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UA Uses $3.5M in Gifts to Create New Endowed Dean’s Chair

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The College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas is creating an endowed dean’s chair thanks to a gift of $1.5 million from Palmer and Marie Hotz of Foster City, California, and a $2 million grant from the Walton Family Foundation.

The chair is being named in honor of Palmer and Hartman Hotz’s father, Henry G. Hotz, who was the college’s fourth dean for nine years.

“This remarkable gift from the Hotz family and the Walton Family Foundation will rightfully honor a very influential person in the history of the college,” Chancellor G. David Gearhart said in a news release. “The College of Education and Health Professions is already the home to many nationally respected departments and programs, and this dean’s chair will allow them to continue that upward trajectory. We are very grateful to the Hotz family for this generous gift in recognition of their father’s legacy.”

The UA said the chair will allow the college to attract, recruit and retain a qualified person to lead the college and provide the resources to further the dean’s contribution to teaching, research and public service.

The college’s current dean, Tom Smith, will be the first holder of the chair. Smith accepted a five-year appointment as dean in 2010 and recently agreed to remain in the post for another year. Smith holds the rank of professor of special education.

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