Carter and Susan Berry have endowed a scholarship benefiting mechanical engineering students, thanks to a $30,000 gift.

The endowment will be known as the "Carter and Susan Berry Endowed Award in Mechanical Engineering." It will support a student with financial need who is pursuing an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and also counts toward Campaign Arkansas, the university's $1.25 billion capital campaign to advance academic opportunity at the U of A.

Carter Berry is a 1972 graduate of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and he said he and his wife, Susan, felt the time was right to give back.

"As my wife and I were getting older, we realized the importance of a college education. We realized there are people in need - that at one point included us," he said. "Now, we felt we have sufficient funds to start an endowment and help others, and that's what we decided to do."

Berry said his time at the University of Arkansas helped chart the course for the rest of his life.

"It inspired me to do all I could," he said. "It inspired me to be a thinker, and a doer. I hope the next generation of mechanical engineering graduates will be able to bring honor and recognition to the university, and hopefully to give back themselves one day."

Darin Nutter, head of the department of mechanical engineering, said the gift would play an important role in the life of future students.

"An endowed scholarship is a commitment to supporting students for years to come," Nutter said. "We appreciate the Berry family's dedication to making an excellent mechanical engineering education more accessible." 

Berry's advice for his fellow alumni: "Do it whenever you can and keep sustaining it."