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U.S. President Barack Obama has signed a bill that will rename the Morris K. Udall Foundation to honor UA alum and former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.

By University Communications
November 6, 2009

Stewart L. Udall, a University of Arizona alum and former secretary of the Interior, will attend an event next week celebrating the passage of legislation honoring the legacy he shares with his brother, the late Morris K. Udall.

Under a bill passed by Congress last month and signed by U.S. President Barack Obama, the Tucson-based Morris K. Udall Foundation has been renamed the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation.

The foundation will hold an event on Nov. 13 to celebrate the bill's passage. The 1:30 p.m. event, which is free and open to the public, will held in front of the Udall Building, 130 S. Scott Ave.

Stewart L. Udall is expected to speak during the event. 

The Udall brothers worked together on many environmental and American Indian initiatives while Stewart Udall was Secretary of the Interior and Morris Udall was a member of Congress. 

In renaming the foudation, Congress recognized that the Udall legacy is really a shared legacy and paid tribute to Stewart Udall's vision and leadership.

Others scheduled to speak during the downtown event are U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, (D-NM); U.S. Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO);  U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and Terry Bracy, who is chairman of the foundation's board of trustees. 

Grijalva introduced the bill to rename the foundation, a federal agency founded in 1992 to honor Morris K. Udall, who represented Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives for 30 years.

"I am honored to have sponsored this legislation to help expand one of the finest federal agencies while also honoring Secretary Udall, who helped create awareness in the country about the importance of protecting and preserving our environment," Grijalva said in a joint statement.

Stewart L. Udall, considered one of the foremost public servants and environmental visionaries of the era, worked alongside his brother on a range of environmental issues that affected the nation.

The foundation provides scholarships for students who intend to pursue careers focusing on the environment and to American Indian students who intend to focus on tribal policy and health-related issues. It also provides funding for the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the UA.

The Udall Foundation also founded the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy in 2001. 

Tthe UA Libraries maintains a manuscript collection of Stewart L. Udall's work. He is credited with some of the groundwork for initiatives that resulted in the founding of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Endowment for Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

Stewart L. Udall, who now lives in New Mexico, was born in Saint Johns, Ariz. After attending the UA for two years, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and flew missions over Europe. For his service, Udall received the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters.

In 1946, after his years of service, Udall returned to the UA and studied law and played on the basketball team.

In 1954, he was elected to Congress and, in 1960, was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to serve as the secretary of the Interior. Udall later worked under President. Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed the Wilderness Act, the Water Quality Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and National Trails Bill during Udall's tenure.

During his tenure as secretary of the Interior, Udall was responsible for the addition of more than 100 parks, national monuments, seashores, lakeshores, recreation areas, historic sites and wildlife refuges to the national park system.

Udall authored seveal books. One of his books, "The Quiet Crisis," written about the nation's environmental practices, was published in 1963 and became a best-seller. The book's release coincided with "Silent Spring," which was written by Rachel Carson, who has been credited with advancing the environmental movement.

Terry Bracy also noted in a statement that the Udall legacy is a shared legacy. 

"The Board of Trustees at the Udall Foundation," Bracy added, "is pleased that Congress has decided to pay tribute to this joint legacy, recognizing Stewart Udall's vision and leadership and honoring him along with his brother Morris by including his name in the title of the Udall Foundation."