A new scholarship has been endowed through the University of Central Arkansas Foundation for students studying journalism.
The Dr. Will Counts Journalism Scholarship Fund has been endowed at the $25,000 level and will provide scholarships for students studying in the journalism department at UCA.
During a reception at Buffalo Alumni Hall for family and friends, a plaque unveiled in honor of the endowment. The plaque will take permanent residence on the Donor Wall of Honor in McCastlain Hall.
Counts’ wife, Vivian, said she was thrilled that a scholarship named in honor of her late husband had been endowed at his alma mater.
“Many don’t know this, but Will came to college because of a scholarship he received,” she said. “If he hadn’t received that scholarship, there’s no way he would have ever been able to attend college.”
Counts earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Arkansas State Teacher’s College (now UCA) in 1952. While attending ASTC, he worked as the school’s photographer and as a freelancer for the Arkansas Gazette and Arkansas Democrat.
In 1954, he earned a master’s degree from Indiana University in Bloomington. He was rehired, in 1957, by the Arkansas Democrat as a staff photographer. Counts’ first powerful images of the Central High School desegregation crisis appeared on Sept. 4, 1957. The most recognizable photo is that of Elizabeth Eckford being harassed by white students in the front of the school.
In 1997, Counts and his wife, Vivian, successfully organized a reconciliation between Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery, the young white student pictured screaming at Eckford in the now infamous photo.
“I was a journalism minor when I was in school here in the 1960s and Will Counts name was well known then as it is today,” said UCA President Allen C. Meadors. “His images truly captured the essence of the old saying ‘A picture is worth 1,000 words’. We truly appreciate Will Counts’ family and friends for endowing this scholarship in his honor to help future journalists and photojournalists.”
For more information or to make a contribution to the Dr. Will Counts Journalism Scholarship Fund, contact the UCA Foundation at 501-450-5288. – Jennifer Boyett
