JULY 2, 2002 | Construction workers placed the ceremonial final steel beam of the new home for Arkansas's College of Public Health (COPH) yesterday afternoon on the campus of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

"This is a great day for Arkansas," B. Alan Sugg, Ph.D., president of the University of Arkansas (UA) System, declared at a small ceremony six stories below as workers balanced on six-inch wide beams. Public health advocates, researchers, and academic leaders rallied on University Hospital's parking deck to celebrate completion of the first phase of the building's construction. They watched as a crane operator slowly lifted the beam, decorated with the signatures of the college's faculty and staff and other well-wishers, to the top of the steel structure and workers labored in 90-degree heat to bolt it into position. 

Construction of the building should be complete next summer. COPH is the newest college at UAMS, which is part of the UA System. It is training professionals who can help solve public health problems such as Arkansas's high rate of cardiovascular disease. Classes are meeting temporarily in borrowed spaces around the UAMS campus. Some of the state's revenue from the nationwide tobacco settlement will support the operation of the college. 

"The UAMS College of Public Health has taken off like a rocket!" President Sugg exclaimed, praising Dean Pro Tem Thomas A. Bruce, M.D.'s "missionary spirit to make Arkansans healthier." Dean Bruce launched the college's first degree program, a master's degree in public health, in "record time," President Sugg said. "So much for academic bureaucracy when Tom Bruce is in charge," he joked.

"The purpose of this building is to make Arkansans healthier," UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., said. He praised Dean Bruce; Leo Gehring, UAMS executive director of campus operations, and the team of UAMS staff working on the construction project; architects in The Wilcox Group; and Nabholz Construction Co. for their rapid progress on the college and its building.

James M. Raczynski, Ph.D., the incoming permanent dean of the college, made his first public remarks at UAMS at the ceremony, promising that the building will be a place where public health teachers and researchers will "provide service to the citizens of Arkansas." Dr. Raczynski will begin work at UAMS in September.

Fay Boozman, M.D., director of the Arkansas Department of Health, said the college symbolizes a "growing commitment to the citizens of Arkansas that we're no longer going to accept the fact that we're one of the unhealthiest states."

Links on This Page

Interview: http://www.uams.edu/today/2002/070202/
raczynski.htm
Alabama Public Health Leader: http://www.uams.edu/today/2002/052202/
raczynski.htm
College of Public Health: http://www.uams.edu/coph/default.htm


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