Manley Scholarship Honoring Father and Son Reaches Distinguished Status
| Each year, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Pharmacy awards more than a half million dollars in scholarships to qualified students, representing a significant and sustained show of support from alumni, faculty, and friends of the college.
A select few of these scholarships, built up over years or even decades, reach a total endowment of over $100,000, and are elevated to distinguished scholarships. This past year, the college recognized five such scholarships reaching that level. One of those is The Robert N. Manley and Robert H. Manley Distinguished Endowed Scholarship.
These awards are created with a specific purpose, such as memorializing a loved one. All of them, however, share the same pursuit of giving a financial hand up to students in need, to help educate and train the next generation of pharmacists.
It’s not often that a scholarship is created in honor of two people with the same family name. Robert N. Manley and Robert H. Manley were both accomplished doctors and druggists who left legacies connecting their practice to the continued health of their community.
They are the grandfather and father, respectively, of Donna Wolfe, whose husband Jon Wolfe, Ph.D., retired in 2016 from his position as the college’s associate dean for development.
Jon Wolfe, Ph.D. (far left) and Donna Wolfe (far right) pose with students who received the scholarship in 2024.Evan Lewis
Robert N. Manley was born in 1884, graduated medical college from what is now UAMS in 1912, and died in 1934. His son, Robert H. Manley, was born in 1911, graduated from UAMS in 1949, and died in 1971. Both men served in the military: the elder Manley served on the home front in World War I, performing physical evaluations for the U.S. Army. The younger Manley flew B-17s in the Eighth Air Force and went to medical college after the end of World War II.
During his time at UAMS, Jon Wolfe helped raise funds for 34 scholarships. In 1999, he said, his wife wanted to do something to commemorate the 50th anniversary of her father’s graduation, and a scholarship seemed like a natural fit.
“They were both country doctors in Johnson County,” Wolfe said. “They liked doing surgery and delivering babies. Donna’s dad delivered about 2,000, which for a GP [general practitioner] is a lot. They were also druggists in Johnson County as well. So, she wanted to do something in the College of Pharmacy that would honor the two of them. I looked up all of her father’s surviving classmates, and she made a gift for each of them in their honor.”
“Our intent was to commemorate both doctors and to emphasize the fact that they were community pharmacists,” he added. “Community pharmacy is the core of our profession.”
The Wolfes have attended every scholarship awards ceremony and met every student who has received the scholarship. They have even maintained correspondence with some recipients over time. Seeing the impact those students make as they go onto long careers matters a lot, Wolfe said.
“I’ve practiced a long time, and I’ve helped a lot of patients, but there’s a limit to how many patients I can benefit,” he said. “There’s no limit to how many patients can be helped by just the recipients of this scholarship, and the students they instruct in the future. It’ll help many more people than I could ever help in my life, and that’s a profound thing to consider.”
Wolfe said the couple intends to revise the plaque that displays the names of all the award winners over the years to include a photo of both men, to put human faces on the scholarship itself. Overall, he said he’s happy that both men continue to be remembered.
“We’ve been very pleased by how many recipients of the Manley scholarship have established themselves in community practice, several of them at truly distinguished levels of achievement,” Wolfe said. “That’s the wonderful thing about teaching and education: you never know when you’ll strike a spark that’s going to be the thing that illuminates somebody’s entire career. It’s a real delight, and we feel blessed that we’ve been able to witness the success of so many of the recipients of this scholarship.”