Milne Scholarship, Honoring Late Longtime Dean, 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 L.D. Milne 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 would be difficult to quantify the success of the UAMS College of Pharmacy without Larry D. Milne, Ph.D., who served as the college’s second dean from 1977 to 2003. He was the youngest dean and was ultimately longest-serving dean of a college of pharmacy in the United States when he retired. During his three decades as dean, Milne made changes that profoundly influenced the future of the profession in Arkansas and nationwide.
As dean of the UAMS College of Pharmacy from 1977 to 2003, Milne made changes that profoundly influenced the future of the profession in Arkansas and nationwide.
Milne was instrumental in transforming the college’s curriculum to include more patient care instruction, led a drive to establish the Arkansas Poison and Drug Information Center, and set what would become a national benchmark by expanding the Pharm.D. program from the B.S. in Pharmacy degree in two years to three years, and the now-standard traditional four-year Pharm.D. program.
Under his leadership, the college graduated the first all-Pharm.D. class in 1993, well ahead of the mandated roll out of the Pharm.D. degree in 2000. He also worked to ensure that the Pharm.D. degree was made available for anyone with a bachelor’s degree who wished to return to school with the advent of the nontraditional Pharm.D. degree pathway for licensed pharmacists with the B.S. in Pharmacy degree.
Milne accepted a role as UAMS vice chancellor for academic affairs and research administration in , and helped plan and build the Little Rock campus’s Residence Hall North, which serves students today as the only residence hall. He retired from UAMS in 2012 and died in 2022.
Gannon Milne, one of his three children, has only recently become more involved in the family’s stewardship of the Milne scholarship, but he likes to say he grew up at UAMS. He now lives in Atlanta and consults with hospital pharmacies across the country. Routinely, he’s stopped by people who see his name and remember his father.
“He touched a lot of people in pharmacy,” Milne said. “Most people wouldn’t think of that, coming from Arkansas. It’s an honor knowing that he had that effect on people. If you knew him, he was just a personable, likable guy. He always had a smile on his face.”
Milne said he was proud of his father’s impact on the profession as a whole. Through his mentoring, several staff members from UAMS Pharmacy School became deans of other Pharmacy Schools around the country.
“As a kid, you never think your parents do what they actually do,” he said. “So, the impact that he’s brought to pharmacy, not only in Arkansas but nationwide over the years, just shows what kind of a guy he was. He was impactful in that because other pharmacy schools had to follow suit behind UAMS. Arkansas was very ahead of the game [in pharmacy].”
Milne said his father’s reputation led to him being scouted by universities across the country, but that he remained committed to UAMS and his vision for the future of the profession.
“I remember while I was growing up, all sorts of universities contacting after him about positions,” he said. “He was always dedicated to Arkansas.”
The Milne scholarship was created in 2002, and donations surged again following Dean Milne’s death in 2022. Gannon Milne said he wants to support the scholarship for the foreseeable future.
“I heard that it was going on, and in the latter part of Dad’s life my stepmom [Phyllis Milne] mentioned it to me,” he said. “I would like to be involved in it moving forward. I would love to be there when they hand out the awards sometime, whether it be in Little Rock or Fayetteville.”
“We’ll continue the scholarship for as long as possible,” he added. “Not only to carry on the impact that Dad made, but the impact of those people receiving the scholarships have had not only in Arkansas, but nationwide in health care. Even if it’s only a handful of students a year, being able to continue that impact on United States health care is very, very important.”