UAFS vice chancellor receives alumni award

Dr. Ray Wallace of Fort Smith, provost and senior vice chancellor at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, will receive the 2009 Global Ambassador Award from his alma mater, Eastern Illinois University.
 
The award recognizes the unique contributions that international alumni have made to education, business, industry and the arts fields, contributions that best reflect the mission and values of global citizenship prized by the university, according to a UAFS statement.

Founded in 1895, Eastern Illinois University has an enrollment of 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students and is located in Charleston, Ill., about three hours south of Chicago.
 
“I am truly honored to get this award from Eastern Illinois University,” Wallace said in the statement, “because coming to America was, and continues to be, an immeasurable life-changing experience for me. Eastern Illinois University, and the United States of America, for that matter, took a chance on a scared, wet-behind-the-ears kid from Ireland, and I just hope that my various outreach experiences to others around the globe over the past three decades have in some small ways repaid the generosity of my alma mater and my adopted country.”
 
Wallace was born in Antrim, Northern Ireland, and arrived at Eastern Illinois University in 1978 on a track scholarship and an international student academic scholarship. He represented his country from 1977-81 in international track events all over Europe, represented EIU in track from 1978-1981, and became a U.S. citizen in 1989.