Donor Stories

Brons Support U of A, Garvan Woodland Gardens with Scholarships
Bob and Donna Bron could never be called fair weather fans. If you call their home and no one answers, the outgoing message says “Hey y’all! We’re Razorbacks! Leave a message.” And if you pull up outside their Hot Springs Village home, you are greeted with a sign that says “Bron’s Hog Haven.” More

Margaret Martin: Proud to Call Herself a Hog
Margaret Martin and her late husband, R.S., had a motto: "You work hard and make money so you can do for others." More

$1 Million Gift Benefits the Department of Geosciences in Fulbright College
Since graduating in 1982 from the University of Arkansas, Maurice F. Storm Jr. has built a successful career and made an impact on his chosen field of petroleum geology. His impact on the field will only be multiplied by a $1 million gift toward establishing the Maurice F. Storm Endowed Chair in Petroleum Geology in the department of geosciences within the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. More

Morris Gift of $500,000 Aids Students from Arkansas
Ron (B.S.I.E., 1958) and Betty (B.A., 1959) Morris of Dallas believe in education and want to help deserving young people who rely on financial assistance to obtain a college degree. Their recent gifts totaling $500,000 will help many students at the University of Arkansas for years to come. More

Whiteside Gift Supports Students Who Work Hard and Struggle to Make Ends Meet
Charlie Whiteside (B.S.B.A. 1963) is around University of Arkansas students a lot. Since 1974, he has served as the housing corporation president for his fraternity, Kappa Sigma. Through this experience, he talks to students about their academic challenges, and it is clear that many students are working multiple jobs just to pay their bills. More

Gift Supports Students and Special Programs in Donors' Adopted Home State of Arkansas
Harry and Lois Alward are living proof that you don't have to be born in a state to make it your home. The couple moved to Fayetteville from Nebraska in 1995 and have had no problem adopting the area as their own. After visiting family and friends for many years, it is now the place they love, and they call themselves Arkansans. More

Couples' Gift Establishes Law Professorship
A $250,000 gift from University of Arkansas alumni Sid and Rita Davis of Fayetteville has established a professorship in the School of Law. The first holder of the professorship, Mary Beth Matthews, was announced at an April 29 event to recognize the Davises for their philanthropy. More

Gift Creates Doctoral Fellowships in Civil Engineering
An alumnus of the College of Engineering who benefited from scholarship support as a student is giving back to his alma mater by making a $100,000 gift that will help students today. More

Gift of Land to Garvan Woodland Gardens to Be Auctioned
Property donated to University of Arkansas School of Architecture's botanical gardens, Garvan Woodland Gardens by Dick and Carol Pratt of Lake Village and Hot Springs will be offered at public auction Oct. 14. The proceeds from the property's sale will support the construction of the Anthony Chapel at the Gardens and support the First United Methodist Church of Lake Village. More

Little Rock Couple Donates Gift To Endow Scholarships In College Of Engineering
Two new scholarships will be available for civil engineering majors at the University of Arkansas thanks to a $100,000 gift from Little Rock couple and UA alumni Gus and Irene Vratsinas. More

Rogers Couple Donates Gift to Support Scholarship Fund and Establish Laboratory in College of Engineering
UA alumnus David D. Foust and his wife, Nancy, of Rogers have made a $165,000 gift that will provide support for scholarships and establish a new laboratory in the industrial engineering department at the University of Arkansas. More

Gift From Volunteer Reflects Lifetime of Community Service
Longtime community volunteer Sylvia Swartz, of Fayetteville, will provide $1 million to the University of Arkansas to fund a chair in the political science department of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. More

Senator and Wife Honored through Friends' Gift
Bella Vista couple Pat and John A. Cooper Jr. have made a $500,000 gift to the University of Arkansas Libraries to honor a former United States senator and his wife. More

Billingsley Gift of $1.15 Million to Establish World Center for Research in Ancient Asian and Mid-Eastern Music and Enhance University of Arkansas Opera Program
George and Boyce Billingsley of Bella Vista, Ark., have transformed their love of international culture into a $1.15 million gift to the University of Arkansas' music department to help preserve music from cultures around the world. More

