Jefferson Davis Farris Jr.

Jefferson Davis Farris Jr. (1927-2009) was the sixth president of the University of Central Arkansas.

Farris was born in Springdale, Arkansas, in 1927. He graduated from Conway High School in Conway, Arkansas, in 1945. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II before earning B.A.'s in physical education and mathematics from the Arkansas State Teachers College in 1949. He received his M.A. in public health from the University of Michigan, and a second M.A. in physical education from George Peabody College.

Farris assumed the chair of the Department of Health and Physical Education in 1961, following the death of his father Jefferson Davis Farris Sr. who had previously chaired the department. Farris Jr. earned his Ed.D. in health and physical education from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1963. He became dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts and Sciences in 1970. Five years later, on July 1, 1975, Farris was named president of UCA.

With Norbert O. Schedler, Farris founded UCA's Honors College in 1982. He left the school in 1987 to take a job with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Farris was married to Patricia "Patsy" Camp. The couple had three children. Farris died on January 16, 2009. Farris Hall on the UCA campus is named in his honor.