guide on the trip, filling in new faculty on the unique history of Arkansas as the bus rolls from the Ozarks to the delta, through the Arkansas River valley and back.

The three-day bus tour departs Fayetteville today and includes stops in the following communities:

• May 16: Harrison, Mountain View and Batesville
• May 17: Jonesboro, Dyess, Wilson and Forrest City
• May 18: Little Rock and Fort Smith

Follow the tour on U of A social media with #UARKtour17.