New Boyer Fellow Selected for the University of Arkansas

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Jonathan Benson.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Jonathan Benson, a freshman from Fort Smith, has been selected as the 2011 Boyer Fellow in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, one of five students being aided this year by the fellowship that stretches back more than a decade.

“Winning the Boyer Fellowship is a great honor,” Benson said. “I hope to take full advantage of the opportunity that has been given to me. I want to thank God, my family and friends, the Boyer family and the staff at the Walton College for their support.”

Benson, son of James and Sharon Benson, graduated from Fort Smith Southside High School in 2011 with a 4.3 grade point average. He received an AP Scholar Award with Distinction, the Great American Rivalry Series Student Athlete Award, the Brad Norris Award and a National Football Hall of Fame Scholar Athlete Award.

Since establishing the fellowship in 1999, alumni Tommy and Sylvia Boyer have continued to support and encourage outstanding students to pursue an education in the Walton College. The Boyers’ efforts continue to have an impact on Boyer Fellows even after they complete their degree.

“When we established the Boyer Fellowships, we had been involved with a variety of scholarships for some time,” the Boyers said. “We believe that a good education is the best vehicle we can provide to make a positive impact on people living in Arkansas. We decided to take that effort to a new level with the hope that the fellowships would attract students with the best minds and leadership skills to study at the University of Arkansas and upon graduation remain in the state. We believe that has been the case. In fact, these students have achieved so much more than we at first anticipated! We couldn’t be more impressed with their accomplishments and the work they have done.”

To become a Boyer Fellow, a student must demonstrate financial need and the potential to be a leader. The gift commitment provides the student with $12,500 a year for tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, travel and special equipment.

Benson, the 2011 recipient, served on his high school’s Senior Council and was a member of the National Honor Society, a board member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and played on the varsity football and baseball teams.

Outside of school, Benson was a Vacation Bible School teacher and a Sunday School teacher for preschoolers. He also was a mentor for sophomores during his senior year in high school, raised money for World Vision and to help dig a well in Madagascar and volunteered for the Backpack Food Program. Benson played on the Kerwins American Legion Baseball team.

The fellowship supports four other Boyer fellows studying this year in the Walton College: Stacia Baughman of West Fork, Brinkley Cook-Campbell of Mount Judea, Joseph Rossetti of Fayetteville and Robert Ivers of Texarkana, Ark. Previous Boyer Fellows include Adrienne Jung of Van Buren; Tommy Vo of Fort Smith; Brandy Wells of West Fork; Chenin Vadalma of Hot Springs; Kimberly Wilkes of Fort Smith; Amanda Wyatt of Fort Smith; and Sarah Wells of Arkadelphia.

Jung, B.S.B.A. ’04, J.D. ’07, the first Boyer Fellow in 2000, now is an attorney with Wright, Lindsey & Jennings in Little Rock. She said earlier this year that she credits the Boyers for “having a strong desire to improve education in Arkansas and to keep great talent in the state.” She says being a Boyer Fellow helped shape her career path and that she uses what she learned at the Walton College every day in her work in commercial litigation, banking and secure transactions.

Tommy Boyer, B.S.B.A. ’64, has served as chair of the Walton College Dean’s Executive Advisory Board, chair of the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame selection committee and was the college’s 2008 commencement speaker. Boyer was presiding co-chair of the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century from 2000-2002. Sylvia Boyer, B.S.E. ’63, was on the national board of directors for the Arkansas Alumni Association from 1988-1998, serving as its president in 1996-1997. She served on the Alumni House Campaign Committee from 1996-1998 and also served with her husband on the Campaign Steering Committee and was vice chair of that committee’s College/School/Unit and Regional Subcommittee. She also has served as chair of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of Education.

In 1992, the University of Arkansas named the Boyers its volunteers of the year, and in 1999, the Arkansas Alumni Association honored the Boyers with the Andrew J. Lucas Distinguished Service Award.