Arkansas State University receives $1 million towards agriculture research
by February 18, 2019 4:19 pm 392 views
A former member of the Arkansas State University Board of Trustees has completed a $1 million gift to Arkansas State and announced the commitment toward a new $1 million gift to support agricultural research.
Through the Judd Hill Foundation Trust, Board Trustee Emeritus Mike Gibson is establishing the Judd Hill Student Research and Innovation Endowment, which compliments his previous Judd Hill Agricultural Faculty Excellence Fund.
Founded by the late Esther Chapin, the Judd Hill Foundation has partnered with Arkansas State for over 25 years in numerous research projects.
“As Trustee of the Judd Hill Foundation, I am proud to have partnered with Arkansas State University, my alma mater, for more than a quarter century in numerous research and educational programs,” Gibson said. “I am very privileged to have the opportunity, on behalf of the Judd Hill Foundation, to make this $1 million gift to the ASU System Foundation to support their vision.”
Gibson’s endowment of the Judd Hill Agricultural Faculty Excellence Fund is also a $1 million commitment and was recently fully funded. The Faculty Excellence Fund provides material support to individual faculty members engaged in research to improve agriculture in the region.
One of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, the Mississippi River Delta, is essential to global food and fiber production, notably the cultivation of cotton, corn, soybean, rice and other field crops.
“A university’s commitment to research is important, but funding to support faculty and student research both in our laboratories and in the field is the fuel that makes it happen,” Chancellor Kelly Damphousse said. “The vision and support of individuals like Mike Gibson and organizations like the Judd Hill Foundation are essential to Arkansas State’s ability to serve our community and region as a Carnegie R-2 research institution. Today we can only imagine what improvements to our ability to feed and clothe the world will be borne from his support of basic and applied research in our College of Agriculture.”
The new $1 million commitment will strengthen undergraduate and graduate research work in the College of Agriculture, specifically providing monetary support for research into the essential crops grown in the upper Delta region, according to the school. The gift both provides immediate funds that can be used for research work as well as funding the endowment.
“In an ever-changing world of agriculture, innovation is essential,” ASU System President Charles L. Welch said. “I am grateful to Mike as our chairman emeritus of the board, and his leadership, generosity and service to the ASU System are apparent in these two gifts. From his time as a student body president at A-State through his leadership of the system board, he has had his alma mater and his home region in his heart.”
The two gifts extend the long-established research relationship between the Judd Hill farm sites, which are currently utilized by ASU faculty for field work as well as meteorological data collection for the regional agriculture industry.