Perry Wilson.
Perry Wilson announced Tuesday that his family is giving $1 million to endow a faculty chair in agricultural business at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
“It is very, very important to my family that Arkansas State carries on the tradition it has had in educating folks to go into agriculture and into business,” Wilson said in a news release. “That’s the real purpose of the endowment; to be a crossover between the agriculture school and the business school.”
Wilson, great-great grandson of R.E. Lee Wilson of Mississippi County, said many people in farming are well educated in agriculture, but lack business training. Because Arkansas State is, “smack in the middle of the Delta,” the university is situated to address that concern, he said.
“This generous gift to create an endowed chair further extends the Wilson family’s legacy,” said Tim Hudson, A-State’s chancellor. “The position it supports will allow our agricultural business program to lead the way for generations to come.”
According to Timothy Burcham, A-State’s agriculture dean, the endowed faculty chair in agricultural business will attract a faculty member who exhibits the highest degree of excellence in agri-business.
“When you look at having an endowed faculty chair, that sets you at a whole other level with regard to the type of individual you’re recruiting,” Bucham said.
Planning coursework and selecting the chair holder will take time, Burcham said. The university hopes to have a curriculum in place for the fall 2017 semester.
The professor who fills the position will use the endowment’s interest proceeds for teaching, research and/or service-related activities to help agri-business students gain an in-depth understanding of agri-business, food systems, production management, farm and ranch management, commodity trading and environmental issues.
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