The family and friends of Jim Garison, a recent graduate of UALR killed in a bank robbery just before Christmas 2006, have presented to his alma mater two memorial scholarship funds in his memory.

Bob Denman, executive director of UALR’s Department of Development, said the James R. Garison Endowed Book Fund was created from $17,000 contributed by coworkers and customers of Metropolitan Bank branches at Colony West and Otter Creek where Garison worked. A second $3,000 fund was established by Pi Sigma Alpha, UALR’s political science honor society, where Garison served as special events coordinator.

His parents, Bob and Holley Garison, and his sister, Elizabeth Garison said the memorials will establish the James R. Garison Endowed Book Fund and the James R. Garison Pi Sigma Alpha Award to be awarded annually by UALR’s Department of Political Science.

“Jim was special and he was very successful,” said Dr. Art English, one of Garison’s professors. “He was a fine student coming back to school after sitting out after high school.”

At UALR, English said Garison found a second home in the Political Science Department, where he was planning on seeking a master’s degree.

“It might not just be coincidental that the UALR chapter won a national best chapter award for academic excellence and public service activities while he served,” English said. “He may have been on a fast track to run a Fortune 500 company or become governor of Arkansas, although we will never know because of Jim’s untimely passing.”