UALR Vice Chancellor Charles Donaldson has been inducted into the high school Hall of Fame in his hometown of Newport, Ark.

A 1965 graduate of W. F. Branch High School, the segregated secondary school for Jackson County’s black students until it was closed in 1970, Donaldson was honored Thursday, Aug. 16, at the Newport Special School District Foundation’s fourth annual Newport Alumni Hall of Fame banquet at the Newport Country Club.

Donaldson was inducted along with Coast Guard Rear Admiral Charles Ray, the late Newport football star Justin Wesley Brown, and rockabilly musician Sonny Burgess.

A dedicated educator, Donaldson received a bachelor of science degree in psychology from Philander Smith College, a master of education degree in counseling from State College of Arkansas at Conway – now University of Central Arkansas – and a Ed.D. in counseling from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He also went on to complete the Institute for Management Education at Harvard University.

Donaldson is currently vice chancellor for educational and student services and student life, as well as an associate professor of higher education at UALR, where he was instrumental in developing the TRiO Program and the African American Male Initiative. His leadership also was critical in building the Donaghey Student Center, the newly opened Student Services Center, and developing UALR’s residential student community, a five-hall housing complex.

Past Newport alumni hall of fame inductees include Gov. Mike Beebe, Charles Balentine, Kaneaster Hodges Jr., Joe Miles, Doyle and Raye Rogers, John Mullins, James. E. Simmons, Martha Johnson, John Minor Sr., Bill Keedy Jr., Lt. Lynn Michael Travis, David G. Belva, Billy Warren Jr., Dr. Jabez Jackson, and Steve Stephens.