Ouachita Stories

The Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, one of the leading charitable foundations in the state of Arkansas, was honored Sept. 9 by the Ouachita Baptist University Board of Trustees.

The Walker Foundation recently provided a generous grant to establish the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation Pre-Medical Studies Scholarship at Ouachita. Funds from the scholarship will be awarded to an upperclassman in the university’s J.D. Patterson School of Natural Sciences who has proven himself or herself academically in pre-medical studies.

A resolution unanimously adopted by Ouachita trustees in honor of the Walker Foundation emphasized that the foundation “has demonstrated its desire to make a difference in the lives of thousands of people across the state of Arkansas and throughout the region through its philanthropic ventures.”

The resolution noted that the Walker Foundation “has supported the mission of Ouachita Baptist University and its students through its generous financial gifts including the Pat and Willard Walker Conference Center,” which was dedicated on Ouachita’s Arkadelphia campus in 2006. It added that the foundation “has made a difference in the lives of future doctors” by establishing the pre-medical studies scholarship.

Trustees expressed their “profound gratitude to the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation for providing this endowed scholarship for current and future generations of Ouachita students and future doctors.”

Ouachita has a rich history of success in producing graduates of the Patterson School of Natural Sciences who continue their education in medical school. The Patterson School has produced five graduates who have received Fulbright awards for study in Germany and another graduate who received a Rotary fellowship for study in Russia.

Ouachita’s Patterson School of Natural Sciences boasts an 80 percent acceptance rate among its graduates who apply to medical school. Most of those who are Arkansas residents have attended the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, but Patterson School graduates also have been accepted into medical schools in several other states.

In other business, Ouachita trustees approved three new admissions counselors in the university’s office of admissions counseling:

Megan Harper is working with students from South Arkansas and Tennessee, including the greater Memphis area. Harper, a 2010 OBU graduate, is married to Keaton Harper, a current Ouachita student. As a student, she was on the Dean’s List, a Student Senate officer and a member of Tri Chi women’s social club.

Kayla Statton is recruiting students from East Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. She graduated cum laude from Ouachita in May 2010. As a student, she was on the Dean’s List and President’s List and was a member of Tri Chi women’s social club. Her husband, Timothy Statton, is a current student and resident director for Westside One men’s residence hall.

J.L. West is working with transfer students and prospective students from Missouri. He graduated cum laude from Ouachita in May 2010. As a student, he was in the Carl Goodson Honors Program and Concert Choir and was named to Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities.

Trustees also approved tuition, fees, room and board rates for the 2011-12 academic year. The overall rate of $13,335 per semester is a 3.94 percent increase from the current year.

Ouachita Baptist University, a private Christian liberal arts university in Arkadelphia, has been ranked the No. 1 Regional College in the South for four years in a row by U.S. News & World Report. With more than 1,500 students from approximately 30 states and 50 nations, Ouachita seeks to foster a love of God and a love of learning in a vibrant, Christ-centered learning community.

For more information, call 1-800-DIAL-OBU or visit the university website at www.obu.edu.

By Trennis Henderson, OBU Vice President for Communications