UAMS Medical Student from Harrison Receives Scheving Award
| Dec. 16, 2016 | Rebekah G. Langston of Harrison has received the Lawrence E. Scheving Award for earning the highest score in the 2016 human structure course at UAMS.
Langston, a first-year medical student, is a fourth-generation UAMS student but the first woman in the family to pursue a medical degree. The human structure course includes aspects of gross anatomy, radiology, pathology, histology and surgery.
“Rebekah has demonstrated academic excellence of the highest level,” said David Davies, Ph.D., associate professor in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences. “The department happily recognizes her achievement.”
Langston with her parents, Cindy and Tom Langston of Harrison.
Langston is the daughter of Tom and Cindy Langston of Harrison, who were present during a ceremony Dec. 9 in the UAMS Library Active Learning Center during which Davies presented Langston with the award. She received $100 and a certificate, and her name was added to the Scheving Award memorial plaque, which hangs at the entrance to the Division of Clinical Anatomy office on the ground floor of the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health building
“I was excited,” Langston said of receiving news of the award. “I’m proud of myself. I did work hard and I wasn’t expecting it. I had taken a couple of years off from school so I was really nervous about starting back up. It was definitely exciting and welcome news.”
The Lawrence E. Scheving Award hangs at the entrance to the Division of Clinical Anatomy office on the ground floor of the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health building.
In honor of her family’s long connection to UAMS, the Active Learning Center was selected as the backdrop for the award ceremony because it contains a portrait of Langston’s great-grandfather W.C. Langston, M.D., who was chairman of the Department of Anatomy. Adjacent to W.C. Langston’s photo is a picture of his son, Bill, to whom the Langston book collection is dedicated. Bill Langston attended UAMS but died before he graduated. Her grandfather, father and uncle graduated from UAMS.
“It’s about time the female Langstons are represented among the family doctors,” Langston said. “I wasn’t sure that I would even end up coming here, but I’m happy that I did because it’s actually really cool to be a part of that line.”
The Scheving Award was established on behalf of the late Lawrence E. Scheving, Ph.D., the first Rebsamen professor of anatomical science. He served as director of the gross anatomy course for 15 years and was a UAMS College of Medicine faculty member for 20 years until his retirement in 1990. Friends and colleagues who established the award in 2004 described Scheving as an outstanding teacher and researcher with an international reputation.