On Monday, the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith announced that assistant professor of chemistry Dr. Mohammad Halim will be awarded the fourth grant from the Lucille Speakman Legacy Endowment.

The Speakman award is the brainchild of Randy Wewers, a 1958 graduate of Fort Smith Junior College. While looking for a way to honor the instructor who had a profound effect on him, Wewers hit on the idea of an endowment to promote classroom excellence among today’s faculty. 

Students always remember Speakman’s wide travels, which became an integral part of all her classes. In that spirit, the Speakman Legacy Endowment funds self-guided travel, international study, curriculum development, and research.

Halim’s request was for travel funding for himself and four students to present the results of their research to the summer conference of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry in June in Houston. Halim will also present another lecture. The students will have the chance to network with national researchers to enhance collaboration, and they will have the chance to learn about opportunities in graduate school, federal research, and career fields. 

“We appreciate Randy Wewers and the many other alumni and friends who have contributed to the Lucille Speakman Legacy Endowment,” said Alumni Association Director Rick Goins. “Their support for our faculty today demonstrates the ideal of teaching that Lucille Speakman and so, so many others through the years have made a part of the tradition at UAFS.”

Previous winners of the Speakman Awards are Dr. Mary Shepard, associate professor of history, 2017; Dr. Kiyun Han, assistant professor of electronics technology, 2018; and Dr. Lindsy Lawrence, professor of English, 2019.