University of Arkansas

According to the school, starting on Old Main’s front step with the year 1876, the names of the more than 125,000 University of Arkansas graduates have been chiseled into more than two miles of campus walkways, the names grouped by year of graduation. Today, the University of Arkansas is a nationally competitive, student-centered research university, which recently completed a successful billion-dollar capital campaign. The campaign received a major boost from a historic $300 million dollar gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation. This largest-ever gift to a public university established and endowed the Honors College, providing financial support to nearly 2,200 honors students. The gift also endowed the graduate school. The endowment provides more than $300,000 to undergraduates each year for study abroad support and more than $500,000 each year for undergraduate research. In the last decade, University of Arkansas students have won an incredible number of nationally and internationally prestigious scholarships, awards and fellowships, including: two Gates Cambridge Scholarships, one Rhodes Scholarship, four James Madison Scholarships to support the teaching of the constitution, three British Marshall Scholarships, 32 J. William Fulbright Scholarships, six Rotary Scholarships, eight David L. Boren Scholarships for International Study, nine Freeman in Asia Scholarships, 20 Gilman Scholarships for Study Abroad, six Harry S. Truman Scholarships in for graduate school, awarded to students in public service, 38 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, 34 Goldwater Scholarships in math, science and engineering, four Udall Scholarships in environmental science, and ten USA Today All-College Academic Team selections, among many other awards and scholarships. Since its founding, the University of Arkansas has compiled a remarkable record of scientific, technological, intellectual and creative accomplishment. This accomplishment is exemplified by the late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright, a Rhodes Scholar as a student and eventual president of the university (1939-41). Fulbright went on to serve at the national level, founding in 1946 the greatest international exchange program for faculty and students in the world.