MAY 13, 2005 | Gov. Mike Huckabee joined UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., and a host of UAMS employees and supporters recently to praise the contributions of Fred W. Smith, chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation Board of Trustees, and to help dedicate the campus’ new $4 million state-of-the-art conference center named in honor of Smith.

With Arkansas business icon Jack Stephens in attendance, the dedication ceremony April 28 in the conference center atop the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute became a tribute to the power of philanthropy to improve the lives of Arkansans.

Smith noted that was a purpose of the Foundation – to have its grants and gifts spark similar actions by others to do greater good. He then praised UAMS and its growth into a center for world class care, research and education.

“There is no better place in the country to expect quality medical care than UAMS,” Smith said.

Huckabee praised the philanthropy of the Foundation, which has given more than $910 million in grants – including $50 million for projects at UAMS, such as the conference center and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging facility next door to the Spine Institute.

It is a credit to the late Donald W. Reynolds for his business success in generating the assets to set up the Foundation, he said, and to Smith and the Foundation for making investments that have benefited so many.

“It’s appropriate that this amazing state-of-the-art facility is named for

Fred W. Smith,” Huckabee said during the April 28 ceremony, where he also read a proclamation making it “Fred W. Smith Day.”

Wilson also praised the contributions of Smith and the Reynolds Foundation for its support of UAMS that made possible the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, which opened in 2000, among other campus projects. He noted that supporters such as the Foundation allow for excellent facilities and programs, which allow UAMS to recruit highly talented faculty and researchers, who in turn improve the health care environment in Arkansas.

“This is a marvelous facility and we are proud to dedicate it to Fred W. Smith and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation,” Wilson said. “This Conference Center is an expression of all that UAMS as an academic medical facility and Arkansas as a state have to offer. Both have many unique treasures waiting to be discovered by the rest of the world.”

The Fred W. Smith Conference Center, on the 12^th floor of the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute at UAMS, encompasses the 335-seat Fred W. Smith Auditorium and James H. Hamlen II Boardroom. The new Conference Center will allow UAMS to host national seminars, conferences and educational symposiums. The state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment will allow UAMS to offer teleconferencing on a large-scale basis.

Smith said, “that one of the intents of the Reynolds Foundation was that its grants and gifts would be leveraged by others to do more good,” citing the Stephens Spine Institute as a shining example.

Others speaking at the dedication of the Fred W. Smith Conference Center were Steven L. Anderson, president of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation; B. Alan Sugg, Ph.D., president of the University of Arkansas System; Frank Thomas, vice president of Stephens, Inc.; and Jo Ellen Ford, a member of the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging Advisory Board and of the UAMS Foundation Fund Board.

Smith, who was born in Arkoma, Oklahoma, attended college in Fort Smith, and started his career in communications in 1951 as an advertising salesman for the Southwest Times-Record in Fort Smith, one of many newspapers owned by the late Donald W. Reynolds. He served in several managerial roles within Reynolds’ Donrey Media Group, and was named executive vice president in 1973, and president and chief operating officer in 1987.

In 1992, Smith became chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation Board of Trustees, one of the largest private foundations in the nation. Under his leadership, the Foundation has awarded more than $910 million in grants in less than 10 years, including more than $260 million in Arkansas and more than $50 million to UAMS.

The Conference Center includes the James H. Hamlen II Boardroom, featuring a large segmented table that can be reconfigured from a large oval as needed for meetings or presentations. The Boardroom is named for the late James Hamlen, a Little Rock businessman who was a generous supporter of UAMS.

The 335-seat Fred W. Smith Auditorium is the UAMS campus’ largest auditorium and offers a comfortable and dignified venue appropriate for speeches, lectures and seminars. The stage includes room for a lectern or table and chairs for hosting lectures or panel discussions.

Adjoining the Auditorium and Boardroom is a spacious lobby, with its centerpiece, a brilliant, multi-colored chandelier of hand-blown glass. A west-facing, floor-to-ceiling window offers an impressive view of the UAMS campus.

The Fred W. Smith Conference Center was designed by a team of architects from Cromwell Architects and Engineers of Little Rock led by Hrand A. Duvalian. Construction was by CDI Contractors of Little Rock. The audiovisual systems were designed by Jay S. Stanley & Associates of North Little Rock.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, it is one of the largest private foundations in the United States.

Links on This Page

Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging at UAMS: http://centeronaging.uams.edu/

Donald W. Reynolds Foundation: http://www.dwreynolds.org/

Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute: http://www.uams.edu/stephensinstitute/default.asp


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