UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS ALUMNUS' $546,000 BEQUEST NOW BENEFITTING FIRST GROUP OF STUDENTS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.-- With a debt to the past, the late Dr. Clarence J. Rosecrans Jr. established a legacy for the future that will open doors of opportunity for students at the University of Arkansas.

A UA alumnus himself, Rosecrans set aside more than $546,000 in his estate to fund scholarships at his alma mater in honor of his parents, Blanche Bledsoe Rosecrans and Clarence J. Rosecrans Sr. The University recently received the funds from the estate and on Friday will apply them for the first time toward their intended purpose.

The first Blanche Bledsoe Rosecrans and Clarence J. Rosecrans Sr. Endowed Memorial Scholarships will be given at the Fulbright College Awards Ceremony at 1 p.m. tomorrow in Giffels Auditorium, Old Main.

The $2,500 scholarships will be awarded to Sarah M. Andelman, a freshman pre-law major from Fayetteville; Shannon R. Goldsby, a sophomore biology major from England; Deana J. Watkins, a sophomore accounting and small business entrepreneurship management major from Huntsville; Monica J. Jimenez, a sophomore chemical engineering major from Tlalnepantla, Mexico; Alison F. Lowe, a junior French major from Bartlesville, Okla.; Katherine Nalepinski, a senior finance major from Fayetteville, and Lorna J. Beard and Jennifer L. Richardson, both graduate anthropology majors from Fayetteville. The scholarship also will be awarded to two incoming freshmen.

In establishing the scholarship fund before his death Sept. 30, 1997, Rosecrans credited his parents for much of his success. He saw the memorial scholarship as a way to perpetuate their legacy of personal responsibility, love of knowledge and spirit of independence.

"My father, who received only a sixth-grade education, spent the rest of his life educating himself," Rosecrans said. "A prodigious reader . . . he taught me that knowledge would give me the resources I needed to follow my dreams.

"My mother, who was probably the world’s first feminist, was a stickler for formal education. She believed that education would give me independence and open the door of opportunity for me."

A Jonesboro native, Rosecrans opened that door as a psychology major at the U of A. After receiving his undergraduate degree here, he pursued his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Tennessee. Opportunity led him to Alabama where he worked for the State Health Department. He went on to become the director of psychological services at the University of Alabama in Birmingham from 1962-1983.

The scholarship fund he set up will open doors for students who have financial need but don’t qualify for University scholarships or financial aid.

"I want to help University of Arkansas students who might otherwise fall through the cracks, students who in a different time could depend on the GI Bill to help them out," Rosecrans said when he made the gift. "The GI Bill transformed American higher education.

"Before World War II, only 10 percent of Americans attended college. College was an expensive luxury reserved primarily for the upper classes. I don’t want access to higher education to ever again be that limited."

The Blanche Bledsoe Rosecrans and Clarence J. Rosecrans Sr. Endowed Memorial Scholarships are available to graduate and undergraduate students in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, Sam M. Walton College of Business Administration, College of Engineering and the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

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