Tyson Continues Support Of UA Business Program

An increasingly popular group of classes at the University of Arkansas got another assist from Tyson Foods in November.

That’s when Gary Cooper, senior vice president and chief information officer at Tyson, presented a $75,000 check to the information systems department at the UA’s Sam M. Walton College of Business. The gift is the latest representation of an ongoing partnership between the two entities, one that allows students to gain hands-on experience with business enterprise software.

UA professor David Douglas, director of the enterprise systems program, said enrollment in undergraduate enterprise resource planning classes has about tripled since 2007.

“Clearly, this would not have been possible without Tyson’s support,” Douglas said in a news release, “and the students are the beneficiaries.”

Also according to the release, the UA is the only university in the world running particular SAP software. SAP is a market leader in enterprise resource planning systems.

This enterprise system allows faculty and students at other universities who are members of the IBM Academic Alliance and SAP University Alliance to access the system for academic purposes. More than 1,000 students worldwide have used the system this past year.

Tyson, the world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork, has provided financial funding as the corporate sponsor of the enterprise systems program and curriculum since 2000.