Donation to support UA doctoral students

FAYETTEVILLE — An $825,000 gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation will support graduate student entrepreneurs at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and honor a longtime foundation board member.

The Kaneaster and Lindley Hodges Entrepreneurial Fellowship will provide $10,000 stipends to three doctoral students yearly. Recipients will be selected from UA’s Graduate Entrepreneurial Fellows Program, established last year with support from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.

Rob Walton, son of Walmart founder Sam Walton, in a statement praised the married couple Kaneaster and Lindley Hodges as “Arkansans who have made a difference.”

Kaneaster Hodges Jr. is a former U.S. senator who has served as president of the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation since 2002, available IRS records show. Another of Sam Walton’s sons, Jim C. Walton, is listed as chairman of the board for the foundation, according to its IRS return filed last year.

Honors for Hodges include being named by the university as volunteer of the year in 1991 and he has also served as a university trustee. Ruth Lindley Hodges earned a bachelor’s degree in education from UA and Kaneaster Hodges earned a law degree from the UA School of Law.

“Our connections go back decades to our time in Newport, Arkansas. We recognize and appreciate their service both in the state and in the U.S. Senate. Beyond their commitment to service, we are grateful for their role as friends and advisers to our family,” Walton said.