What?s in a Name? If It?s Walton, a Lot

The Walton family is a modest bunch.r

They’re the richest family in America, but when they gave $300 million to the University of Arkansas last year — the largest donation ever to a public university in America — they asked that nothing be named for them.r

Maybe that’s because the UA had already renamed its business school for Sam Walton after receiving a $50 million gift from the Waltons in 1998, and Bud Walton Arena and the Walton Arts Center are prominent venues in Fayetteville.r

If that kind of thing kept going, Northwest Arkansas could have become Waltonville, Ark.r

The Waltons are the Rockefellers of Middle America, and their name carries a lot of clout.r

“In our opinion, the name was a very significant part of the gift,” said Doyle Z. Williams, dean of the UA’s Sam M. Walton College of Business Administration. “Both the funds and the name were an enormous benefit to the college.”r

Since the name change, the Sam M. Walton College of Business has gone from not being ranked in the top 50 to being tied for the 28th best undergraduate business school in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.r

Dave Gearhart, the UA’s vice chancellor for university advancement, said people everywhere ask him about the $300 million Walton donation.r

“People have taken note that this is an area that is exploding,” Gearhart said. “I hear it everywhere I go.”r

But it looks like the Walton family — Sam’s widow Helen, daughter Alice and sons Rob, Jim and John — are as modest as the former paterfamilias.r

When dime-store cowboy Sam Walton found his name on top of Forbes magazine’s rankings of America’s richest people in 1985 (with his wealth valued at $8.7 billion), he immediately split up his fortune among his wife and children to avoid the limelight of No. 1. Sam Walton died in 1992.r

This year, the five remaining members of the Walton family were tied for No. 7 on Forbes’ list of the richest people in the world, each with an estimated worth of $20.5 billion. That’s up from an estimated $4.7 billion each in 1996.r

“They’re modest people,” Gearhart said of the Waltons. “They gave the gift to have an impact on the university and the state, not for naming purposes. That’s not important to them … There are a number of things named after the family, and I think they thought they didn’t need anything else named after them. It’s an absolutely selfless act and a wonderful thing to do.”r

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The Walton Namer

The name Walton apparently originated in the north of England, according to “Homes of Family Names in Great Britain” by Henry Brougham Guppy, which was published in 1890. The Walton clan sprouted from Cumberland, Westmoreland, Durham and Northumberland — four counties clustered near the border of Scotland.r

Walton most likely denoted a dwelling place, possibly near a wall, according to some books on name origins.r

But the Waltons certainly don’t have their back up against a wall now.r

Sam Walton’s heirs run the largest company in the world in terms of revenue, with $244 billion in sales last year.r

The monthly earnings reports from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have a direct effect on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the U.S. economy as a whole. As Wal-Mart goes, so goes America.r

The Walton family has obviously made a tremendous impact on Northwest Arkansas.r

For many people, Bentonville is the center of the universe. As home to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which Sam Walton founded in 1962, Bentonville has been inundated with hundreds of vendors who feel more comfortable cozying up to the retail giant by setting up an office nearby.r

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Walton Colleger

The day after the Waltons gave $50 million to the UA’s business college and its name was changed to the Walton College, Williams said he received telephone calls from M.B.A. students who said, “I’m coming to the University of Arkansas because I want to graduate from a college with that name.”r

“We believe the funding that was provided was a great asset,” Williams said, “but also it was a great asset to name the college after Mr. Walton.”r

Williams said a Walton College grad told him that, during a job interview, the interviewer said he should put “Sam M. Walton College of Business on his résumé because that’s internationally recognized.”r

“The other impact,” Williams said, “is we believe it has also had a favorable impact on recruiting faculty … It gives rise to increased curiosity about the college. It has attracted attention of prospective faculty.”r

Williams said the Walton name has also brought more attention to the college’s outreach programs such as the Center for Retailing Excellence and the Center for Management and Executive Development.r

Williams said several members of the UA board of trustees joked that they wanted to trade their diplomas from the old business school for new ones that read “Sam M. Walton College of Business.”r

A year after the name change, the UA’s undergraduate business school was ranked in the top 50 for the first time by U.S. News & World Report. The Walton College was tied for 48th in 2000. It’s tied for 28th this year.r

Also, Williams said, the grade point average of entering freshmen in the Walton College has increased from 3.01 in 1993 to 3.48 in 2003. ACT scores have increased from 21.8 to 24.3 during the same decade. The Walton College has set a goal for 2010 of a 3.59 average GPA and ACT score of 25 for entering freshmen.r

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$300 Million Giftr

In April 2002, the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation gave $300 million to the UA.r

Rob Walton, son of Sam and chairman of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said he was so happy with the impact the $50 million had on the business school that the family decided to give $300 million to the university.r

Of that $300 million, $200 million is going toward an honors college and $100 million is for the Graduate School.r

Gearhart said he and Chancellor John White gave each other a “bear hug” after the Waltons told them of the gift in a telephone conversation.r

“It was a pretty emotional time,” Gearhart said. “We had worked so hard and tried to figure out what kind of impact the gift would have on the whole state …r

“I think they believe very strongly in what Chancellor White is trying to do. They believe in difference makers. They want to put their resources into changing things for the better.”r

Gearhart said people seem to have a different view of the UA since the Walton gift was made.r

“I think it brought a new stature to the university, that it is worthy of that support,” he said. “I think it put the university in a new class …”r

The gift already has funded some 125 scholarships on campus. Those students are referred to as Honors College Fellows.r

“We tried to get the family to make them Walton Fellowships,” Gearhart said, “but they didn’t want to do that.”r

The Waltons didn’t want any professorships or endowed chairs named for them either, although there are a couple of those in the business school as a result of the $50 million donation there.r

Gearhart said it will take several years to fully implement the $300 million gift. By the time it is completed, the gift will have endowed between 100 and 150 professorships, he said.r

“When it’s fully implemented, it’s going to have a tremendous impact,” he said.r

The UA has to match the $300 million Walton gift by June 30, 2005. Gearhart said about $123 million in matching funds have been raised so far.r

“The economy is getting better, and we’re starting to see people stepping forward who had been holding back,” he said. “We’re going to have to have some pretty major gifts to get there on the time frame. I’m confident we’ll make it.”r

The Walton gift is part of the UA’s Campaign for the 21st Century, which has raised $750 million toward its goal of $900 million. That campaign began July 1, 1998 and will end at the same time as the Walton matching gift campaign, June 30, 2005.