Tysons give $500,000 to eVersity

‘Opportunity to make a difference,’ UA’s Bobbitt says

John Tyson (right) talks Wednesday in Little Rock with University of Arkansas System administrators (from left) Michael Moore, vice president of academic affairs, Donald Bobbitt, president of the UA System, and Jim von Gremp, chairman of the UA board of trustees, after the Tysons’ $500,000 donation to the UA eVersity was announced.
John Tyson (right) talks Wednesday in Little Rock with University of Arkansas System administrators (from left) Michael Moore, vice president of academic affairs, Donald Bobbitt, president of the UA System, and Jim von Gremp, chairman of the UA board of trustees, after the Tysons’ $500,000 donation to the UA eVersity was announced.

The Tyson Family and Tyson Foods Foundation Inc. donated $500,000 Wednesday to the University of Arkansas System's online-only university.

John Tyson, a former UA trustee, handed a check with that amount to Michael Moore, the UA System's vice president for academic affairs and the leader of eVersity, the online university. System officials are designing eVersity, which is on pace to begin in October, for those who are seeking to finish their college degrees.

"Through this gift, we've been given the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those in Arkansas," UA System President Donald Bobbitt said of the Tyson donation. "We can do better. We must do better, and I believe that eVersity is a major step in that direction."

The online university will cost about $7 million during its first two years and will be able to sustain itself with tuition after that, system officials have said. Tyson's gift is one of about $4.5 million in donations or grants to help with its start. It also came on the same day as Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones gave $10.65 million to Razorback athletics.

The UA System's board of trustees approved the creation of the online university in March. Its start has garnered some resistance from University of Arkansas at Little Rock and University of Arkansas at Fayetteville faculty members, who did not want the system to pool $5 million in loan money from the individual campuses.

The system has drawn $2.5 million this year -- and will take another $2.5 million next year -- from the individual campuses with the intention of paying them back with interest, Moore said. The online school has also received $2 million from former Gov. Mike Beebe during the last legislative session and another $1 million before Beebe's departure, he said.

"We are in excellent financial shape," Moore said.

The system has spent about $1.1 million on eVersity so far, he added. That amount includes personnel costs, furniture and other office costs, and the initial down payment on the student information system. The system will be the database or the "back office function" that will hold information from registration to financial advising. It's expected to be completed in June.

The Tyson gift is the first private donation the system has received for eVersity, Moore said.

"And it's also very important to me because part of our message is very much to speak to the relevance to the workforce," he said. "We hope that this is the first of a long relationship with the Tyson corporation. We've already had some preliminary conversations about the degree program we can offer to their employees."

System officials are still talking with the Tyson family on how it would like the money to be used. The system is hoping to use the donation for scholarships for students attending eVersity, Moore said.

Tyson said eVersity could give some of his 110,000 employees a chance to enhance their education, enhance taking care of their families and enhance taking care of Arkansas.

"Many of these people work for Tyson Foods, or some other company in our state, and a college degree will enable them to move from an hourly production job into a supervisory position and eventually management," Tyson said in a news release.

"This is a compliment to the great system of the University of Arkansas," he told the board Wednesday. "And we're glad to be a part of it."

A Section on 01/22/2015

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