FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Information Technology Research Institute in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas has appointed alumnus Eric T. Bradford as its managing director.

“We are very excited about Eric joining our team. His combination of education and experience will help him manage the day-to-day operations of the research institute,” said Bill Hardgrave, executive director of the Information Technology Research Institute.

Bradford holds a bachelor of science in business administration and a master of information systems from the Walton College. He was a defensive back on the Razorback football team from 1984 to 1988. He joins the Walton College from Tyson Foods Inc. where he was a business analyst for the information system section of the fleet group. He taught introduction to computers and worked for the University of Arkansas athletics department while getting his master’s degree. He also worked Central and Southwest Services division of Southwest Electric Power Co. in Dallas.

Bradford replaced Ken Armstrong, who is moving to Florida State University. For the past several years, Armstrong was an instructor in the information systems department and associate director of the Enterprise Systems Program. Since 2005, he served as managing director of the research institute.

The research institute was established as the Information Technology Research Center in the Walton College in 1999 from a portion of the endowment created by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation’s 1998 gift of $50 million. In 2005, the center became the Information Technology Research Institute and opened the RFID Research Center. The institute’s goal is to engage the business community in such activities as research projects, roundtables, workshops, conferences and a variety of student-oriented events.