UA WALTON COLLEGE HONORS OUTSTANDING ALUMNI

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Three outstanding alumni of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas will be honored tomorrow night at the college’s annual student awards banquet. The Walton College will recognize F. Sheridan Garrison, founder and chairman emeritus of American Freightways Inc., with the Lifetime Achievement award. George J. Stasick, chief operating officer of JCPenney ECommerce L.P., will receive the Entrepreneur of the Year award; and F. William Glezen, professor emeritus of accounting in the Walton College, will receive the Outstanding Service award.

Dean Doyle Z. Williams said, "For the fourth year, we are recognizing our outstanding alumni at our student honors event. These three have been chosen because they exemplify the very essence of what we are trying to teach our students. Their accomplishments provide inspiration to the students as well as to our faculty and staff."

He added, "The Walton College has selected F. Garrison Sheridan for the Lifetime Achievement award because of the impact he has made on the state as a business leader and as an alumnus of the Walton College."

Garrison graduated, with honors, from the University of Arkansas in 1955 with a bachelor of science in business administration in marketing. He founded American Freightways in Harrison, Ark., in 1982. The company's revenues for 2000 were $1.4 billion. American Freightways employs nearly 1,000 people in Harrison and some 16,200 across the country. Fortune magazine recently named American Freightways as the third most admired trucking company in the United States. The editors listed, "tireless innovation, the ability to lure and retain the smartest people, and robust financials" as the three common traits needed to be included on the "most admired" list. In January 2001, Forbes magazine named Arkansas Freightways one of American 400 best big companies, ranking it 127^th of all 400 companies and number one in the trucking category. In February 2001, American Freightways’ shareholders voted unanimously to support the company's acquisition by FedEx Corporation. Garrison now serves as a member of the board of directors of FedEx.

Garrison recently participated in the Walton College's 2001 Arkansas Business Giants, a forum in which only students from the state of Arkansas can ask business leaders questions. He is a member of the business student honor society, Beta Gamma Sigma.

Williams said, "We are honoring George Stasick as the entrepreneur of the year because he has been working at the forefront of JCPenney’s Internet commerce effort. We are pleased that he is returning to campus again tomorrow to share his experience with our students."

A native of Hot Springs, Stasick graduated from the Walton College in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He began his career with J. C. Penney Company Inc. in 1970 as a part-time sales person. After completing the store management training program in 1972, he held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility within the stores organization including store merchandising manager, district merchandising manager, store manager, manager of customer service/relations, manager of coordination, and manager of styling salons.

In May of 1998, JCPenney established Internet Commerce as a separate department with the JCPenney Catalog and appointed Stasick as the chief operating officer of the department, responsible for merchandising and operations. He led the effort to integrate Internet Commerce into the Catalog Division where the fulfillment and customer services requirements were the same.

Stasick returned to the U of A campus in June of 2000 to speak at the Walton College’s E-Business summit, sponsored by three of the Walton College’s research centers. He was among speakers from 10 other national companies, discussing the new frontier found at the intersection of business and technology.

Williams said, "We selected Bill Glezen for the Outstanding Service Award because, in all of his teaching, research, and service activities, he always worked hard to increase the reputation of the Walton College."

Glezen received an undergraduate degree in accounting from Texas A&M University. In 1956, he accepted a position as a staff auditor with Arthur Andersen LLP, and became a partner after 10 years.

In 1975, he returned to academia to earn an MBA and a Ph.D. at the University of Arkansas. He accepted a faculty position at the University of Arkansas in 1979 and was appointed to the Walter B. Cole Chair in Accounting in 1988. He taught auditing at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He was the co-author of a popular auditing textbook that was published for over 20 years. His research addressed audit firm characteristics and auditor independence and resulted in 40 academic presentations and 30 journal articles.

Glezen was active in service to the accounting profession and the University of Arkansas. At the professional level he served on national committees that oversaw preparation and grading of the CPA examination and enforcement of professional standards. He received the Arkansas Society of CPAs’ distinguished achievement award in accounting education. At the university, college, and department levels, he chaired a number of important committees. After the spring semester of 2000, he retired and attained professor emeritus status.