UA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING RECEIVES $500,000 GIFT FROM ACXIOM

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - An Arkansas company with longtime ties to the University of Arkansas will provide a gift of $500,000 to establish the Acxiom Database Chair in Engineering.

The five-year commitment for the term chair made by Acxiom Corp. was announced today during a news conference held in the Southwestern Bell Economic Resource Center Room at the UA's GENESIS Technology Incubator. A nationwide search is currently under way for a recipient of the chair.

UA Chancellor John A. White said, "We are grateful for Acxiom’'s gift and for the faculty support it will provide to the College of Engineering. Faculty chairs are essential to recruiting and retaining high-quality educators. Chairs and professorships named for Arkansas firms provide evidence that the University of Arkansas is responding to the needs of the State as it emerges as a nationally competitive, student-centered research university.”"

The Acxiom Database Chair will be held in the Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering. The establishment of this chair will enable the department to recruit a nationally recognized professional as an educator and researcher in the area of database. The holder of the Acxiom Database Chair will focus on software development and software for real-time systems, with attention to the software development process, software planning and management, analysis and design and enhancing communication and team-building skills.

Rodger Kline, Company Operations Leader for Acxiom Corp., and 1966 electrical engineering alumnus said, "Acxiom’'s success is dependent upon our continued ability to recruit the best and brightest people around. We’'re making an investment today not only in the University of Arkansas and its Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering, but in our future as well.”" Kline is currently Chairman of the University’'s Engineering Advisory Council.

Acxiom’'s Company Leader, Charles Morgan, is a 1966 mechanical engineering graduate.

Acxiom Corp., headquartered in Little Rock, Ark., has branch offices located throughout the state and the nation. The company established the current research and development facility in the GENESIS Technology Incubator, located at the UA Engineering Research Center, in 1997. Of the 40 people now employed by the Fayetteville facility, 30 are UA graduates. 

Acxiom is one of the top recruiters of Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering students at the University of Arkansas. The company has also established an active internship program hiring approximately 12 UA students annually to work in the area of software development. During the 1998-1999 school year, Acxiom Corp. hired 26 UA graduates. During the 1999-2000 school year, another 37 UA graduates were hired.

Kline said, "It is exciting to envision the future of the department as it strives to develop a nationally competitive program, fueled by the resources it needs to succeed."

Acxiom has provided yearly support for Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering programming teams to compete in the Association for Computing Machines (ACM), an international collegiate programming contest designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate and sharpen problem-solving and computing skills. Two UA teams took first and third places in the Mid-Central regional contest in November 2000.

College of Engineering Dean Otto Loewer said, "Database management is transforming the way students are educated and the way companies do business. It is essential that the College of Engineering be at the forefront of these technologies to educate its students. Given the relationship that our students, faculty and graduates have with Acxiom, the establishment of this chair is a natural partnership that will benefit both the University and Acxiom.” "

Faculty in the Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering are currently working on research projects for Acxiom in the areas of software development, cluster computing, data delivery, ontology research, database quality research and software development methodologies research.

"We are confident that high potential students in Arkansas will realize they don't have to leave the state to find a top-notch database education. They can find it right here,” " Kline added.

Acxiom is a member firm of GENESIS, which was founded in 1986 to diversify Arkansas’' technology and economic base and to help create employment opportunities for Arkansans skilled in the science and engineering professions. Member firms are usually departments or divisions of larger companies that need the facilities of a university environment to fulfill their research and development goals.

# # #