Northwest Quadrant Residential Community And Pat Walker Health Center To Be Dedicated

Fayetteville, Ark. - The Northwest Quadrant Residential Community and the Pat Walker Health Center will be dedicated during a public ceremony and ribbon cutting at 11 a.m., Friday, Nov. 12. The ceremony will be held in the Elizabeth Phillips Stewart Atrium of the Pat Walker Health Center on the corner of Maple Street and Garland Avenue.

Speakers at the dedication will include Alan Sugg, president of the UA System; Gary George, chairman of the UA Board of Trustees; UA Chancellor John A. White, and other UA officials and students.

A guided tour will be held and portions of each facility will be open for public viewing immediately after the dedication and ribbon cutting.

The "Quad" is the first new residence hall to be constructed on the UA campus since Pomfret Hall was built in the late 1960s - and it's the first suite-style hall ever built at the U of A. All 609 beds of the four-building complex were reserved within six hours on the first day that such reservations could be made. The Quad features classrooms and meeting rooms equipped with SMART Boards and Internet wireless zones. It also contains a new 380-seat dining hall featuring market-style dining.

Made possible by a generous lead gift from the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation, the 36,000-square-foot Pat Walker Health Center is 80 percent larger than the old building. It was constructed to house the Primary Medical Clinic and Women's Health Clinic, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), Health Promotion and Education Services, Allergy/Immunization Clinic, Clinical Laboratory Services, Radiological Services and a Pharmacy for use by all members of the campus community. Additionally, the new facility will house a health education multi-purpose room which will be used for classes, workshops, programs and informal gatherings. The student fee review board chose to support the Pat Walker Health Center's construction through a fee increase for the student body.

The Elizabeth Phillips Stewart Atrium memorializes an employee of the health center who retired in 1962 and died in 1998. Her son and daughter-in-law, Julian and Nana Stewart, made a contribution toward the completion of the Pat Walker Health Center and to name the atrium after Elizabeth Phillips Stewart.

The Elizabeth Phillips Stewart Atrium of the Pat Walker Health Center is a distinguishing feature of this new facility. A large open space spanning the entire east side of the building, the Elizabeth Phillips Stewart Atrium will be the first area that visitors to the health center enter.