Tonya Terry's legacy lives on in the traits of nurses who benefit from the scholarship her husband established at the University of Arkansas.

Bill Smith of Springdale takes an active interest each year as the College of Education and Health Professions chooses a graduate student enrolled in the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing to receive the scholarship. He wants applicants to understand what his late wife accomplished in her life cut short at the age of 43, when she died of liver disease.

When he established the scholarship three years ago, Smith spoke lovingly and clearly about the kind of nurse Terry was and the kind of person she was. Terry wanted to teach others lessons she learned from her experiences as a nurse. She wanted to combine the love of learning and the innate creativity her family passed on to her in ways that would benefit other nurses and their patients. She wanted to tell other nurses that compassion and empathy are two of their best tools.

The scholarship Smith created is the first endowed scholarship available to graduate students in nursing at the university. Students apply online at the beginning of each year for scholarships that will be available for the coming academic year.

The graduate programs in nursing are delivered online with a clinical component. The U of A Global Campus supports academic units in the development and delivery of online courses and programs. A full list of online programs offered by the university is showcased on the University of Arkansas ONLINE website.

Natale Yates

Natale Yates of Rogers is the 2015-16 recipient of the Tonya Joan Terry, RN Endowed Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarship. Yates earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the U of A in 2012 and is now enrolled in the adult geriatric acute care nurse practitioner concentration of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program. She works at Mercy Hospital in Rogers, previously as the medical-surgical charge nurse and now in what is called the float pool. She moves among various departments as needed, including the intensive care unit and emergency room.

"I wanted to do that because of the variety," she said, "and it's the quickest way to learn the most information."

Yates will begin training this summer to become a house supervisor at the hospital, and after the three months of training she will be in charge of daily nursing operations at the hospital.

However, she will also change to part-time work this fall, when the scholarship funding begins. The clinical hours required for the D.N.P. will triple for her this fall, Yates said, so the additional funds to allow her to work part time are critical.

The house supervisor role requires more administrative work such as bed planning, or putting patients where they belong to best care for them, she said, and the degree program will also help her with the administrative side of nursing.

"The scholarship is what will allow me to concentrate more on what I will ultimately do," she said.

She heard about the scholarship during orientation for the graduate degree program.

"Bill Smith is invested in health care, especially from the nursing perspective," Yates said. "He understands what nurses can do to improve health care outcomes."

Yates expects to complete the D.N.P. in May of 2017.

"I would encourage any nurse to go back to school and do the D.N.P.," she said. "The D.N.P. is great for nursing because it allows us to collaborate on an equal level with other health care professionals. Health care today requires a collaborative team that takes care of complex patients."

Yates is certified to provide chemotherapy treatment and said her greatest patient experience so far concerned a chemotherapy patient. After the woman left her hospital, she came back to tell Yates she was in remission.

"That had a great impact on me, to know that I meant enough to her as a nurse that she got in touch with me," Yates said.

Heather Manchester

Heather Manchester, a previous recipient of the Terry scholarship, lives in Muldrow, Oklahoma, and works as travel nurse. She graduated with a Master of Science in Nursing earlier this month and - with her new credentials - plans to begin looking for employment as an advanced practice registered nurse as an adult-geriatric clinical nurse specialist.

"I would like a direct patient-care position in a specialty area," she said and noted her interests in oncology and cardiology.

Manchester initially considered majoring in accounting and wanted to get her undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas but changed her mind about the first idea and the second plan didn't work out. She earned an associate's degree in nursing from the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and her bachelor's degree in nursing from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She has been a registered nurse since December 2008.

"I started researching master's programs even before I started my bachelor's degree," Manchester said. "I knew I wanted to go to the U of A. It's close to home, and the program had what I wanted as far as career goals."

She took the adult geriatric clinical nurse specialist concentration in the master's program and is one of the last graduates in the concentration that is now offered as a concentration in the D.N.P. program.

A childhood experience influenced her decision to become a nurse, Manchester said. She and a cousin were just three months apart in age and were as close as twins growing up. When they were 11, her cousin became very ill and spent a lot of time at Arkansas Children's Hospital, she said.

"The nurses there accommodated me, and I saw the way they treated him and the things they did for him," she said. "That made me want to be a nurse."

She also noted a coincidence between Terry's life and her own, in that her husband was diagnosed with a chronic liver condition.

"My husband was going through a lot of testing, and eventually the doctors figured out the trouble was with his liver," Manchester said. "He is fine now but that left us with lots of medical bills so having the ability to pay for school with my scholarship allowed me to take time to be with him, to go to doctors' visits."

The scholarship funds were also a great help to allow her to take time from work when her infant son was hospitalized intermittently for three months after his birth. Everyone in the family is OK now but the experiences brought home to Manchester that lesson about the value of empathy that Terry wanted to impart to other nurses.

"Hearing Tonya Terry's story hit home for me," Manchester said.