Degrees or certificates were awarded to 864 graduates of the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) five colleges and graduate school on May 18 during a commencement ceremony at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
Degrees or certificates were presented to 165 in the College of Medicine, 229 in the College of Nursing, 111 in the College of Pharmacy, 64 in the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, 271 in the College of Health Professions, and 30 in the Graduate School.
UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson, MD, MBA, presented the Chancellor’s Award to Gilda Malone Underwood, president of the Schmieding Foundation Inc. in Springdale.
The award is presented to a person whose service to UAMS is deserving of special recognition. Previous recipients include Sam M. Dixon, former U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers, Jack Stephens, Willard and Pat Walker, and the namesake and founder of the Schmieding Foundation, Lawrence Schmieding.
As president of the Schmieding Foundation, Underwood has been a champion for UAMS and the state of Arkansas. She has dedicated her time and energy to causes that were important to its founder. As a result of her diligent efforts, healthcare centers in Northwest Arkansas have transformed from an inspired vision to a reality, making a tremendous difference in the lives of seniors, children, and their families.
John Spollen, MD, and Kristie Hadden, PhD, were the recipients of the Chancellor’s Teaching Awards, a program established in 2004 to recognize excellence in teaching among UAMS faculty.
Hadden was the recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Society and Health Education Excellence. The award recognizes the design and implementation of courses or activities that advance the topics of society and health. It can be through areas of cultural awareness, healthcare economics, health equity, health literacy, health systems, interprofessional education, collaborative practice, public and population health, patient- and family-centered care, or educational scholarship.
Hadden joined UAMS in 2012 and is an associate professor in the College of Medicine. She is the director of the UAMS Center for Health Literacy, a multi-disciplinary home for research, consultation, and practice on the subject that has garnered national awards for its work. In seven years, she has taught health literacy to more than 2,000 UAMS students through interprofessional education exposure workshops and guest lectures.
In 2016, Hadden and the center received a four-year, $2.9 million National Institutes of Health grant to test the effectiveness of health literacy-informed diabetes education at UAMS regional campuses. She previously received a Society of Public Health Educators award and the UAMS Graduate School Achievement Award.
Spollen was the recipient of the Award for Teaching Excellence. It recognizes direct teaching, mentoring, or educational scholarship between a faculty member and any learner. It can be in all settings, including the classroom, online, clinic, or laboratory.
Spollen is a professor and vice chair for education in the College of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. For more than two decades at UAMS, he has led curriculum and other program improvements that contributed to improved test scores for medical students.
He has twice received the Chancellor’s Award for Education (2007, 2009) and has been the recipient of the Red or Gold Sash teaching award in the college for 11 consecutive years. He’s also been named the best resident teacher in the department four times, received the college’s Educational Innovation Award (2006), and its Master Teacher Award (2012).
During commencement, degrees and certificates conferred include the doctor of philosophy, doctor of medicine, doctor of pharmacy, doctor of nursing practice, master of science, master of nursing science, bachelor of science in nursing, master of public health, doctor of public health, master of health administration, postbaccalaureate certificate in public health, and a variety of degrees in allied health disciplines including certificates, associate and bachelor of science degrees, postbaccalaureate certificates, master of communication sciences and disorders, master of genetic counseling, master of physician assistant studies, doctor of audiology, and doctor of physical therapy.