UA Little Rock recently honored William “Cory” Davis, senior vice president of operations and principal consultant at the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health (CTEH) in North Little Rock, with the Fribourgh Award, honoring his contributions to the state of Arkansas through mathematics and science.

An awards reception, held Sept. 20 at Little Rock’s Chenal Country Club, raised more than $75,000 for math and science scholarships.

“It’s a great honor to be recognized by my alma mater in this way,” Davis said. “More importantly, this award gives other UA Little Rock students the opportunity to pursue careers in math and science and give back to our state in the future.”

After graduating from UA Little Rock with a Bachelor of Science in environmental health science degree and industrial psychology minor in 2000, Davis met Drs. Jay Gandy, Phil Goad, Glenn Millner and Alan Nye of CTEH, a management, technology, and science-based consulting firm, and was hired as an industrial hygienist.

For nine years, he then served as manager of the company’s Toxicology Emergency Response Program (TERP), which provides high-level scientific consulting for situations involving the catastrophic release of hazardous materials. Today, he is senior vice president of operations and principal consultant—handling large-scale emergency response, industrial hygiene, environmental consulting and emergency preparedness projects. He is widely known as one of the best advisors in the North American emergency response industry.

Proceeds from this year’s awards reception will go to endow a scholarship in the Davis family name. These funds help UA Little Rock attract and retain high-achieving full-time students in science and mathematics.

The $75,000 raised at the reception puts the Science and Math Leadership Endowment total at $244,000. With this record year, the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences hopes to award six individual scholarships for science and math students next spring.

“Science at its heart is a creative endeavor, and one that drives future possibilities,” Chancellor Andrew Rogerson said during the reception. “As a university, we invigorate our students to aspire, to reach higher, to engage with the hard questions and to have the courage to explore solutions. These students are our future, the innovators and problem solvers of tomorrow.”

The Fribourgh Award Reception began in 2010 to honor the late Dr. James H. Fribourgh, UA Little Rock professor emeritus, who served for more than 45 years as chair of Life Sciences, interim chancellor, vice chancellor for academic affairs, and distinguished professor of biology.

Past recipients include Jerry B. Adams, president and CEO of Arkansas Research Alliance; H. Watt Gregory III, partner at Kutak Rock LLP; Dr. Charles E. Hathaway, UA Little Rock chancellor emeritus and Donaghey distinguished professor; Peter Banko, former president and CEO of St. Vincent Health System; Dr. James Hendren, former CEO and chairman of Arkansas Systems Inc.; Dr. Mary Good, founding dean of the UA Little Rock College of Engineering and Information Technology; and Jerry and Sherri Damerow.

(Photo, top right) UA Little Rock Chancellor Andrew Rogerson (right) presents Cory Davis, principal consultant at the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health (CTEH), with the Fribourgh Award on Sept. 20, 2018.

Photo by Benjamin Krain