University of Arkansas Receives $150,000 Gift for High-Tech Engineering Classroom
The University of Arkansas College of Engineering has received a gift of $150,000 to provide state-of-the-art multimedia equipment for one of its premier classrooms. More

$100,000 Gift Directed to Chancellor's Scholars Program
Jim and Joyce Faulkner, of Little Rock, have made a gift of $100,000 to support the University of Arkansas Chancellor's Scholars Program. With this endowed gift, the Faulkner Family Chancellor's Scholarship has been created. More

UA Bequest Funds Apparel, Foods, Journalism Programs
With his left hand, University of Arkansas professor Robert Harrington lifted the lid on an oversized skillet sitting in the corner of the culinary kitchen teaching laboratory. "You wouldn't see this in your house," Harrington said, showing the inside of the versatile stainless steel appliance. More

Dedicated to Family and Education
E.J. Pyle and his wife, Betty, who had a long career as a bookkeeper and financial officer, worked hard to put themselves and their two daughters, Deborah and Linda, through school. Though sacrifices were necessary, the Pyles believed in education for their family. More

Changing Antiques Into Scholarships
Students in the College of Engineering are benefitting for generations to come from the Charles W. and Alice S. Baughn Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund. More

Dennis and Evelyn Shaw Believe in Good Business
Dennis Shaw (B.S.B.A. '69, MBA '70) of Springdale, Ark., credits his prosperity, by no small measure, to his education at the University of Arkansas. His wife, Evelyn (B.A. '68, M.A. '71), also looks to her experience at the university as a key factor in shaping the person she is today. More

Cooking Show Star Makes Gift to U of A Through Named Scholarship
Long before cable television made the Food Network possible, residents of Dayton, Ohio, could tune in to WLWD Channel 2 and watch Flossie Wood Boles—a graduate of what is now the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences—prepare enticing, nutritious and economical meals. More

Chemical Engineering Gift Focuses on Improving Teaching Effectiveness
Jim Stice (BSCHE 1949) left his industry job and began teaching at the University of Arkansas in 1954. More

Gift Helps Students With Financial Challenges
The Rev. Thomas Richardson (B.A. '53) and his wife, Corinne, of Alamogordo, N.M., have funded a charitable gift annuity in the amount of $350,000 to establish an endowed scholarship for the benefit of students in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. More

Alma Mater Loyalty
From the time she graduated from what was known then as the School of Home Economics at the University of Arkansas in 1955, Francille Maloch Firebaugh knew she wanted to work in higher education. More

1933 Graduate Funds Endowed Scholarships in Four Disciplines at University of Arkansas
Octa N. High almost dropped out of school after her junior year at the University of Arkansas due to her family's inability to afford her tuition during the Great Depression. More

Bequest Supports Couple's Lifelong Passions
Hot Springs Village residents Bob and Donna Bron are private people who have a passion for gardening and education. More

A Partnership That Was Meant to Be
Joseph J. Schenke and his wife Judith A. Schenke of Chicago, Illinois, established an endowed Chancellor Scholarship fund to benefit outstanding students. The Schenkes have been honored in the past with recognition in the Heritage Club, The Chancellors Society and the Towers of Old Main for their yearly contributions and their inclusion of the University of Arkansas in their estate plans. More

Forrest City Couple Announce $13 Million Planned Gift for School of Architecture, UAMS Cancer Institute, Children's Hospital
Don and Ellen Edmondson of Forrest City, Ark. will touch lives across the state with their estate and charitable trust gift of $13 million. More

Beautifying Arkansas with Private Gifts
Hot Springs residents Bob and Sunny Evans are big supporters of Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs. More

Tollers Establish the Toller Honors College Fellowships
William R. and Jo Ella Toller of Houston, Texas, and the Toller Family Foundation have been generous supporters of the University of Arkansas for quite some time. Their most recent contribution was a combined $750,000 gift to establish the Toller Honors College Fellowships—a gift made toward the close of the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century. More

