Message from the Chancellor

January, 2006

On April 11, I was thrilled to announce a gift of $300 million from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation to the University of Arkansas. The gift has two parts: $200 million will endow our new undergraduate honors college and $100 million will endow our graduate school.

This gift-the largest ever made to an American public university-will fuel a quantum leap for the University of Arkansas into the top tier of public research universities.

Through the recruitment of new faculty and new graduate students, we will build significantly stronger research programs in critical areas-in nanoscience, electronics packaging, spatial and sensing technologies, finance, food science, the life sciences, biotechnology, the physical and social sciences, logistics and transportation, engineering, retailing, and many other key areas.

Strengthening our graduate research program will enable us to create new products, processes, inventions, insights and interpretations that will help attract knowledge and technology-based business and industry to the state while also helping to keep existing Arkansas companies competitive.

Although the Walton gift allows us to do many things, I will focus here on its impact in recruiting new faculty and graduate students who will take our research programs to new heights.

In the graduate school, $24 million will endow eight new graduate faculty endowed research chairs, each funded with a principal of $3 million. These research chairs will be used to recruit eight new faculty who have been elected to the National Academies of Science or Engineering or equivalent organizations worldwide. These faculty members will focus exclusively on developing or enhancing research programs in their areas of expertise and will work with graduate students and honors college undergraduates.

In addition, in the new honors college, $30 million will be used to establish 20 new endowed chairs for faculty, and $10 million will be used to set up 20 endowed professorships.

Another $15 million will create a matching fund for endowed faculty positions. This pool will be used to leverage gifts from other benefactors for the establishment of endowed faculty positions for the honors college, whether as endowed professorships or endowed chairs.

Importantly, dollar-for-dollar matching is not limited to the $15 million endowment. By presenting a strong case regarding the impact of the investment on the Arkansas economy and quality of life, matching funds can be provided for any of the endowed faculty positions. If utilized fully in this way, the endowment available for matching will total $79 million. This could, for example, produce funding for as many as 50 chairs, 46 distinguished professorships, and 20 graduate research faculty chairs.

The gift also will enable us to recruit more superb graduate students-and in much greater numbers than our resources previously allowed. We will allocate $24 million in endowed funds to support 60 distinguished doctoral fellowships with stipends of $30,000 per year. We will direct $40 million in endowed funds to strengthen doctoral fellowship programs strategically across the University. In addition, $8 million will endow a graduate student research fund, while $4 million will fund new library materials for graduate education.

As you can see, the Walton gift has the potential to transform the University of Arkansas into a world-class research university. Our research and scholarly progress will continue to be charted in this and upcoming issues of Research Frontiers. I invite you to read along and join in celebrating this university's unlimited future.

Happy reading,



John A. White
Chancellor