Dr. Ruth L. Couch

Dr. Ruth Couch Day is September 23, each year at Arkansas State University-Beebe. This day is a celebration of her legacy in education and community service impacting many future generations at ASU-Beebe.

Dr. Ruth Lazelle Couch, of Beebe, was born on Sept. 23, 1936, in Magnolia and passed away on July 26, 2014.

After graduating high school, she attended Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Education in just three years. After receiving her bachelor’s degree, Dr. Couch taught in El Dorado and Magnolia public school districts for more than nine years. She earned a master’s degree from Henderson State University.

In 1971, Dr. Ruth Couch began her 32-year career at ASU-Beebe as an assistant professor in English. In 1975, she received her doctorate from Oklahoma State University, making her the first woman on the ASU-Beebe faculty to receive a doctorate and the first faculty to attain full professor at the college. She then served as division chair, and in 1994 was appointed to serve as the vice chancellor for Academic Affairs.

Dr. Couch was a member of the editorial board for a professional journal called The Community College Enterprise. In 1976, she joined Delta Kappa Gamma, a professional honor society for women educators, and held several Delta Kappa Gamma offices, also serving as chairwoman of the society's state leadership committee.

She was active in the Business and Professional Women's Association, in which she held a variety of offices - including state president - and the Southwest Regional Conference on the Teaching of English.

From 1982 to 2004, Dr. Couch served on the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools as a consultant evaluator. She visited approximately 30 higher education institutions to assist with evaluations for accreditation.

Dr. Couch retired from ASU-Beebe in 2003 and worked for the next ten years as the director of the Beebe Chamber of Commerce. She remained active on the ASU-Beebe Development Council, Adult Education Advisory Board, Shepherd’s Center Board and the Beebe Economic Development Commission, while returning to the classroom as an adjunct instructor at ASU-Beebe.

At ASU-Beebe, Dr. Couch furnished a faculty workroom in the library and purchased chimes that are in the Science Building, which continue to ring daily on the hour. In 2005, the Ruth L. Couch Center, which houses the Institutional Advancement offices, was named in her honor for her many generous contributions to the college.

In her spare time, Dr. Couch enjoyed writing and had several works published over the years. The ASU-Beebe Abington Library has several of her publications available, including “Women and Thomas Hardy” (1975), “This Land of Legend: Arkansas Poems” (1992), and a novel “No Bells Will Ring” (2009), which she also recorded on audio in 2010 for Arkansas Information Reading Services for the Blind (AIRS).

She also helped collect oral histories of ASU-Beebe and wrote historical booklets about changes in some communities that she found of particular interest. These include “The Academic Americana Heritage of the Antioch and Floyd Schools,” and “The Noble Heritage of Harvey C. Couch School in Calhoun, Arkansas.”

Dr. Couch’s support and encouragement of her students over the years led her to establish the Ruth Couch Endowment Scholarship in 2005.

Dr. Couch said, “To know that I’ve had a part in students’ success and helping students to develop a good self-concept is the most rewarding and satisfying achievement to me as an educator.”