Endowed Award Provides Financial Support for Agricultural Education Students

The family of James C. Atherton, a former agricultural education professor at the University of Arkansas, has created a scholarship in his honor for students in the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology.

The Dr. James C. Atherton Endowed Award will provide financial support to agricultural education majors in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

The scholarship was created by George and Susan Atherton, the son and daughter-in-law of Atherton.

Atherton (1915-98) was a native of Bolivar, Louisiana, and earned his bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University in 1935. After earning his master's degree in 1947 and his Doctor of Philosophy in 1950, both from the University of Illinois, and completing military service with the U.S. Army during World War II, he joined the faculty at the U of A.

He taught vocational agriculture education from 1950-65, then went to LSU and eventually retired as Professor Emeritus and as a Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Army.

George and Susan Atherton established the award with a gift of $25,000.

"I grew up in Fayetteville and watched as my father gave his heart and soul to his teaching career in agricultural education and was witness to many comments from students and former students, both domestic and from various foreign countries, regarding the positive impacts that he had in training them to become educators in the field of agriculture," George says. "Though I received my college degree from Baylor University, subsequently working and retiring from Exxon Chemical in Baton Rouge, and my wife, Susan, who graduated from LSU, subsequently teaching in the field of home economics and related subjects, we decided that a lasting memorial to my father at the University of Arkansas is an appropriate remembrance."

Scholarship recipients must be enrolled full time and pursuing a degree in agricultural education, be either a graduate student or a junior or senior with a minimum of 60 credit hours, have a minimum grade point average of 2.5 and with a preference for students planning to teach agricultural education in Arkansas at the high school, college or university level.

"The Athertons devoted their lives to teaching the next generation," George Wardlow, head of the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology, says. "Dr. Atherton served as a high school teacher of agriculture and as a college professor of future teachers of agriculture. Through this endowed scholarship, their support for students who will carry on the Atherton commitment to education and agriculture is forever established. This scholarship will enhance agricultural education in Arkansas."

AECT offers concentrations in agricultural communication, agricultural education, agricultural leadership, agricultural systems technology management, a master's in agricultural and extension education, and a Ph.D. in agricultural education, communication and technology.

The agricultural education concentration prepares graduates to earn Arkansas teacher certification to teach agricultural science in public schools, along with career options in areas including agricultural sales, business management, education consultation, extension services, international work and agricultural planning.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $3 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.