Three Arkansas Alumni to Be Honored by Fayetteville School District

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Martha Agee, Rob Merry-Ship and Jim Stice

Three University of Arkansas alumni — Martha Agee, Rob Merry-Ship and Jim Stice — will be inducted into the Fayetteville Schools Hall of Honor on Sept. 29.

Agee received her Bachelor of Science in Education from the university in 1954 and a Master of Education in 1966 as well as an Education Specialist degree in 1971. In 1972, Agee and Carmen Lierly founded Uptown School, a freestanding alternative school within the Fayetteville School District that was designed to give an education alternative to students who had dropped out or were at risk of dropping out of the traditional system. She directed the school from 1988 to 1996, when she retired.

Merry-Ship earned a Bachelor of Arts in speech communications in 1977 and founded RJ Merry-Ship Property Management not long after graduation. He continues to work in real estate with an emphasis on revitalization. On the University of Arkansas campus, his company worked on the renovation of Carnall Hall, turning it into a working hotel, the Inn at Carnall Hall, which also serves as a learning lab for students in the university's hospitality program.

Stice is a 1945 graduate of Fayetteville High School and received his Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Arkansas in 1949. He received his master's and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He also taught at the University of Arkansas for nine years before accepting a position at the University of Texas at Austin. Stice received the Citation of Distinguished Alumnus from the Arkansas Alumni Association in 1995.

The inductees for the Fayetteville Schools Hall of Honor were announced at a news conference Thursday, Sept. 8, at Jose’s Mexican Restaurant by the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation. The Hall of Honor Induction will be Thursday, Sept. 29, at the Fayetteville Town Center. A reception will be held at 5:30 p.m. with dinner served at 6:30 p.m. and ceremonies at 7:30. Contact the foundation at 479-527-3655 for reservations.