Modisette May Be Arkansas? Business Education Godfather

Many Northwest Arkansas business leaders trained under professor James Modisette at the University of Arkansas. During his 33 years at UA, the accounting teacher explained the basics to students who went on to become successful CEOs and administrators.

Modisette’s students included: Kirk Thompson, CEO, J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc.; Richard Chapman, chief financial officer, Walton Enterprises; Wayne Britt, former CEO, Tyson Foods Inc.; Rob Walton, chairman of the board, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.; and Kenny Hatfield, former UA and current Rice University football coach.

Based on his tutelage of so many business leaders, Modisette, who retired in 1996, may have had as much influence over Arkansas CEOs and executives as anyone in the state’s history. He said he remembers details about each student.

Bill, Alex and Mike Dillard of Dillard’s Inc. in Little Rock attended Modisette’s classes. The professor described Bill Dillard as an “all A” student who “worked hard.”

CEO Bill Dillard also recalled Modisette.

“I was in several of Dr. Modisette’s classes,” Dillard said. “He was the best professor that I had at the university.”

Modisette said of Rob Walton, “It’s unusual that the children of the ancestors are able to carry on the family business. He has done well.”

Of Britt, the former professor said, “He came from south Arkansas knowing what he wanted, and he was willing to pay the price to get it.”

Many of Modisette’s students wrote letters to him after leaving school. Letters written on “creative” stationary were sometimes read aloud to the current classes. Notes scrawled on folded paper towels and adding machine tape are tucked into a folder in Modisette’s study in Fayetteville.

In the majority of the letters, former students told Modisette about their scores on the exams to become certifed public accountants. During his term at UA, Modisette implemented a class, CPA Problems, that prepared students to take the exam. He taught the course for 14 years.

Lonnie Young took the exam-review class, and Modisette was his favorite professor. Now a partner at the accounting firm Wolfe, Young, O’Baker & Co. in Florida, he remembers the teacher as bigger than life.

He even made a reference to Modisette’s size 15 shoes on his Razorback page at his firm’s Web site, www.wyoc.com.

Modisette was hired at UA in 1963 as an assistant professor and headed the accounting department from 1971-1985.

He believed that if he worked hard as a teacher, the students would follow his lead.

“Work hard. Play hard,” Modisette remembers telling his classes. “Just do the very best your mom ever tried to teach you to do. Do it with enthusiasm.

“I’m proud of what I did. I think my mama would’ve been proud of what I did, too.”

Modisette and his wife Diana have traveled around the world since he retired, visiting Canada, Turkey and Athens. Most recently, the couple sojourned in Egypt, where they visited a former pupil.