Hoyt Hughes Purvis

Hoyt Hughes Purvis was born in Jonesboro, Craighead County, Arkansas, on November 7, 1939.

Purvis attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism followed by a master's degree in journalism in 1963. While there he was the editor of the university newspaper, the Daily Texan.

Purvis was a reporter for the Houston Chronicle starting in 1964. He became Senator J. William Fulbright's press secretary in 1967 and worked closely with starting Fulbright for six years. Purvis was a lecturer at the LBJ School of Public Affairs in Austin, Texas, before becoming Senator Robert Byrd's foreign and defense policy advisor in 1976. Purvis taught journalism and political science at the University of Arkansas for thirty-four years, where he founded the Fulbright Institute of International Relations and served as its director.

In 1993 President Bill Clinton appointed Purvis to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, which he also chaired from 1996 to 1999. He was secretary of the Washington County Historical Society for many years and president from 2011 to 2013. Purvis coauthored Voices of the Razorbacks with a former student, Stanley Sharp, published in 2013.

Purvis passed away on May 26, 2023.

 
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