Timeless Philanthropy
Dr. Glenn Pound (B.A. 1940) and the late Daisy Cole Pound (B.S.H.E. 1940) of La Jolla, Calif., always remained true to their Arkansas roots. Because of these roots, their three-generation family tradition at the University of Arkansas played a large part in the Pounds’ estate planning. More

Architecture School Dedicates Young Gallery
The Paul Young III (B.S.B.A., 1962) Family Trust recently gave a generous gift to the University of Arkansas School of Architecture in honor of Paul Young Jr. In recognition of the gift, the space in Vol Walker Hall now known informally as The Large Gallery will be formally named the Paul Young Jr. Gallery to memorialize the life and career of a long-time Fayetteville architect. More

Rogers Couple Endows Finance Professorship
Clete and Tammy Brewer of Rogers, Ark., have established an endowed professorship in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. More

Jewel Minnis Trust Creates UA Honors Scholarship Endowment
Full-tuition scholarships for students in the Honors College at the University of Arkansas will be provided by an endowment from the Jewel Minnis Trust in Monroe County. More

Acxiom, Three Leaders Make $4.25 Million Gift to College of Engineering
Three top Acxiom Corporation executives have endowed three faculty positions in the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas. More

Greene Family Endows Doctoral Fellowships
Richard and Tamara Greene of Fayetteville have made a $1 million gift commitment to establish University of Arkansas Distinguished Doctoral Fellowships in the Sam M. Walton College of Business. More

McIlroys Establish Professorship in the Arts
Hayden McIlroy Jr. (BSBA 1962) and Mary Joe McIlroy of Dallas have committed $1 million to the establishment of an endowed professorship for the benefit of the University of Arkansas J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and the Walton Arts Center. More

UA Chancellor, Wife Endow Chair in Engineering
Mary Lib and UA Chancellor John A. White have made a gift of an annuity that ultimately guarantees $1.5 million to the University at their deaths to establish an endowed chair in the University of Arkansas College of Engineering. More

Gift Supports School of Architecture, Band
Don and Ellen Edmondson of Forrest City have pledged $500,000 to the University of Arkansas that will fund international travel for School of Architecture students, support the School's botanical garden in Hot Springs, Ark. and provide scholarships for members of the Razorback and University bands. More

UA Walton College Appoints Reeves to Cupp Professorship
The Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, has moved closer to its goal of building world-class entrepreneurship programs with the establishment of the Cecil W. and Gwendolyn Stuckey Cupp Applied Professorship in Entrepreneurship. More

English Teacher's Legacy Keeps on Giving
Literature was Linda K. Overstreet’s livelihood and she pursued it with enthusiasm. In her lifetime, she earned three degrees in English: she was a summa cum laude B.A. graduate from Little Rock University; and she earned both a master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas specializing in British and American literature. More

Hefleys Endow Professorship in Engineering
James M. and Marie G. Hefley have made a $750,000 commitment through a charitable remainder trust to fund an endowed professorship and eventually an endowed chair in the University of Arkansas College of Engineering. The Hefleys' gift will be matched by $750,000 from funds available through the Matching Gift Program to create a $1.5 million endowment for the professorship. More

El Dorado Couple Establishes Management Chair in Walton College
William R. "Bill" and Cacilia Howard of El Dorado, Ark., have established a chair in the department of management in the Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas. More

Savvy Walton College Alumna Turns Arizona Desert into UA Legacy
UA alumna Mary M. Maxson recently became re-involved with the University of Arkansas through a reunion of former Carnall Hall residents. She was so impressed and pleased by the renovations to Carnall Hall and by the other changes to the UA campus that she knew she wanted to support the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century. More

UA Alumna Honors Husband Through Doctoral Fellowship
The University of Arkansas tradition runs deep through Margaret Gerig Martin's family. More

Giving Something Back
Born from a desire to provide opportunities for young people, the Charles W. and Alice S. Baughn Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund in the College of Engineering is making a difference for a new generation of students. More

Land Sale Supports University
Hot Springs physicians Chuck and Jan Wright wanted to give back to their alma mater. They chose to do so by selling a piece of real estate to the University. More

Meredith Gift Creates Scholarships
J. Conley and Charlotte D. Meredith of San Antonio have committed $300,000 through their charitable remainder trust. More

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