FAYETTEVILLE — A $50,000 gift from a Dallas couple will create a scholarship for University of Arkansas students who attended Pine Bluff High School.
The Gwen and Doug Parker Advance Arkansas Endowed Scholarship will give preference to first-year students.
Gwen Adkinson Parker earned a bachelor’s degree in education from UA. She attended high school in Pine Bluff.
The new scholarship will support students with financial need.
“Sometimes kids with average grades get lost, so need-based scholarships are very important,” she said. Parker taught for a year in Siloam Springs before becoming a flight attendant with American Airlines, where she met her husband, Doug.
UA Associate Vice Chancellor of Development Katy Nelson-Ginder praised Parker’s enthusiasm for helping students.
“Gwen’s passion for helping others, especially students from Pine Bluff, was evident from the moment I met her,” Nelson-Ginder said.
In fall 2019, UA enrolled 113 students from Jefferson County, where Pine Bluff is located. It was the lowest number of students from Jefferson County going back to at least 2009, according to enrollment data published by UA for 2009 through 2019.