Vendors FORE Education to Raise Scholarship Funds

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The 11^th 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.