Today, FALL/WINTER 2008 1 - University of the Ozarks

Promise of Excellence Campaign:
Stability for Ozarks in Uncertain Times
Can you believe it In less than a
year, October 28, 2009, to be precise,
Ozarks will celebrate her 175th birthday!
There are so many amazing and
wonderful stories about all the students
and faculty and staff members who have
graced this institution. Some of the most
inspirational are of the people who found
themselves and Ozarks facing challenges
that literally threatened our school’s very
existence.
The campus at Cane Hill (southwest
of Fayetteville) burned twice, once as
part of military action in the Civil War.
The College was forced to move from
Cane Hill to Clarksville in 1891 due to
competition from a relatively
young, upstart competitor just
up the road, the University of
Arkansas. Ozarks’ primary
administrative and academic
building, Cumberland Hall,
burned to the ground in 1935
(see picture at right). Its replacement,
the Science Hall
(later named Hurie Hall),
which also housed the College’s
library, suffered devastating
fires twice. Economic
and geopolitical challenges
including depressions, recessions,
and wars also took
Ozarks to the brink of oblivion numerous
times over the years.
Yet Ozarks overcame all these challenges
through the sheer determination
and perseverance of her leaders and the
members of the campus communities of
the times. On-campus leadership coming
from the likes of F.R. Earle (at Cane
Hill and later at Clarksville), Wylie Lin
Hurie, Don Davis, “Prof” Smith, J.T.
Patterson and many others saw the University
through. Help from off-campus
champions with very familiar names to
8 Today, FALL/WINTER 2008
Ozarks alumni came from near and far in
difficult times. MacLean, Munger, Seay,
Mabee, Boreham, and Walton are names
revered by all friends of Ozarks, as is the
generosity of all those who, according to
their ability, gave what they could to protect
the school and her students through
thick and thin.
Now the University again finds itself
buffeted by the economic turmoil
raging in America and around the globe.
Yet, for the first time in its long history,
Ozarks finds herself facing such a serious
threat from a more stable starting
point. Make no mistake, Ozarks will
have to react effectively to the difficult
times, but it means that the University is
in a much better position to cope with
such threats.
Between the risks to Ozarks in the
past and the threats of today there remains
a constant key to Ozarks’ avoidance
of the dangers posed by hard times.
That key is the continuing philanthropic
support of all those who have pooled
their efforts and their gifts, great and
small, to build Ozarks into the shining
beacon of educational opportunity she
represents today. To date, for instance,
in the University’s current $40 million
Promise of Excellence Campaign, your
combined gifts have totaled $33.4 million.
Thank you so much!
We know, above all, that the same
economic problems that threaten Ozarks
threaten you. Indeed, it would be disrespectful
in the extreme to ask you to
do more (not that we would
decline if you wanted to). We
simply ask that you first do
whatever you need to protect
you and yours in these difficult
times. Then, if you have any
flexibility and are so inclined,
do what you can in continued
support of the young men and
women seeking to achieve
their educational dreams
against the uncertain economic
backdrop that they and their
families face as well.
If you are able and want
to lend your support through
gifts to the Annual Scholarship Fund, a
new or existing endowment, or for anything
else, simply mail a gift to the University
of the Ozarks Office of Advancement,
415 N. College Ave., Clarksville,
AR 72830. You may also reach us by
phone at 479-979-1230, or by email at
uopromise@ozarks.edu.
If now is not a good time, please continue
to send your thoughts and prayers
for our students’ success. They don’t
cost a thing and they make a tremendous
difference here!