A $2 million donation from the Bailey Foundation will give more students access to a University of Arkansas at Little Rock education, UALR announced Wednesday.
The local family foundation, a long-time supporter of UALR and higher education, established the Bailey Scholars fund, which kicked off UALR’s new fundraising initiative for student scholarships and support.
“The university is one of the most important institutions in our community,” Ted Bailey said in a news release.
Ted Bailey is president of the foundation; other family board members are: Mary Bailey Shafer, Ted Bailey III, Jo Bailey McCray, John Bailey, Amy Bailey and Sharon Bailey.
Sharon Bailey, Ted Bailey’s wife, learned of the new scholarship initiative while attending a board meeting in which Bob Denman, UALR vice chancellor for advancement, discussed the new campaign to give more students access to higher education. She believed the university’s campaign was a good fit with the family foundation’s goals.
“We had been thinking about it for quite a while — a way to help as many students as we could,” Sharon Bailey said. “We thought it was just the right time to make the first gift, the lead gift.”
UALR Chancellor Dr. Joel E. Anderson said scholarships make it possible for people to go to school, which provides increased employment opportunities, improves the ability to support families, and augments the capacity to serve others.
“That means a scholarship can make all the difference in a person’s life,” Anderson said.
The flexibility the Baileys provided to use the funding on an as-needed basis will be advantageous to “countless students,” according to Anderson.
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