Professor Larry C. Purcell (photo) has been appointed to the Ben J. Altheimer Chair for Soybean Research in the University of Arkansas’ statewide Division of Agriculture and Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences on the Fayetteville campus.
 
University of Arkansas (UA) System Vice President for Agriculture Milo Shult and UA Fayetteville Chancellor John White jointly announced the appointment.
 
The chair was first endowed in 1968 as one of the first two in the Division of Agriculture and Bumpers College. Established by the Ben. J. Altheimer Foundation, the chair was held by Dr. Charles A. Stutte from 1968 until his death in 1991.
 
The chair was left vacant to allow investment returns to grow the original endowment of $100,000 to a current endowment of $1.5 million. Future earnings will be used to enhance research, teaching and extension programs related to soybean production and to further increase the endowment principal.
 
John Selig, president of the Ben J. Altheimer Charitable Foundation, Inc., said, "We are pleased to learn of Professor Purcell’s appointment to the Chair for Soybean Research. We feel he is eminently qualified and will in the future make significant contributions to the improvement of agriculture in the state of Arkansas through his teaching, research and other service as the holder of this chair.”

Shult said, “It is fitting that Dr. Purcell’s office and lab are in the Altheimer Laboratory, which was built in the 1960s and expanded several times with continuing support from the Ben J. Altheimer Charitable Foundation, Inc., and its creator, the Ben J. Altheimer Foundation. Those Altheimer Foundations have been a constant friend and partner in our endeavors for more than half a century.”

The Altheimer Laboratory is a Division of Agriculture complex of offices, labs and greenhouses located on the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center north of the UA campus.
 
White said, “I am thrilled that this support is being provided for Dr. Purcell’s research, teaching and service. He has brought national recognition to the university, and his work is a shining example of this land grant university’s ability to put science to work in our economy.”

Bumpers College Dean Greg Weidemann said, “Larry is a key member of our team working to strengthen the soybean industry as an important contributor to the state’s economy. He is also an outstanding teacher bringing along the next generation of leaders in agriculture.”

A crop physiologist in the Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, Purcell is widely known for his discovery that drought tolerance can be enhanced by cross-breeding with soybean cultivars that continue nitrogen fixation while under drought stress. Nitrogen fixation is the process by which soil organisms interact with the roots of soybeans and other legumes to provide nitrogen to the plants. He developed a screening method that has led to discovery of eight soybean lines with the genetic trait for drought-tolerant nitrogen fixation.
 
Purcell also documented that very short-season corn and soybean crops can be produced in the Midsouth with yields similar to full-season crops but requiring 30 to 50 percent less irrigation.
 
Purcell teaches courses in organic crop production and plant nutrition. His extension service activities include agent training and contributing to the Arkansas Soybean Production Handbook. He is an advisor to the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board and the Soybean Research Verification program.
 
Purcell joined the UA faculty in 1993. He has B.S. and M.S. degrees in agronomy from the University of Georgia and a doctorate in agronomy from the University of Florida.
 
Ben J. Altheimer was born in Pine Bluff, where he practiced law before moving to Chicago and establishing one of that city’s most prestigious law firms in 1910. The town of Altheimer in Jefferson County was named for his father and uncle. He established the Ben J. Altheimer Foundation before his death in 1946 to benefit 35 programs in Arkansas, including several within the U of A System.
 
The Ben J. Altheimer Charitable Foundation, Inc., was created by the trustees of the Ben J. Altheimer Foundation, upon its termination in 1996, to continue its charitable activities in Arkansas.
 
The Ben J. Altheimer Charitable Foundation, Inc. is administered by a board of directors who continue Mr. Altheimer’s legacy of philanthropy ranging from community services in Altheimer and Jefferson County to support for the U of A Division of Agriculture and School of Law.