Walton College Alumna Provides for Students

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - UA alumna Mary M. Maxson has made a $177,000 commitment through a charitable remainder unitrust to establish two endowed scholarships in the University of Arkansas Honors College.

Maxson's gift will create the Edwin R. Maxson Honors College Academy Scholarship in Journalism for the benefit of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and the Mary M. Maxson Honors College Academy Scholarships in Business for the benefit of the Sam. M. Walton College of Business. Additionally, a portion of Maxson's gift is being designated to the general Carnall Hall Alumni Scholarship Fund.

Vice Chancellor for the Division of University Advancement G. David Gearhart said: "We are grateful to Mrs. Maxson for providing so generously for University of Arkansas students. Her gift will help us now and into the future as we increase the size, quality and diversity of our student body. We're also pleased that Mrs. Maxson is supporting the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century and maximizing her philanthropy by taking advantage of the unique Matching Gift Program. We're hopeful her generosity will set an example for other benefactors to follow."

Jim Harris, director of planned giving, said: "This is such a great gift and it was a pleasure to work with Mary Maxson to create a program that will benefit three scholarship areas. The charitable trust technique and our Matching Gift Program were uniquely suited to fulfill her goals."

Mary Maxson, of Sedona, Ariz., is a 1954 B.S.B.A. graduate of Walton College. As an undergraduate student at the University of Arkansas, she was a resident of Carnall Hall and served as hall president. As a senior, she edited the college's business journal. She returned to college in the 1980s to become an accountant and earned an accounting degree from Western International University in Phoenix, Ariz. Maxson has worked as a CPA and is currently in the process of selling the CPA practice she led for the past 10 years. Her husband, Edwin R. Maxson, was a journalism graduate of the U of A in the days when "Uncle" Walter Lemke, for whom the department is now named, was a member of the faculty. Mr. Maxson worked for the Bel Aire Texan and then as an information officer for the United States Air Force. He worked as a freelance writer into his retirement. Mr. Maxson died in 1993. The Maxsons have two daughters.

Mrs. Maxson said: "I recently became re-involved with the University of Arkansas when the group spearheading the Carnall Hall residents' reunion contacted me. I was impressed and pleased by the renovations to the building and by the other changes to the UA campus. The timing was right for me to get involved with the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century."

The portion of Maxson's gift that will establish the Honors College scholarships will be matched by $160,000 from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation's $300 million gift. The match will help create two scholarship endowments, each with a corpus of $160,000, which will generate investment returns to support the recipients' education and related expenses. The Matching Gift Program opportunity is available until the end of the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century.

This gift counts toward the University of Arkansas' campaign-within-a-campaign to raise $300 million for academic purposes. The $300 Million Challenge must raise funds between Jan. 1, 2002, and June 30, 2005, the end of the Campaign. The Challenge total stands at $201.3 million, and the overall Campaign total stands at $835.8 million as of Aug. 31, 2004.