College of Health Professions Dedicates Legacy Garden

By Spencer Watson

 
College of Health Professions Dean Douglas Murphy, Ph.D., (right) invites Dean Emeritus Ronald Winters, Ph.D., to pick a place for his engraved brick in the Legacy Garden.

Winters stands up after placing a brick engraved for Betty Jo Ward (left), widow of late former UAMS Chancellor Harry Ward, M.D.

New bricks for Winters, his wife Marsha and Ward await placement in the Legacy Garden.

Dental Hygiene faculty members Katy Warren and Rhonda Sledge place a brick honoring the college’s founding dean, Tip Nelms.

 

The courtyard sits among the buildings that house the college’s academic programs. Inscriptions on the bricks are in memory or in honor of friends, family or colleagues or programs in the college.

 

Dean Douglas Murphy, Ph.D., told those at the ceremony that the courtyard is a place to honor the legacy of those who have passed and those who inspire.

 

Proceeds from brick sales support scholarships in the college. Click here to purchase a brick.

 

“This garden is dedicated to the people we cherish — people who have passed or people we want to honor for their impact on our lives or on this college,” Murphy said. “And while it is a place to remember and honor, we are also responsible for passing on a legacy and with scholarships funded by these bricks, we are passing on a legacy to the next generation.”

 

Welcoming guests and supporters of the college, including members of the college’s advisory board and former faculty, Murphy called the garden a focal point for the college, representing the legacy the college was receiving even from the Arkansas State Hospital, which owned the buildings that have been home to the college since 2009. That was a legacy, he said, of seeking to provide compassionate care to those with mental illness, just as the college tries to teach its students to provide patient-centered care now.

 

As part of the dedication, four new bricks were placed in the garden:

 

  • A brick honoring Tip Nelms, D.D.S., M.Ed., the college’s founding dean, who was leading the UAMS dental hygiene program when it was decided to organize the handful of UAMS allied health programs into what is now the College of Health Professions.
  • A brick honoring Dean Emeritus Ronald Winters, Ph.D., who succeeded Nelms and led the college from 1982-2011. He oversaw an “amazing expansion of this college both in programs and in funding as well as its move to this location,” Murphy said.
  • A brick honoring Betty Jo Ward, widow of former UAMS chancellor, the late Harry Ward, M.D., who was memorialized with a brick earlier this year. “For all that Dr. Ward did for UAMS, he and Betty Jo were a team. They worked together,” said Dean Emeritus Ronald Winters, Ph.D., who credited her for expanding the amount of artwork on campus and greatly expanding the hospital gift shop.

A brick honoring Winters’ wife, Marsha, who supported the college through the years with her gracious presence at numerous receptions, events and even welcoming candidates for faculty positions, the former dean said of his wife.