FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - UA alumni J. Cliff and Linda Brigman Eason of San Antonio have made a $250,000 gift commitment to endow two undergraduate scholarships in the electrical engineering department of the University of Arkansas.

The Linda and Cliff Eason Endowed Scholarships in Telecommunications will be used to support promising undergraduate electrical engineering students in the College of Engineering with significant financial need who want to pursue a career in telecommunications.

UA Chancellor John A. White said, "We are most grateful that Cliff and Linda Eason have stepped forward to strengthen the university in its ability to attract electrical engineering students with an interest in telecommunications. The Easons’ commitment to students in this field is a natural choice given Cliff’s leadership in the telecom industry. Cliff and Linda are among our most supportive alumni and friends. Cliff has been wonderfully committed to the University of Arkansas in many ways over the years. His service as a member of the Campaign Steering Committee has been invaluable to our progress at the University."

Mr. Eason, who received the bachelor of science in electrical engineering from the U of A in 1970, is a member of the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century Steering Committee and the College of Engineering Campaign Committee. Prior to his retirement in 2001, he was president and CEO of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company and had responsibility for all operations and external affairs activities. He is a director of Reinsurance Group of America, the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association, the American Foundation for the Blind, and is past president of the Alamo Area Council Boy Scouts of America. He is a member of the Arkansas Academy of Electrical Engineering, the Engineering Hall of Fame, and serves on the Engineering Advisory Council.

Mrs. Eason received her bachelor of science in dietetics from the U of A in 1970. She has been an active community and church volunteer for many years in the various cities where they have lived, leading numerous special events, committees, and organizations. At present she serves on the boards of the YMCA and the Friends of the Ronald McDonald house in San Antonio, and in St. Louis is on the advisory boards of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation and Kurt Warner’s First Things First Foundation.

Otto Loewer, dean of the College of Engineering said, "Telecommunications is one of the fastest growing career opportunities for electrical engineering students, and a field that Cliff has helped to evolve through his leadership at Southwestern Bell. Cliff and Linda’s gift will assist our promising telecommunications undergraduates with financial need, enhance our electrical engineering program, and help to meet the industry demand for our students. We are very grateful to the Easons for this generous gift to the College."

The gift is part of the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century, a six-year effort to raise significant gifts from private sources for the University of Arkansas. Campaign funds are being used to help the University achieve its vision of emerging as a nationally competitive, student-centered research university serving Arkansas and the world. Campaign funds are being raised for six critical areas of need: endowed faculty positions, scholarship funds, academic programs, University Libraries, construction of new academic facilities and annual giving.

Between July 1, 1998, and March 31, 2002, the College of Engineering had received $24.3 million in gifts and pledges toward its $54.8 million goal.

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Editors: There is a print-quality JPEG of Cliff and Linda Eason available for download at http://pigtrail.uark.edu/news.