Carruth Family Creates Endowed Scholarship for Poultry Science Majors

Photo by Sara Landis.

A new endowed scholarship will benefit poultry science majors in the Bumpers College.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A $200,000-plus gift to the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences by the Phillip O. and Phyllis K. Carruth Foundation has created an endowed scholarship for students majoring in poultry science at the University of Arkansas. The gift counts in Campaign Arkansas, the university’s $1.25 billion capital campaign to advance academic opportunity at the U of A.

The Phillip O. and Phyllis K. Carruth Foundation, which includes their children – Phillip Owen, Phylisa Diane, Phylana Kathleen and James David, has established the Phillip O. Carruth Sr. Family Endowed Scholarship with a gift of $205,346.16. One scholarship will be awarded annually to a junior or senior with a minimum grade point average of 3.0. Transfer students will also be eligible, and preference will be given to students from Arkansas who have financial need.

“The financial support we are able to provide our students through scholarships is absolutely critical to our effort to recruit, retain and graduate outstanding young people seeking careers in the commercial poultry industry,” said Dave Caldwell, director of the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science and professor and department head for the Department of Poultry Science. “Receiving additional support for our scholarship program through new endowments, like the Phillip O. Carruth Sr. Family Endowed Scholarship, vastly expands our ability to enhance and grow student enrollment and provide needed financial support for those students. Our ability to prepare graduates for careers in the commercial poultry industry is clearly strengthened by such support as well. We are all tremendously grateful for the Carruth family’s decision to create this endowment to support our poultry science students in honor of Mr. Carruth.”

Phillip Carruth worked for Ralston Purina in several states and at Valmac Industries in Dardanelle before moving to Lane Poultry Industries in De Queen. In 1978, he started Poultry Specialties Inc. with his partner, Ted Kengla, and was owner-operator. He opened a chicken plant in Van Buren and was an innovator in developing the fast food chicken sandwich patty.

Carruth was elected mayor of Russellville in 1995, serving through 1999, and also served as an alderman in Russellville.

He was a member of the Arkansas Poultry Federation, vice president of the Sara Lee Corporation Meat Division and member of the Russellville City Council, Rotary Club, Russellville Airport Commission, Russellville Center for the Arts Board of Directors and Russellville Country Club Board, among others.

Carruth passed away in 2016 at age 75.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 3 percent of colleges and universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.