The Office of Financial Affairs created a financial innovators award known as the Financial Affairs Service and Innovation Award (FASI) to recognize those throughout the university who make significant and lasting contributions to the university through bold, innovative and creative approaches to common, everyday university problems.

The award is open to any university faculty, non-faculty, academic, administrative or skilled crafts/service/maintenance employees who bring forward fresh ideas that lead to process efficiencies, cost savings and/or increased productivity. Each quarter, one employee will be selected to receive the award, and then at the end of the calendar year an annual award winner will be selected from the four quarterly winners.

We are pleased to announce the Q4 2023 award winner as:

Eric Pipkin, director of creative design and photography, University Relations

Pipkin has been with University Relations since 1995 and is one of the office's longest-serving staff members. As director of creative design and photography, Pipkin oversees University Relations' Graphic Design and Photography teams. He also served for more than 28 years in the Arkansas Air National Guard. Pipkin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in advertising art from Harding University.

Each year, the U of A produces a printed and digital Annual Financial Report. The Annual Financial Report is used to communicate key audited financial information to a wide variety of stakeholders including state and federal elected and appointed officials, bondholders, bond ratings agencies, donors and anyone interested in the university's finances. Pipkin was nominated for his significant contributions to ensuring that the Annual Financial Report has been of the highest quality. For the last eight years, Pipkin's design and layout have resulted in a report that tells a story beyond just words and numbers.

Pipkin's nomination mentioned, "[h]is excellence in graphic design has taken the report from a generic Microsoft Word layout to a high-quality, appealing, magazine quality layout. During the recent transition in financial accounting systems at the university, Eric was able to turn around the design and layout very quickly and on short notice so that the university was able to meet all external reporting requirements. He is a great collaborative partner in the process and deserving of the Financial Affairs Service and Innovation award."

Roy Cordell, Pipkin's colleague of many years and previous supervisor, said, "[i]n his many years at the university, Eric has been a creative problem solver and skilled graphic designer serving to elevate the standard of visual communication of the entire campus. His attention to detail and creative approach to his job provides the kind of solutions that Financial Affairs, and every other department, have found to be above and beyond their expectations, and he is absolutely deserving of this award."

Jennifer Holland, Pipkin's current supervisor, had this to say upon hearing of his nomination: "Eric approaches each project with an open mind and positive attitude. In the more than 10 years I've worked with him, he has always been a pleasure to work with — a great communicator, attentive to deadlines and very artistic and creative. Most people have probably seen Eric's work all over campus without even realizing it! We're very excited to celebrate his receipt of this award; it's a well-deserved recognition."

Pipkin's commitment to excellence, his collaborative campus-wide efforts and his dedication to ensuring the university's Annual Financial Report is of the highest quality make him a well-deserving recipient of the Q4 2023 Financial Affairs Service and Innovation Award. Please join us in congratulating Eric Pipkin!

If you know of an employee deserving of recognition for our next FASI award, we would love to hear about them. Please email your FASI nominations to either Ann Gearity at agearity@uark.edu or Susan Slinkard at svslink@uark.edu.