University of Arkansas

Walton College

The Sam M. Walton College of Business

Blazing a Path to Excellence, Professionalism, Innovation, Collegiality

Student Success

March 4, 2019 | By Mathew Waller

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As a student in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, you have the capacity and the opportunity to be EPIC. That might seem overly ambitious, but you should settle for nothing less.

At the Walton College, our values are something we value.

That seems obvious. Maybe even a bit redundant. But I find that it is not always the case in an organization – whether that’s a business college or just a business. That’s why I’ve made the acronym EPIC – standing for our values of excellence, professionalism, innovation, and collegiality – central to all we do.

The Word Epic


Epic also is a concept central to the larger culture around us. The word and its place in the world inspired me to go back and take a closer look at its meaning and importance.

Epic comes down to us through ancient Greek and means word or story. Through tales such as the Odyssey, we associate an epic with a heroic story of magnificent achievements or events. We want students to feel that way like they are part of something great when they come to the Walton College.

I was meeting with a group of students, and they expressed that, yes, they want to be epic, but they don’t know whether they are or not. I said to them, “If you want to be epic, you must see epic. If you want to be excellence, you have to see excellence around you and figure out how to adopt it. You need to see excellence in other people and bring it out in them.”

That’s so simple, but it’s true.

2018 Leadership Walton

Anne O’Leary Kelly


As I talked to my senior associate dean Anne O’Leary Kelly about epic and its meanings on the Be Epic podcast, it became clear to both of us what epic truly means to the Walton College and us.

Anne said on the podcast: “You talked about the word epic, originally, meaning a journey or a story, and now it means great. But I think the way that we use it in the college, and it means both of those.

“If you want to be great, you need to think about your journey, you need to shape your journey, you need to be cognizant of your journey,” she said. “And that’s not just your academic program of study. It’s personal kinds of competencies and skills and professional ones.”

One way your personal and professional journey gets sidetrack is believing that there is one best journey for me – I need to find that optimal journey to get to that optimal job to have an optimal life that will make me happy. In reality, there’s probably an infinite number of journeys that could make you happy and fulfilled.

Anne again: “These amazing business partners who come in and work with our students, there cannot be one of them who had a straight path. All of us curve and dodge sometimes. That’s just that’s the nature of life.”

“I love the idea of epic being a journey and how we can help a student see that,” she said.

Anne said she believes that students today are more open to exploring that journey. “So shame on us, if we don’t create that experience for them,” she said.

Post Author:

Matt WallerMatthew A. Waller is dean emeritus of the Sam M. Walton College of Business and professor of supply chain management. His work as a professor, researcher, and consultant is synergistic, blending academic research with practical insights from industry experience. This continuous cycle of learning and application makes his work more effective, relevant, and impactful.His goals include contributing to academia through high-quality research and publications, cultivating the next generation of professionals through excellent teaching, and creating value for the organizations he consults by optimizing their strategy and investments.