A northeast Arkansas banker and his wife have given $1 million to the Arkansas State University business college.
Charles and Kay Luter announced the donation Thursday evening at the college's homecoming banquet, where Charles Luter was named the college's business executive of the year.
"There is no one who cares more for this university, about the future, and the opportunities our students are going have than Charles and Kay," Shane Hunt, the college's dean, said. "For them to be willing to make this gift and impact what we are able to provide for years to come is something that is transformational."
The money will endow a college scholarship and two professorships, as well as pay for building improvements and help students studying finance and banking get hands-on experience.
"Whatever success Kay and I have had in life, it really has evolved around Arkansas State," Charles Luter said. "I've always been an advocate that if you are bringing these students on campus from all over Arkansas, other states and other countries, the university should be able to get those instructors to give those students the best education they can get."
"I've always been connected to Arkansas State in one way or another," Kay Luter said. "Arkansas State gave me my dream and that was to be a teacher. And, then I became a teacher here."
Charles Luter earned a business administration degree from the university in 1966; Kay Luter received her bachelor's degree in education in 1965 before completing a master's degree in 1978.
In 2008, the couple gave $400,000 to the university's athletics program. At the time, it was the largest single donation in A-State athletics history.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe appointed Charles Luter to the university's board of trustees in 2011. His five-year term expired in January.