UAMS Reaches $3 Million Fundraising Goal

The state’s medical school has reached its $3 million fund raising goal to develop a satellite campus in Northwest Arkansas.

The Tyson Family Foundation, the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation and Johnelle Hunt each donated $500,000 to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to help the school renovate the former Washington Regional Medical Center to house the campus.

Debbie Walker, executive director of the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, said her family wanted to contribute to the campus because of the impact it will have on the community and the state by increasing access to health care.

Don Tyson, former chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Springdale’s Tyson Foods Inc., said the campus will improve the quality of life in the region.

“This is a real plus,” he said. “It’s a win for UAMS and a win for all of us in Northwest Arkansas.”

The Northwest Arkansas campus will open for the fall 2009 semester and will include students in the UAMS colleges of medicine, nursing, pharmacy and health related professions.

It will have 250 to 300 students along with resident physicians when full enrollment is reached, expanding the medical school by 20 percent.

Peter Kohler, M.D., vice chancellor for the Northwest Arkansas region, said the $1.5 million gift, along with previous donations, including a $300,000 gift from the Walton Family Foundation and a $100,000 gift from the Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation, will cover the first phase of renovations as well as demonstrate the local support for the campus to the state legislature.

Kohler said the hope is that the legislature will see the local support and be more inclined to provide a funding stream for the school.