The Windgate Foundation has made a $2.2 million gift to the University of the Ozarks’ art department that will endow a current professorship position and allow the University to create a new graphic design curriculum.
The gift includes a $2 million endowment to establish the Windgate Professor of Art position. This allows the University to reallocate operating funds for that position and create an additional tenure-track faculty position in graphic design.
The Windgate gift also includes $80,000 for classroom resources to support graphic design classes and $100,000 to be split between scholarships and funds that would be placed in the Windgate Student Fine Art Exhibit Endowment for support of consumable supplies for art students.
“The University is excited to expand its graphic design offerings given the high demand for these skills in our graduates,” said Dr. Janie Diels, vice president for academic affairs. “The Windgate gift allows us to create a specialized classroom for graphic design courses and ensure our students have access to state of the art technology and software.”
The $2.2 million gift is the fourth major grant the Windgate Foundation has given to the University since 2018. In May of 2022, Windgate provided a $310,700 grant to enhance its digital photography classes within the art program. In 2019, Windgate gave $150,000 to help update the University’s Stephens Gallery space, and in 2018 it provided a $109,000 gift to improve art facilities and assist students in exhibiting their artwork.
“The art program is so appreciative of the support that the Windgate Foundation has given us since 2018,” said Tammy Harrington, professor of art. “It has allowed for improvements in facilities and equipment in addition to student financial support for the graduating seniors and for professional development opportunities. So far, 17 senior students have been able to explore and complete a body of artwork and to professionally present this work without financial strain or limitations. This year for the first time, six students attended art workshops at the Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock and Crystal Bridges in Bentonville. The students were invigorated with the exposure to new art techniques and enjoyed the interaction with these art communities.”
Harrington said like the recently-added digital photography classes, the new graphic design curriculum will provide Ozarks students with more options and opportunities.
“We are pleased with the impact of photography as an area of emphasis for the art major and minor, especially in how it works well as an interdisciplinary area and how it compliments skills that communication and business majors will find beneficial,” Harrington said. “We are excited to add graphic design as another area of emphasis. This grant will greatly assist the art program in this process and we look forward to broadening skills and opportunities for our students.”
Diels said the University hopes to begin offering graphic design classes during the 2024-25 academic year. She said there are no immediate plans to add the discipline as a major or minor, but that it could happen in the future.
Harrington said the additional scholarship support for upper-level art students was also a significant part of the latest gift from Windgate.
“This gift will continue to support our program and students with funding for art scholarships, specifically geared toward junior and senior art majors,” Harrington said. “This is the time when these students are developing their art thesis that will be presented in their graduating exhibition. The gift of time, specifically decreasing the amount of time working so that they might spend more time creating art is invaluable.”
Based in Little Rock, Ark., the Windgate Foundation provides funding for the support and development of the arts in K-12 and higher education institutions.