Stewarts Support Campaign. Again

Fayetteville, Ark.- Elizabeth Phillips Stewart will be memorialized in the University of Arkansas department where she worked for many years.

Her son and daughter-in-law, Julian and Nana Stewart, have made another major gift to the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century - this one for $250,000 - toward the completion of the Pat Walker Health Center. The atrium of the new health center will be named the Elizabeth Phillips Stewart Atrium.

UA Chancellor John A. White said: "Julian and Nana are always there for us when we need them. They have demonstrated time and again their commitment to the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century and the University of Arkansas and have led by example with their financial gifts. I don't know if I can adequately express my sincere appreciation to Julian and Nana. We are most grateful for their compassionate friendship and exemplary leadership. It's alumni and friends like the Stewarts who make the University of Arkansas a nationally competitive, student-centered research university serving Arkansas and the world. "

The Elizabeth Phillips Stewart Atrium of the Pat Walker Health Center is a distinguishing feature of this new facility. A large open space, spanning the entire east side of the building, the Elizabeth Phillips Stewart Atrium will be the first area visitors to the health center enter.

The Stewarts support the University of Arkansas Campaign for the Twenty-First Century with their time and their financial resources. Julian is a member of the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century Steering Committee. He currently chairs the leadership and principal gifts committee and is a member of the executive committee. Nana fully supports him in this endeavor and, he says, this volunteer experience has given them insight into the University's needs that helps to guide their philanthropy.

The Stewarts' support of the University of Arkansas has been extensive: When the University needed support for Chancellor's Scholarships after the program was expanded, they stepped forward to establish and endow the Elizabeth Phillips Stewart Chancellor's Scholarship, also named in honor and memory of Julian's mother.

They made provisions in their retirement planning that will endow a number of student fellowships, a scholarship in memory of Julian's brother, Jerry Stewart, an alumnus and former UA housing director, and a Razorback athletics scholarship. Last year, they took advantage of matching funds available to endow four more undergraduate honors fellowships in engineering. They made a commitment to the Bev Lewis Center for Women's Athletics.

In July, they committed this additional gift to the completion of the new Pat Walker Student Health Center.

Julian Stewart said: "Our interest has been in helping students through the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century. With this gift, I wanted to memorialize Mother in another way that would help students. I believe we all have an obligation to help make the University of Arkansas a better place for the future. I also hope that in some small way our support for the University will help encourage others to get involved - maybe for the first time, or for a second or third time like Nana and I have. This is the final year of the Campaign and we need lots of support if we're going to make the goal."

A dedication for the Pat Walker Health Center, the Elizabeth Phillips Stewart Atrium and the Northwest Quadrant Residential Community will be held Nov. 12, 2004.

This gift counts toward the campaign-within-a-campaign to raise $300 million for academic purposes to match the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation's $300 million gift. The $300 Million Challenge must raise funds between Jan. 1, 2002, and June 30, 2005, the end of the Campaign. The Challenge total stands at $201.3 million, and the overall Campaign total stands at $835.7 million as of Aug. 31, 2004.