First-Ever UAMS License Plate Supports Student Scholarships
| 
Diego Espinoza, a second-year student in the UAMS College of Medicine, led the effort to create the new UAMS license plate.
Sept. 27, 2011 | Drive home your support of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) with a new specialty license plate and help fund scholarships for UAMS students.
The first-ever UAMS license plate is now available through the state Department of Finance and Administration. Purchasing the plate includes a $25 tax-deductible contribution to scholarships for students in any of the five UAMS colleges or graduate school at the state’s only academic health center.
The plate, which features the UAMS logo and an aerial photo of the campus, was the brainchild of a UAMS medical student.
“I had seen specialty plates for other universities and organizations in the state and was surprised that UAMS didn’t have one,” said Diego Espinoza, a second-year medical student from Fayetteville. “
He pitched the idea to students his first year at school with the help of a potential plate design put together by his younger brother, Daniel. The project gained steam after he ran it by College of Medicine and UAMS marketing administrators — who worked with the state to create the new plate.
UAMS had an estimated enrollment of more than 2,800 for fall 2011. With the growing demand for more health care professionals, scholarships expand access to higher education for more students.
Espinoza, who will get one of the plates, said he’s happy that students, employees and Arkansans have a new way to show their support for UAMS. “That the license plate purchases will provide scholarship funds is icing on the cake for me,” he said.
The form to request the plate featuring the UAMS logo can be found at www.uams.edu/licenseplate or at many state revenue offices. Completed forms must be mailed or brought to a revenue office where the plates are available. The list of revenue offices were specialty license plates are available can be found in the Specialty License Plate section of www.dfa.arkansas.gov.
The plates can be personalized with up to four characters for an additional $25. The request form for a personalized license plate also is available at www.uams.edu/licenseplate.
Issuance of collegiate license plates is restricted to passenger cars, half-ton and three-quarter ton trucks and one-ton trucks used for private transportation. In addition to normal annual registration fees, which vary depending on the vehicle type, the annual fees for specialty plates include the $25 scholarship contribution and a $10 state administrative fee.
The plate can be purchased at any time, whether or not it is time to renew a license but the expiration date will remain the same. This means the applicant must pay the special fees again at the regular renewal date.
A special Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer license plate also is available, supporting work at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
The Cancer Institute, in association with the Arkansas Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, created the plate in 2004. The Breast Cancer Research Fund receives $25 for each plate issued to be used by the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute for the purpose of breast cancer education, outreach and research. Click here for more information and a request form for the Komen plate.