Arkansas Tech University student Melissa Ford has been selected to receive the Dr. Lyman Harris Scholarship through the ATU Foundation.
Ford is a senior rehabilitation science major from Russellville. She serves as president of the ATU chapter of Delta Sigma Omicron, a professional and service organization for rehabilitation science students.
The namesake of the scholarship joined the Arkansas Tech faculty in December 1974 and retired in August 2014. Harris was professor of rehabilitation science and program director at the time of his retirement.
Under his leadership, the rehabilitation science program became an official major at Tech.
Arkansas Tech was the first university in the state to offer an undergraduate rehabilitation science program. The Arkansas Tech program was the first accredited rehabilitation science program in Arkansas, and it was one of the first eight in the nation to gain accreditation.
Harris passed away in February 2016. He was posthumously granted the title of professor emeritus of rehabilitation science by the ATU Board of Trustees on March 16, 2017.
Learn more about the rehabilitation science program at ATU.
Photographed (from left): Dr. Penny Willmering, director and professor of rehabilitation science at Arkansas Tech; Melissa Ford, scholarship recipient; and Carrie Harris Phillips, member of the University Marketing and Communication staff at Arkansas Tech and daughter of Dr. Lyman Harris.
