UAMS College of Pharmacy Receives $100,000 for Dean’s Endowed Chair

By todd

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LITTLE ROCK – The College of Pharmacy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has received a gift of $100,000 from alumni Karrol and Vicki Fowlkes of Salem to help establish an endowed Dean’s Chair for new academic programs, faculty recruitment and retention, and student leadership activities.


 


The gift will be made over four years. Dean Stephanie F. Gardner, Pharm.D, Ed.D., said the gift will go toward a goal of $1 million, which will provide unrestricted funds to be used by the current and future deans to advance the College of Pharmacy.


 


“This gift is extremely meaningful since it comes from alumni leaders and a former associate dean,” Gardner said. “We are excited about the prospect of establishing our first endowed chair. This gift establishes a firm base for future donors to the fund. Over the years, Karrol and Vicki Fowlkes have been generous supporters who have done much to advance our college and the pharmacy profession, and for that we are extremely grateful.”


 


Karrol Fowlkes, Pharm.D., is a former faculty member and associate dean of the college. Vicki Fowlkes, B.S., serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council and the College of Pharmacy’s Admissions Committee. They own Finnegan’s Inc., a disposable medical supplies company based in Little Rock.


 


“We are glad to be able to make this gift to establish the Dean’s Chair for the College of Pharmacy,” said Vicki Fowlkes. “We know that without our education from the college, we would never have had this opportunity or many others that have come our way. We are appreciative every day of the roads our education has helped pave.”


 


The couple established the Excellence in Community Pharmacy Endowed Scholarship in 2001, which has generated a total of $45,000 in scholarship awards.


 


UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, six centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has 2,538 students and 733 medical residents. Its centers of excellence include the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. It is one of the state’s largest public employers with about 9,600 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of $5 billion a year. Visit www.uams.edu.