Dr. Arthur L. Youngman and Mrs. Linda V. Youngman
When Art and Linda Youngman first visited the Africa University campus in 1995, the university was in its third year of operations; the renovated old farm buildings that once served as residence halls, administrative buildings, and classrooms had been replaced with a few permanent structures; and the acacia trees that had been planted across the campus were mere saplings. Art and Linda, both life-long Methodists, heard of the establishment of this new university while members of University United Methodist Church in Wichita and became more intrigued when they were given a lapel button encouraging support for the new institution.
Art was among the first to be accepted into the visiting scholars program at Africa University. He took a sabbatical and spent the spring semester of the 1994-1995 academic year on the campus as a visiting professor in the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources teaching crop physiology and conducting field and laboratory research. Linda joined Art at the end of the semester, and they spent several days touring Zimbabwe.
Art and Linda recently established the Art and Linda Youngman Endowed Scholarship Fund, which will provide a full annual scholarship for residents of the Fairfield Children's Home (Old Mutare Methodist Mission site) who wish to study at Africa University. For Art and Linda, Africa University is hope personified, not only for the young people at Fairfield Children's Home, but also for young people across the continent who thirst for a first-rate university education.