FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Jim Stice (B.S.C.H.E. 1949) left his industry job and began teaching at the University of Arkansas in 1954. He took a break to earn his doctoral degree and returned to teach another six years in Fayetteville. At that point, he joined the faculty at the University of Texas in Austin where he taught until retiring in 1996. In addition to teaching, Stice also directed UT’s Center for Teaching Effectiveness. His passion for this area has resulted in a planned gift of two gift annuities totaling $50,000 to the Ralph E. Martin department of chemical engineering at the University of Arkansas to provide professors with valuable training in teaching effectiveness.

“My hope is that, because of my contribution, the department will be able to say over a period of time that its quality of instruction has improved and that the students’ satisfaction levels have improved,” Stice said. “Students may not always be able to tell you whether the material presented is current, but they can certainly tell you if the experience is relevant, challenging and fruitful for them. The department is already very strong, so I hope this will only help the professors.”

Stice worked with colleagues at North Carolina State University to create workshops on teaching effectiveness. These workshops have been given every summer at the annual conference of the American Society for Engineering Education, and they held their 19^th workshop this past June. The purpose of the workshops is for engineering professors to learn that they can work smarter instead of harder and become better teachers. Over the years, Stice learned that while faculty members do have responsibilities outside of teaching, educating students must be a priority and it must be done well.

With all of those years spent in Austin, where he and his wife, Betty, still live, one may wonder about Stice’s continued loyalty and generosity to the University of Arkansas, but this is not even a question if you ask him about it.

“When I first came to Texas, there were 10 games in the annual Southwest Conference season,” he said. “I cheered for Texas at nine of their games, but when they played Arkansas, I cheered for the Razorbacks. I wore Razorback ties every day during the week leading up to the game. They started out subtle and by Friday things got pretty outrageous. Nobody ever hit me, but I got a lot of comments.”

Jim Stice, who was recognized in 1995 as a distinguished alumnus of the university, gets back to Fayetteville a couple of times a year, and now has a grandson who is a freshman.  He also tries to attend the Arkansas Academy of Chemical Engineers meeting every April.