Virtual Festivities Celebrate College’s Half-Century Milestone
| Although the COVID-19 pandemic pushed many of the festivities online, the UAMS College of Health Professions still managed to celebrate 50 years of excellence.
Dean Susan Long gets ready to cut into a cake to serve to celebrants of the 50th anniversary of the college’s founding.
“Even though we had to plan the festivities with COVID restrictions in place, we had a great week filled with online games, grab-and-go food and several wellness-focused events,” said Lindsey Clark, MPH, MLS, assistant professor in the Department of Laboratory Sciences. “Overall, the weeklong celebration was a huge success!”
The celebration kicked off Monday, Nov. 29 with a sugar rush and grab-and-go cookies for students, and the start of a step challenge to burn off the calories that came with them.
On Giving Tuesday, the college encouraged donors to give to support students and the college’s academic mission.
The goal stated in a flyer was simple: “to inspire people everywhere to come together, demonstrate their pride for UAMS, and provide scholarship funding to support the future of health care — our CHP students.”
“It was great that we were able to celebrate 50 years of serving students and alums in multiple allied health professions by raising funds for student scholarships,” said Clark.
Wellness Wednesday continued the step challenge as well as a mindfulness session to teach students, faculty and others meditation techniques and practices with the goal of reducing stress – a valuable skill to acquire during a global pandemic along with the more typical annual pressures of final exams and holiday shopping.
To provide additional stress relief, a Special Pets Offering Therapy (SPOT) dog visited with students.
Three of the College’s students enjoy some free slices of ‘radical pizza.’
Throwback Thursday on Dec. 2 challenged contestants’ knowledge of the college’s 50-year history and offered free grab-and-go pizza slices.
Allied Health Professions Appreciation Day on Friday brought the week to a close with students, faculty and alumni encouraged to show their appreciation through handwritten notes, social media posts and a short video.
The Dean’s Office provided celebrants with lunch and 50th anniversary sweatshirts.
“Superficially, it may have appeared that the restrictions that came with the most recent COVID-19 surge in cases curtailed our celebrations,” said Dean Susan Long, Ed.D. “However, the pandemic itself has only deepened our appreciation of the college’s mission and legacy of educating students in the allied health professions for the last half-century. We’ve never needed them more than now.”
Faculty and state of the Department of Physical Therapy show the backs of the sweatshirts.