Hank and Stephanie Kelley gift endowed scholarship for minority international studies

Flake and Kelley Commercial CEO Hank Kelley, Jr. and his wife, Stephanie, have endowed a scholarship at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock that will provide scholarships to minority students studying international business or finance in the College of Business.

The couple donated $37,000 to the A.P. Vibhakar Endowed Scholarship, named in honor of Dr. Ashvin Vibhakar, UA Little Rock’s long-time Joe. T. Ford Chair of Finance in the College of Business where Hank Kelley earned his MBA.

“I am touched and honored to have this scholarship endowed in my name,” Vibhakar said. “I am thankful to Hank and Stephanie, who I consider to be my close friends and family, for their gift. Hank was one of my MBA students in the 1980s, and having a past student honor me this way gives me the sense that I have a made a difference in the community.”

Former UA Little Rock Chancellor Joel Anderson created the scholarship in 2009 with a $5,000 gift, and the Kelleys’ donation brought the scholarship’s endowment to $50,000. The scholarship will be awarded annually beginning this year to a UA Little Rock minority student majoring in international business or finance.

“The scholarship that Stephanie and I funded is a recognition of Ashvin Vibhakar’s service to his students and UA Little Rock,” Hank Kelley said. “We share membership in Rotary 99 of Little Rock with many other members of the UA Little Rock community, and Stephanie and I know Little Rock’s trajectory is directly tied to having a student-focused research university in our city. We know no better way to express our appreciation to Ashvin and Diane as friends than to help fund this important scholarship in his name.”