Sandra and Robert Connor Give $300,000 to Create Distinguished Scholarship in College of Medicine
| LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) received a $300,000 gift from Sandra and Robert Connor to create the Sandra and Robert C. Connor Distinguished Endowed Scholarship in the UAMS College of Medicine.
The gift was made in recognition of the impact that UAMS will have on Arkansas. It is also the hope of the Connors that the gift will encourage similar giving toward student scholarships at UAMS.
“I want to sincerely thank Sandra and Robert Connor for their generosity to UAMS and their continued commitment to education in Arkansas — this scholarship will certainly have a significant impact on the College of Medicine as well as advance health care in our state,” said C. Lowry Barnes, M.D., UAMS interim chancellor. “This scholarship will also help UAMS attract and retain the best and brightest students, support them in pursuing careers in the areas of greatest need and alleviate their burden of excessive debt.”
The scholarship will be awarded each year to a College of Medicine student with preference given to a University of Arkansas at Fayetteville graduate who is a member of the Chi Omega women’s fraternal organization. If there is not an eligible student who meets the preferred criteria, the scholarship will be awarded to a student from Arkansas who demonstrates financial need. Selection of the recipient and scholarship amount will be made by the College of Medicine Scholarship Committee, dean of the college and the UAMS provost.
“This is an exciting development in our efforts to generate more scholarships, and the effects will be life-changing for aspiring physicians in the College of Medicine, said Steven Webber, M.D., dean of the College of Medicine and UAMS executive vice chancellor. “Gifts of this magnitude enable substantive scholarships and are an investment in our mission to produce outstanding doctors for Arkansas. We are grateful to the Connors for their partnership.”
Sandra Connor earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Social Welfare from the University of Arkansas. She served as co-chair of the University of Arkansas Capital Campaign and is a former president of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustees. She is a former member of the UAMS Board of Advisors and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging Advisory Board. She currently serves on the UAMS Board of Advisors.
Robert Connor earned a bachelor’s degree in banking and finance from the University of North Texas – Denton. A former member of the Texas National Guard, he also graduated from Officer Candidate School and served in the U.S. Army Reserve until 1971, where he attained the rank of first lieutenant. He attended the Harvard Business School Program for management development and the American Bankers Association-sponsored Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
The Connors are also members of the Society of the Double Helix, which recognizes UAMS’ most outstanding philanthropists.
“For years, we have been proud to support student scholarships for many levels of education, and now it is our honor to uplift medical students at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences,” said Robert Connor. “The need for medical professionals in our state is clear, and we hope that the Sandra and Robert Connor Distinguished Endowed Scholarship will not only create doctors but retain them in Arkansas.”
“We also believe that the link between the University of Arkansas and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is a key line of development for the state’s most talented undergraduates transitioning into medical education, so it is important to Arkansas that it be nurtured,” added Sandra Connor. “Through my years of involvement with the Chi Omega fraternity, I have witnessed abundant intelligence and great enthusiasm for service within the Fayetteville chapter, and we believe it is appropriate to encourage and incentivize a future in medicine for these young women.”
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,553 students and 902 medical residents and fellows. It is the state’s largest public employer with about 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###