Gift Establishes Chair In Diane Blair's Memory

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Jim Blair, of Fayetteville, has made a $750,000 gift to establish the Diane Divers Blair Chair in Political Science in the University of Arkansas J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

Named for Jim Blair’s late wife, noted political science scholar Diane D. Blair, the endowed chair will administer programs that help elected officials govern more effectively, thereby improving quality of life in Arkansas. In addition, the holder of the Diane D. Blair Endowed Chair will organize conferences that bring elected officials, business leaders and policy makers to the University of Arkansas. The chair also will build relationships by matching faculty expertise with policy leaders in health care, education, foreign trade, environmental dynamics, technology and business.

UA Chancellor John A. White said: "We are extremely grateful to Jim Blair for this generous gift and for his continued support and leadership of University of Arkansas programs. The establishment of the Diane D. Blair Endowed Chair will be a powerful force in recruiting and retaining faculty whose teaching, research and service help to improve the quality of life for all Arkansans. We are thankful for Jim Blair’s ongoing support of our vision of a nationally competitive, student-centered research university serving Arkansas and the world."

Diane Divers Blair is best known as a member of the UA faculty and for her work in politics. Prior to her death in 2000, she was professor emeritus of political science at the University of Arkansas, where she taught for 30 years. In 1982, Fulbright College named her one of the first recipients of its "Master Teacher Award." And in May 2000, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Arkansas.

Blair’s students remember her as a trusted mentor. She was named by University students as "Outstanding Faculty Member" three times.

Diane Blair’s interests and outreach extended beyond the UA campus as well. In 1992, she took leave from the University of Arkansas to serve as senior researcher with the Clinton presidential campaign. In 1993, she served as a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. In 1996, she again took leave from the university to serve as senior advisor to the Clinton-Gore re-election campaign.

During her academic career, she authored 14 chapters in books and published more than 90 articles in various publications dealing primarily with Arkansas, with state and local government and with women in politics. Word of her fatal illness prompted hundreds of former students to write letters detailing the impact she had on their lives.

The Blair gift will be matched by $750,000 from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation’s $300 million gift to the university in 2002. Investment returns on the total endowment of $1.5 million will be used to enhance teaching, research and service programs conducted by the holder of the Blair Chair.

Fulbright College Dean Don Bobbitt said: "I am excited by the opportunities this endowed chair represents and by the expression of faith Mr. Blair and the Blair family have shown in Fulbright College and the Department of Political Science. This endowed chair will enable the college to attract generations of gifted faculty and students to the department. We build a reputation for academic excellence through the accomplishments of such high-ability students and distinguished faculty."

Todd Shields, chair, Department of Political Science, said: "Diane was an exemplary role model for any professor. Professionally, she simply set the standard. She authored more than 100 journal articles and book chapters and she published two scholarly books, both to wide acclaim. She was not only a scholar of politics, but also an accomplished practitioner of politics as well, working on two successful presidential campaigns. As a teacher, Diane was unsurpassed. She touched thousands of lives in the department, serving as a mentor both to other faculty and to generations of students."

Jim Blair is a 1955 B.A. graduate of the University of Arkansas and a 1957 graduate of the School of Law. He is an attorney and the retired general counsel of Tyson Foods. A former member of the Arkansas State Board of Higher Education, Blair has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America.

He is an emeritus member of the UA Board of Trustees, which he served as chairman, as well as a member of the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century Steering Committee and the Fulbright College Campaign Committee. Blair is a life member of the Arkansas Alumni Association and was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal by the University of Arkansas. Additionally, he was named Outstanding Alumnus by the law school.

Blair recently made a $3 million gift to the Fayetteville Public Library in honor of his grandmother, aunt and late wife.

In 2001, the U.S. Department of Education approved $2.5 million to establish the Diane Blair Center for the Study of Southern Politics and Society at the University of Arkansas. The funding was included at the Arkansas Congressional delegation's request in the 2001 Labor/Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill. The Blair Center, established within the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, coordinates research, archival and publishing efforts devoted to knowledge about Arkansas and the South.