WALTON FAMILY FOUNDATION ENDOWS UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM WITH $ 1 MILLION GIFT

FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. - The Walton Family Foundation, Inc., of Bentonville has made a $1 million gift to endow one of the University of Arkansas’ most prestigious graduate programs - the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.

The endowment will be distributed as follows:

-- $350,000 to bring guest writers to the campus to hold week-long editorial conferences with creative writing students;

-- $600,000 for Walton Fellowships to outstanding students who are preparing to publish a book; and

-- $50,000 for monetary support of writers on book tours to give readings on the University campus.

"The University’s creative writing program is regarded as one of the very best in the country because of its track record in producing so many good young writers who increasingly are being recognized at the national level," said Rob Walton, chairman of the board of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and member of the Walton Family Foundation, Inc. "The Walton Family Foundation wants to strengthen this program so that it can contribute even more vigorously to the nation’s intellectual and cultural capital."

Carolyn Walton, who took graduate courses in the M.F.A. program while completing her M.A. in English Literature at the University of Arkansas, said, "The faculty in the creative writing program are among the best in the country. I personally benefited from the tutorial of Professor Jim Whitehead. My time in these classes was one of the best intellectual experiences of my life."

Chancellor John A. White said, "We are very grateful to the Walton Family Foundation for its interest in furthering the quality of the creative writing program. Providing a permanent financial foundation for bringing well-known guest writers and authors to campus while supporting our own authors through the Walton Fellowships will ensure that it will remain one of the nation’s premier programs."

William Harrison, emeritus professor of English and James Whitehead, recently retired director of the UA program, founded the creative writing program in 1966 in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences. Miller Williams, nationally renowned poet, was later also instrumental in its growth.

"The creative writing program is one of the crown jewels of Fulbright College," said Randall Woods, interim dean for the college. "It is eminently fitting that the Waltons have chosen to endow this enterprise and to honor Jim Whitehead whose record as a creator and teacher at this university is unparalleled."

The program quickly proved its worth among the country’s most prestigious M.F.A. programs. National polls have ranked the University of Arkansas among the best creative writing schools in the nation.

The success of recent graduates has further strengthened this reputation. "Poachers," a collection of short stories by 1997 alumnus Tom Franklin, won this year’s Edgar Allan Poe Award as well as the Walter E. Dakin Fellowship. Steve Yarbrough, a 1985 graduate, earned the Grisham Prize for his new novel, "The Oxygen Man."

This summer, UA graduates Beth Ann Fennelly and Rob Griffith participated in the prestigious Sewanee Writers’ Conference. The conference honored both Fennelly and Griffith with Tennessee Williams Fellowships. Only four such fellowships are awarded nationwide.

In addition, 1993 graduate Gordon Grice received a nomination of Best Research-Based Nonfiction from PEN Center USA for his collection of essays, "The Red Hourglass." And graduate Susan Perabo’s first book of short fiction inspired New York literary agent, Elyse Cheney, to dub UA graduates "the best crop of new writers" in the nation.

Whitehead says one reason for the program’s success is the unique format of its curriculum. Unlike other MFA programs, which take only two to three years to complete, the UA curriculum extends through four years of intensive writing and literary study. Not only do students compose and critique their own work, but they also learn the art and technique of writing through the study of literature.

According to Whitehead, the extended curriculum gives UA students a double advantage - offering them a broad view of literary art while allowing them enough time to develop their own style and voice within that art.

Donald Hays, new director of creative writing, says the program’s only weakness is its relative lack of funding for graduate students.

"The quality of our students has been consistently high, but our inability to pay them much money is a concern. This endowment will help us compete with other nationally-ranked programs to bring the nation’s best students to Arkansas," Hays said.

Prior to the Walton Family Foundation gift, only four sources of financial aid were available to UA creative writing students - teaching assistantships, graduate fellowships, ten Lily Peter Fellowships of $1,000 apiece, and two Truman Capote Fellowships of $9,000, available exclusively to fiction writers.

"The Walton endowment will enable us to recruit the best faculty and the most talented students," said Whitehead. "We want to be the best program in the nation. People say that’s ambitious. I don’t call it ambitious - I call it inevitable. This gift is the beginning."

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EDITOR’S NOTE: From July 20 through July 24, Jim Whitehead and Donald Hays can be reached for comment at the following numbers:
Car phone: (501)466-6752
The Villa Convento, New Orleans: (504)522-1793