Former University Of Arkansas Faculty And Family Establish Scholarship In Memory Of Parents

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Shirley Stauber Friend McAllister, a former University of Arkansas faculty member, graduated from the University in the 1960s as a non-traditional student. Now, along with her husband Harry E. McAllister, and her sister, Rose Stauber, she is making it possible for other non-traditional students to attend the University.  The McAllisters currently live in Sun City, Ariz., and Col. Stauber resides in Grove, Okla.

They have contributed more than $20,000 to endow a scholarship at the University of Arkansas in memory of the sisters' parents. The Anna Pearl Rose Stauber and Martin Stevens Stauber Sr. Endowed Scholarship will provide financial assistance to non-traditional students enrolled in the UA College of Education and Health Professions and the School of Human Environmental Sciences in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

UA Chancellor John A. White said, "We are very grateful for this generous gift to help non-traditional students. We are especially excited that Mrs. McAllister, as a former faculty member, chose to remember her alma mater."

Mrs. McAllister married after completing her freshman year of college. Eight years later, she found herself a single parent of five children. With child care and monetary help from her parents, she entered the University of Arkansas.

She said, "Without their support in getting an education I would have lived my life in poverty. For many years I've been thinking of helping others who might be in my situation, but without the supportive parents I had. Harry and I had already endowed a scholarship at Washington State University, where he taught for 35 years. Last year we decided it was time to endow the scholarship for the University of Arkansas.

"While thinking about how I wanted the scholarship to be used, I remembered that mother also was a non-traditional student," she added. "From 1942 to 1958 mother attended school on weekends and during the summer to finally earn a degree from Southwest Missouri State University in 1958, the same year her youngest son, Steve, graduated from the University of Arkansas. When my sister, Rose Stauber, learned of our plans for the endowment to honor mom and dad, she wanted to participate. We hope others in our family will do so also."

Echoing her sister's commitment to the scholarship, Col. Rose Stauber said,  "I think that it is the best way we can remember our parents."

Mrs. McAllister graduated with honors from the University of Arkansas in 1962 with a bachelor of science degree in home economics education. She received her master of science in textiles and clothing from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1964. She returned to the University of Arkansas and received a doctorate in higher education administration in 1969.

She has led an outstanding career as a home economics professor for over 29 years, publishing many papers and articles in the field of textiles and clothing. She taught at the University of Arkansas, Kansas State University, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale, Washington State University and North Dakota State University.  In 1993, she retired from North Dakota State where she had been a member of the faculty and an administrator for 11 years. While at NDSU she had served as chair of the Department of Apparel, Textiles and Interior Design; acting dean of the College of Home Economics; and development officer for the College of Human Development and Education.

Harry McAllister taught statistics and economics as a professor for 35 years at Washington State University, where he retired in 1982. The McAllisters have six children, 15 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Rose Stauber is retired as a colonel from the U.S. Army. She is a graduate of Southwest Missouri State University and received her master's degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

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