UT Tyler Establishes Scholarship Endowment to Benefit Palestine Students

Office of Marketing and Communications

June 7, 2023

Media Contact: Hannah Buchanan
Editor/Writer–Strategic Communications & Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.539.7196 (cell)

The University of Texas at Tyler has established a $120,125 scholarship endowment benefiting nursing students at the Palestine Campus. The endowment, named after longtime UT Tyler Palestine Development Board president/chairman David Barnard, who retired June 1, is funded by Palestine donors and board members.

The UT Tyler David Barnard Palestine Scholars Endowment will provide support for students who have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5.

“When UT Tyler extended its nursing program to Palestine nearly 30 years ago, it was driven by community leaders who desired to make higher education more accessible for Anderson County and surrounding areas,” said UT Tyler President Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, FACP. “David Barnard has been a driving force behind this wonderful relationship between UT Tyler and the Palestine community.”

Among highlights, Barnard was instrumental in obtaining the land that would become the future home for the Palestine Campus, raising funds for its nursing programs, and in making the UT Tyler University Academy Palestine a successful public university charter school. He led the development board since its inception in 2010.

UT Tyler Palestine Campus students experience cost-saving convenience, greater flexibility in scheduling their classes and reduced travel expenses and commuting time to Tyler, all while receiving a quality nursing education. Courses are taught using traditional face-to-face delivery by on-site professors in addition to online and hybrid teaching models.

With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate programs to 10,000 students. UT Tyler recently merged with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (now known as UT Tyler Health Science Center). Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center (HSC) and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.