Fayetteville Public

Education Foundation

Hall of

Honor

2011 Hall of Honor inductees Jim Stice, Martha Agee, and Rob Merry-Ship.

 

Information on Fayetteville Schools Hall of Honor

 

The Fayetteville Schools Hall of Honor is a program sponsored by the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation in cooperation with the Fayetteville High School Student Council. The objectives of the Hall of Honor are threefold:

• Provide role models for students by honoring former students who have distinguished themselves
• Create excitement about education
• Honor those educators and friends of education who have made extraordinary contributions to public education in Fayetteville

Hall of Honor Inductees are chosen each year from three categories including former students, former educators, and friends of the schools. They are honored at annual ceremonies.

 

2011 Induction Ceremony:

Thursday, September 29

5:30 pm

Fayetteville Town Center

 

Tickets: $75 person. CALL NOW BEFORE IT IS SOLD OUT!

For tickets: call 479-527-3655

 

2011 Hall of Honor Inductees

 

Martha Agee

Former Educator

Martha Agee received her BSE from the University of Arkansas in 1954 and taught elementary students in Arkansas and Texas, including Bates Elementary in Fayetteville. She received her M. Ed. in education in 1966, earned an Ed.S. degree in 1971, and worked at the NWA Supplementary Education Cooperative.

 

In 1972 Martha joined Dr. Carmen Lierly to found Uptown School, an alternative school within the Fayetteville School District designed to help dropouts and students at-risk of dropping out. Uptown was the first alternative school in Northwest Arkansas and served as a model for many other districts. Martha served as counselor/teacher through 1988 and Uptown director until her retirement in 1996.

 

Throughout her 24 years at Uptown, Martha worked tirelessly with students, enabling many to attain their high school diploma or pass the GED exam. Martha was instrumental in changing state law and institutional attitudes toward pregnant students. Uptown staff were also advocates in changing the law that denied access to education to students without a permanent address.

 

Martha married Jake Agee in 1954, and they had four children and seven grandchildren. Martha has always been active in her community, including the Fayetteville Youth Dental Program, Altrusa, YouthBridge and the Friends of Lake Wedington. She has received numerous awards, including the 2006 Washington County Women in History award and the 2006 Altrusan of the Year award.

 

Rob Merry-Ship

Former Student, Class of 1972

 

Born in Toronto, Canada in 1954, Rob Merry-Ship moved with his family to Fayetteville in 1963. He attended Root Elementary, Woodland Jr. High, and graduated from FHS in 1972. As an FHS student, Rob performed with a number of bands, worked in theater production, and in ad sales for the journalism department.

 

While attending the University of Arkansas, Rob toured with his band, Monarch, and managed his father's rental properties. He received his BA in Speech Communications in 1977.

 

Rob founded RJ Merry-Ship Property Management, Inc., shortly after graduation in 1980. He obtained his real estate license and began working with Edminston-Prewitt Realtors, continuing to manage and sell properties.

 

Following his marriage to Kathy Estep in 1989, Rob reinvented his career, seeking ways to make his real estate work more meaningful. He joined forces with like-minded partners to revitalize downtown Fayetteville, saving and re-purposing such historic buildings as The Ozark Theater, Carnall Hall on the U. of A. campus, The Barrister Building, East Square Plaza, Cooper House, Pyeatt Building, St. Joseph's School Building, Campbell Bell Building, Rollston Building, Campbell Avenue Terrace, and The UARK Bowl.

 

Rob and his partners won numerous awards for their renovation work, including the designation of the St. Joseph's School Project as a National Trust of Historic Preservation site. Rob played an integral role in helping shape the zoning ordinances that today allow for mixed-use developments, readaptive use of existing buildings, and tax credit incentives in downtown Fayetteville.

 

Rob lives in Fayetteville with his wife, Kathy. Their daughter, Michelle, graduated from FHS in 2010.

 

 

Jim Stice
Former Student, Class of 1945

Jim Stice was born in Fayetteville in 1928 and attended the Fayetteville Public Schools. As a student at FHS, Jim was a member of Student Council, National Honor Society and won the Bausch & Lomb Science Medal. He was president of the junior class, and lettered in basketball and track, graduating with honors in 1945.

 

Jim received his B.A. from the University of Arkansas in 1949 and his master's (1952) and Ph.D. (1963) from the Illinois Institute of Technology, all in chemical engineering.

 

After working in the industry for several years and teaching at both IIT and U. of A., Jim was hired by the University of Texas to initiate what is believed to be the first U.S. office to attempt to improve the teaching effectiveness of engineering faculty, the Bureau of Engineering Teaching. This innovation was later copied by many institutions and ultimately resulted in the establishment of the UT Center for Teaching Effectiveness, a campus-wide office to accomplish the same improvement across all curricula, directed by Stice.

 

Perhaps Jim's most far-reaching impact is his work in establishing the National Effective Teaching Institutes (NETI) with Dr. Richard Felder in 1991. NETI is a three-day intensive workshop for engineering and engineering technology professors, and 992 professors from 216 colleges and universities have participated in the program.

 

Jim has authored 52 articles, three books, given 162 invited papers and addresses, and presented 244 workshops to various audiences. He has received ten teaching awards, two advising awards, six national awards, and two major awards from both the University of Arkansas and the Illinois Institute of Technology.

 

Jim married Patricia (Patsy) Stroner in Chicago in 1951, and they had a daughter, Susan, and a son, James. Patsy died in 1994, and Jim later married Betty Burkhardt Gowdy, one of Patsy's former classmates at IIT. Jim and Betty live in Austin, TX.

 

Return to top

 

"Honoring Our Heroes: 1997-2010"

 

Click the link below to view the Hall of Honor Album, containing photos and biographies of all of the inductees into the Fayetteville Schools Hall of Honor from its inception in 1997 to 2010.

Honoring Our Heroes: Hall of Honor Album

 

Return to top

 

Past Hall of Honor Inductees

 

1997 Louise Bell Jerry Brewer Jessie Bryant Billie Jo Starr, '50 Marty Steele, '64	1998 Kathleen Alexander, '65 Sarah Caldwell, '39 David Hallin, '63 John Lewis, '57 Harry Vandergriff
1999 Tom Butt, '62 Tim Ernst, '73 Dee Gibson, '88 Feriba McNair, '38	2000 Eileen Hendricks Clark McClinton Margaret Whillock, '53 Mark Wright, '75
2001 Miles James, '86 David Lashley, '50 Laura Lieber, '90 Dorothy Lindquist	2002 Joe Holt, '51 Jay McDonald, '62 Frances G. Ross Loyd Thomas
2003 Jack Butt, '68 Joe Fennel Peggy Murphy Parks, '45	2004 Jim Blair, '53 Dr. James Mashburn, '43 Mary Lou Miller
2005 Don Deweese, '58 Rosemary Faucette Dave Gearhart, '70 Jason Moore, '89	2006 Woody Bassett, '70 Henrietta Holcomb Julian Stewart, '52
2007 Jeff Koenig Mitzi Kuroda, '77 Gregg Ogden, '80	2008 Alan Adams, '53 Larry Bittle Oma Blackwell
2009 Mary Ann Greenwood Greg Lee, '65 Frank Sharp, '56	2010 Dennis Kelly, '75 Pete Jenkins, '57 Judy Schwab

 

 

Return to top