Empowering the Next Generation: Wang Donates $33K to Bolster Graduate Student Assistantships
In a heartwarming display of commitment to the future of information quality education, Dr. Richard Wang, an esteemed professor in the field at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, has generously donated $33,240 to create new opportunities for graduate students.
The donation will create the Wang Graduate Assistantship Fund, which provides funding for graduate assistantships for students in one of UA Little Rock’s information quality graduate programs in the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. This includes the Master of Science in Information Quality program and the Information Quality Track of the Computer and Information Sciences Doctoral program.
“It has always been a tradition in my family to provide donations to help people,” said Wang, founder and executive director of the Institute for Chief Data Officers at UA Little Rock. “I happen to be a workaholic, and I feel that this donation to help graduate students is a good way to spend my money. Our graduate students work so hard, and they are very deserving of every opportunity that comes their way.”
This significant contribution will pave the way for budding scholars to thrive as they pursue their studies, ensuring that the legacy of excellence in information quality continues to shine brightly. Wang’s dedication to empowering the next generation of information quality experts exemplifies the true spirit of mentorship and the enduring impact of a caring educator.
“Our graduate students learn valuable skills while becoming an excellent resource for the department,” Wang said. “They assist professors with teaching and research projects. As teaching assistants, they learn how to help students complete their courses satisfactorily. As research assistants, they learn how to complete research projects for academia and industry partners.”
Wang is a pioneer and leader in the research and practice of chief data officers and has put the term information quality on the intellectual map with myriad publications. He has been instrumental in the establishment of the Ph.D. and Master of Science in Information Quality degree programs at UA Little Rock, serving as a visiting university professor of information quality from 2005 to 2009 at UA Little Rock.
In 2016, he founded the Institute for Chief Data Officers at UA Little Rock, and he served as the state of Arkansas’s first chief data officer under former Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Just this year, he launched a comprehensive certification program for chief data officers. The 120-hour certification course covers data strategy, governance, curation, quality, monetization, valuation, and analytics.
