FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Ruben and Sue Martin of Kilgore, Texas, and Scott and Kimberly Martin of Houston, Texas, have pledged $750,000 to support a chair for an outstanding faculty member in the Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas. The chair has been named in honor of their parents, Margaret Gerig Martin and R.S. Martin Jr. 

The Margaret Gerig and R.S. Martin Jr. Chair in Business will be supported with an additional match of $750,000 from the $300 million Matching Gift Program for a total endowment of $1.5 million.

Amy Farmer, professor of economics, will be the first holder of the Martin Chair in Business.

UA Chancellor John A. White said: “Margaret and R.S. have been friends of the University of Arkansas for many years. We are very appreciative of their children’s generosity in establishing this important faculty endowment in Walton College in honor of their parents. It will allow us to recognize and reward an exceptional faculty member, Dr. Amy Farmer. Recruiting and retaining nationally recognized faculty, such as Dr. Farmer, increases the quality of instruction and research opportunities provided our students, thereby enriching their educational experience at the University of Arkansas.”

 “We are very grateful for the Martin family’s support of the Walton College,” Walton C

From left, Sue Martin, Margaret Martin, Amy Farmer, Reuben Martin, Robin Martin, Scott Martin and Kimberly Martin.

ollege Dean Doyle Z. Williams said. “There is a critical need to retain nationally recognized business faculty, such as Dr. Farmer, who was recognized in 2003 in the top 2 percent of economists in the world by the European Economic Association for the number of articles she published from 1990 to 2000. She is an outstanding researcher, recently garnering several large federal grants, as well as teacher.”

The Martin family has a long tradition at the University of Arkansas. Margaret Martin received a B.A. degree in history in 1947, and R.S. Martin received his B.S.B.A. in 1946.   Ruben S. Martin III received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management in 1974; Sue Martin received a B.S.E. in 1973; and Scott D. Martin received a B.S.B.A. in finance and banking in 1987. Rubin and Sue’s daughter, Robin Thomas Martin, is currently a sophomore in the College of Education and Health Professions. Margaret Martin has seven grandchildren, including two by her deceased daughter, Paula Martin Jones. Margaret’s father graduated from the U of A in 1914, and her mother was a former student. R.S. Martin passed away in 1999, and in 2000, the Walton College honored him at its awards banquet. He was a charter member of the college Dean’s Executive Advisory Board, served on the University of Arkansas Alumni Board, and was a scholarship donor to the UA athletic department.

Ruben Martin serves as president and chief executive officer and a member of the board of Martin Midstream Partners L.P. He has served as president of Martin Resources Management Corp. since 1981 and has served in various capacities within the company since graduation. Sue Martin was initiated into Pi Beta Phi while at the University of Arkansas as was Robin, Margaret and Margaret’s mother.

 Scott Martin serves as general manager of the Martin Midstream’s Marine Operations, and on its board of directors. He has been a director of Martin Resource Management Corp. since 1990, and has held a variety of positions in marketing, transportation, terminal operations, finance, operations and business development with Martin Resource Management Corp. since 1980. Scott serves on the Walton College Business Alumni Advisory Board.

Martin Midstream Partners (MMLP:NASDAQ) provides storage and terminalling,  marine transportation,  distribution and midstream logistical services for producers and suppliers of hydrocarbon products and by-products, specialty chemicals and other liquids. The company also manufactures and markets sulfur-based fertilizers and related products.

Farmer holds a B.S. in mathematics from Purdue University and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in economics from Duke University. She joined the University of Arkansas in 1999 and received the Walton College Faculty Research award in 2000.

In 2003, Dr. Farmer served on the initial Walton College team that landed a three-year $500,000 grant from the U. S. Department of Justice to study the effects of domestic violence on the workplace. In 2004, Farmer and co-researcher assistant professor Cary Deck received a $96,112 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the behavioral and theoretical impact of multiple arbitration formats. In 2005, they received an additional NSF grant of $12,666 to travel to Japan to examine how the cultural differences affect arbitration.

Farmer’s research is in the areas of law and economics and the economics of the family. She applies game-theory to study and analyze topics in law and economics, particularly in the areas of family issues and domestic violence. For example, a recent study looked at the role that asymmetric information plays in generating impasses to settlement in a bargaining situation such as a custody arrangement in a divorce. She also conducts research on the effect of environmental regulations on corporate profits. She has published articles in the Economic Journal, Journal of Legal Studies, Public Choice, Journal of Development Economics, Economic Inquiry, Ecological Economics and International Review of Law and Economics.

In 2004, Margaret Martin gave $100,000 in a charitable gift annuity to establish the Margaret Gerig and R.S. Martin Jr. Doctoral Fellowship in the Walton College. The gift was matched by $100,000 from Matching Gift Program to support the fellowship. The first student fellowship was awarded for the fall of 2004.

Campaign for the Twenty-First Century Update

. Campaign for the Twenty-First Century goal: $1 billion
 
. The Campaign total — counts all gifts and pledges to academic and athletic purposes as of May 31, 2005: $970.3 million; 97 percent of the goal in 99 percent of the time.
 
. Campaign funds are being used for: student and faculty endowments, program creation and enhancement, capital projects, annual support and endowment growth.