Women Alumni Give $12,200 to Pharmacy Student Projects
| June 19, 2015 | The newly formed Women’s Giving Circle with the UAMS College of Pharmacy wants to make things happen for the better.
Faculty and representatives of College of Pharmacy student groups hold up ceremonial checks displaying the amounts of funds they will receive from the Women’s Giving Circle.
On June 10, the group proved that by giving a total of $12,200 in funding to a dozen pharmacy student groups and college faculty to support special projects.
“They were projects that might not have been funded otherwise,” said Nicki Hilliard, Pharm. D., Giving Circle chair. “It was fun to get a group of women together to support the college and support each other with networking and professional development.”
Hilliard is a professor in the college’s Department of Pharmacy Practice and an alumnus of the college’s Class of 1983.
Women alumni have long been supporters of the College of Pharmacy. In 2014, they decided to establish an organization to make that support even more focused and effective.
The Women’s Giving Circle’s mission is to fund innovative, inspiring and creative campus-level programs led by student pharmacists and faculty members. Members of the Giving Circle provide the financial support for which student groups and faculty can apply to fund special projects.
During the Circle’s annual meeting June 10, award applicants presented their projects to the members. After a selection process, the recipients of funding were chosen.
Melanie Reinhardt, Pharm. D., left, Denise Ragland, Pharm. D., and third-year pharmacy students Bethany Boyle and Courtney Bookout display a check for Shirts for Shots.
The UAMS chapter of the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists received $2,500 for its proposed Shirts for Shots program. Shirts for Shots will seek to use a free T-shirt giveaway as an incentive for underserved groups like the homeless, recovering addicts and the uninsured to get flu shots.
Courtney Bookout, a third-year pharmacy student and co-chair of the chapter’s patient care initiative, said the application process went smoothly.
“Having us do the presentation also was a great opportunity to explain things and even ask questions,” said Bethany Boyle, a third-year pharmacy student and vice president of the chapter’s patient care initiative. “We were able to bounce off ideas with the circle members and to get good input and suggestions. We actually got more money than we asked for because they had some ideas about some other things we could with the program. I think that was awesome and a great opportunity for us.”
Each circle member who contributes to the pool of funds has the benefit of knowing which specific programs and groups received her donation.
Another goal of the Women’s Giving Circle is to encourage the active participation of women in leadership roles in pharmacy and in their communities. Through the Circle
The Women’s Giving Circle hears presentations from faculty and student groups.
and through events around the state, members can network with some of the brightest, most influential and accomplished women in pharmacy today.
The giving circle movement started at the end of the 20th century because of the expanded financial capacity of women, whose incomes began to rise along with their achievements educationally and professionally. As women have gained more control of their own financial futures, they have begun to envision how they can make the world a better place through their philanthropy.
Similarly, the influence of women in pharmacy is growing too. Using this momentum and the power of the network of women within it, the College of Pharmacy Women’s Giving Circle seeks to work toward common goals that can create a lasting positive effect on the students and faculty of the college as well as the health of the Arkansans they serve.
“Now, we’re already starting on gathering money for next year,” Hilliard said. “Women will pay to be a part of the annual giving and to continue to support projects and continue to grow and grow.”
In addition to Shirts for Shots, the amounts the Women’s Giving Circle awarded, the UAMS College of Pharmacy student groups or faculty members and their projects are:
- $1,250 — Student Society of Health-System Pharmacists (SSHP) — free movie screening emphasizing the personal story for organ donation.
- $1,000 — Drayton Hammond, Pharm. D., MBA — printing of student research posters
- $1,000 — Denise Ragland, Pharm. D. — diabetes testing for underinsured pregnant women
- $500 — Interprofessional Fresh Food Coalition — harvesting of fresh fruits and vegetables from an urban garden for 12th Street Health & Wellness Center patients
- $850 — SSHP — leadership seminar series
- $1,000 — SSHP — residency evening event covering issues related to residency preparation for pharmacy students
- $1,600 — APhA-ASP — billboards in strategic areas of the state to emphasize the role of pharmacy in today’s health care environment
- $400 — APhA-ASP — production of high-quality videos identifying important pharmacy-related issues
- $600 — Brett Bailey — purchase of audio-visual equipment for two classrooms to display student announcements
- $500 — Kappa Epsilon — support to send two students to fraternity’s national convention
- $1,000 — Nukhet Aykin-Burns — research aimed at understanding the biological and health effects of e-cigarettes.