Retired University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor Dr. Vincent Vinikas has donated approximately $100,000 as part of a trust to create two endowed funds at the university.
The revocable trust will support both the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture and the Department of History. In addition, Vinikas, a 34-year veteran at UA Little Rock who is now professor emeritus of history, is donating a collection of materials pertaining to American history.
One of the endowments, the Vinikas Endowment for the Study of American Culture, will help maintain the Vinikas Archival Collection, a trove of materials focused on the Great Depression, Native Americans, and American social history and culture.
The second endowment, the Vinikas Faculty/Student Success Endowment for the Department of History, is designed to increase interaction and community with history students and faculty members. It will fund departmental events, guest speakers, field trips and more.
“There are two goals for my donation,” Vinikas said in a statement. “One is to promote the study of history, and the other is to promote a sense of community in the Department of History. The first gift promotes the study of history, the most important subject. There is no way to understand the present without understanding the past. I would like people to have a sense of community. The other gift is to promote a sense of collegiality and a community of ideas among faculty and students at the university who are studying, teaching, and researching history.”
Vinikas obtained a doctorate from Columbia University and joined UA Little Rock in 1983.
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