FAYETTEVILLE,
Ark. — The 11th annual
Vendors FORE Education golf tournament, sponsored by Wal-Mart vendors, will be
held Friday, July 13, at Stonebridge Meadows Golf Club, 3495 East Goff Farms
Road, Fayetteville. Proceeds from
the tournament will be used to fund student scholarships through the Center for
Retailing Excellence in the Sam M.
Walton College
of Business at the University of Arkansas.
Registration for
the tournament can be found at http://cre.uark.edu/default.asp?show=golf.
Lunch begins at 11 a.m. with tee time
promptly at noon.
“We are very
grateful to the tournament organizers Erik Wolff, E-Wolff Sales Solutions, and
Russ Heithoff, Strategic Retail Solutions,” said Claudia Mobley, managing
director of the Center for Retailing Excellence. “They began the tournament in
1996 as a social gathering for the vendor community and a means of building
relationships. They soon realized the event could provide support for
university students who have the potential to become retail industry leaders. A
primary mission of the tournament is to foster relationships between industry
and academia.
The Center for
Retailing Excellence has partnered with Wolff and Heithoff on the golf
tournament since 2002. Since that time, the event has generated more than
$50,000 in scholarships, which support students who may have missed out on
other financial aid opportunities for various reasons.
This year, the
Center for Retailing Excellence is working with the University
of Arkansas Women’s Athletics
Department to bring a new dimension to the tournament. Coaches and student
athletes will be present for the luncheon and throughout the event. “We want to
provide a networking opportunity for our Lady Razorback partners and our
industry supporters,” said Pamela Styles, assistant director of the Center for
Retailing Excellence. “These women represent some of the brightest students on
campus who also happen to have tremendous athletic ability.”
Styles added:
“The vendor-supported scholarships can make the difference between having
adequate time to focus on academics rather than working excessive hours in
order to sustain themselves and pay for school. Students don’t always recognize
that the retail industry encompasses more than just working a cash register and
stocking shelves. Nor do they realize the diversity of degree concentrations
that have applications in the business industry. The participants of this tournament
exemplify the many facets of retailing and demonstrate to students that the
career potential is unlimited.”
Title sponsors
for the event are Hunters & Michaels, an organization that specializes in
professional placements, and Bayer Consumer Care, a division of Bayer
HealthCare and a member of the Center for Retailing Excellence executive board
of directors. Sharp Signs, with facilities in Rogers and Bentonville, also
sponsors the tournament by providing signage for the event.
The tournament is
a four-person scramble with prizes awarded to the top teams and additional
prizes for closest to the pin and other contests. Registrations may be made as
a team or individually. The fee includes lunch, drinks, cart and 18 holes of
golf. Participation is limited to 28 teams.
The Center for
Retailing Excellence was established in the Walton
College in 1998 with a portion of
the $50 million endowment from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.
The center was created to bridge the gap between university faculty, students
and retail industry.