Nursing Director to Be Honored as Billingsley Chair Holder

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Pegge Bell

The College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas extends an invitation to a ceremony at 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 15 for the investiture of Pegge Bell as the holder of the George M. and Boyce W. Billingsley Endowed Chair in Nursing. Bell became director of the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing in July.

The ceremony will take place in the student lobby of the Epley Center for Health Professions, 606 N. Razorback Road, on the Fayetteville campus. The college will recognize the extraordinary philanthropy of Boyce Billingsley and her husband, the late George Billingsley.

The Billingsleys have funded several endowed chairs and scholarships across campus as well as supporting the libraries and Razorback athletics. George Billingsley was chairman and chief executive officer of Pacific Resources Export Limited and president of International Tours of Northwest Arkansas. He was a 1957 University of Arkansas graduate with a degree in history. He and his wife, Boyce, a 1955 graduate in finance and banking, were both charter members of the Chancellor’s Society, contributed to the restoration of Old Main and actively supported the Arkansas Alumni Association and intercollegiate athletics.

Bell has been a registered nurse since 1973 and a nurse educator since 1979. She came to the University of Arkansas from Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla., where she initially served as the dean of the School of Nursing. She then became dean of the College of Health Sciences at Barry University in 2008.