Tyson Family Helps Dedicate Child Development Study Center in Honor of Jean Tyson

Kids have a ball at the Jean Tyson Childcare Development Study Center.

Looking at the center from the southwest.

And from the southeast.

Time to start the day.

One of the indoor play spaces that awaits.

Time for fun.

Discovery.

Facial expressions, body language and verbal communication.

Time to play.

An exterior play area.

Student observation area overlooking play area.

Quick notes.

Real world classroom.

It's been a long day.

Photo Submitted

Jean Tyson Child Development Center

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – John Tyson, sisters Carla and Cheryl and other family members helped dedicate the new Jean Tyson Child Development Study Center Thursday during a special ceremony at the center. The new state-of-the-art teaching facility serves 144 children from infancy through preschool and will provide study and research opportunities for more than 300 students and faculty annually.

“Our campus has long needed a better training facility and campus childcare option, and we are delighted to now have both under one roof,” said Chancellor G. David Gearhart. “This facility provides a wonderful learning environment for infants and preschoolers while providing an amazing educational opportunity for our students.”

Named in honor of the wife of Don Tyson, the mother of John, Carla and Cheryl Tyson, and the grandmother of John Randal and Olivia Tyson, the Jean Tyson Child Development Study Center offers a family-centered program that includes classrooms, indoor and outdoor play spaces and observation areas to allow university students to gain valuable insight into the behavioral and developmental patterns of children. 

 “Tyson Foods and our family are pleased to be able to support this center and the positive impact that it will have on the lives of children, childcare workers and educators for years to come,” said John Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods Inc. “I know my mother would be delighted. She believed strongly that young children should be provided the very best environment humanly possible to be raised and educated. We know this facility will help do just that.”

The Tyson Family Foundation and the Tyson Foods Foundation supplied a lead gift of $2.5 million to support the project. A $500,000 gift from Zero Mountain Inc., and additional support from the A.L. Chilton Foundation, Dr. Robert Spitze and his late wife, Hazel, Trustee Mark Waldrip and his wife, Angela, and Bob and Marilyn Bogle helped turn the facility into a reality.

“In this facility, students, staff and faculty are working together to create cutting edge programs that will set new standards for childcare, healthy eating habits and early recognition of special needs children,” said Michael Vayda, dean of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. “Ultimately, this center is a tremendous asset to our campus community.”

The facility will serve as a teaching laboratory for students in several areas including human development and family sciences in Bumpers College. The majority of students who will use the facility will major in child development, but others will study speech pathology, nursing and education.

Designed with energy saving features, the center has been submitted for LEED Silver certification, will soon be featured in Green Building & Design magazine and earned the Community Outreach Award from the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce for enhancing the city’s architecture and environment.

The center includes geothermal-assisted heating and cooling, natural lighting and a water collection system to conserve water. Twenty percent of the construction materials used to build the facility are recycled materials and 75 percent of the construction waste is being recycled.

Previously, the campus offered an Infant Development Center and a Nursery School on opposite sides of the campus. Both facilities faced severe space limitations and the Infant Development Center, constructed for a completely different purpose in the early 1970s, was being maintained solely as a temporary facility because it could no longer meet health and safety regulations.