NOV. 19, 2004 | “What do I do next?”

That was the magic question for science undergraduate and graduate students during the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Career Day for Biomedical Sciences, held Nov. 4.

With a vast array of careers available in academia, health care and industry, many students don’t know which direction to turn. Career Day, sponsored by the UAMS Graduate School, provides information on potential careers for its graduate students and brings in undergraduate students from Arkansas and across the region to visit the campus and recruit them to the program. Other sponsors were the UAMS Women’s Faculty Development Caucus

and the Arkansas Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (AR BRIN).

“I wanted to get a better understanding of what they have to offer at UAMS,” Carla Turner, a senior biology undergraduate from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff said as she squeezed into the packed auditorium at the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging.

“When we earned our Ph.D.’s, you pretty much had a choice of a career as a faculty member or with a drug company,” Bobby McGehee, Ph.D., dean of the UAMS Graduate School, associate professor of pediatrics in the UAMS College of Medicine and a member of the Arkansas Cancer Research Center at UAMS, told the students in opening remarks. “But today there are many career paths you can choose with a graduate degree.”

McGehee encouraged all of the undergraduate students to consider UAMS to continue their educations. “You can’t get too much education and right here in Little Rock at UAMS you can get as good an education as anywhere in the country.”

“By bringing students to the UAMS campus to hear from national experts in biomedical fields, Career Day gives them a chance to visualize their futures,” said Dana Gaddy, Ph.D., associate professor in the Departments of Physiology and Biophysics and Orthopaedic Surgery in the UAMS College of Medicine.  There were more than 100 undergraduates and about 40 graduates registered for the event, which has now been held four times. The event was moved from spring to fall this year to allow students more time to apply for graduate school or summer research programs at UAMS.

Gaddy said Career Day began in response to a request from the Graduate Student Association to the UAMS Women’s Faculty Development Caucus.  “Some students in the Graduate Student Association wanted to know about their career options after graduate school,” she said. A recruiting effort at an Arkansas college also convinced Gaddy that bringing undergraduates to UAMS would provide them with a better understanding of what UAMS had to offer and what they could potentially do with a graduate degree.