FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas Women’s Giving Circle is continuing its positive impact on campus with its latest round of grant awards. At the annual fall voting event on Friday, Oct. 20, $100,000 was presented to seven University of Arkansas programs, and the membership heard updates from two recent scholarship recipients.

The Women’s Giving Circle Founders Endowed Advance Arkansas Scholarship was established in 2016 and awarded for the first time this fall to Eva Puga, a senior biology major from De Queen. Puga plans to enroll in dental school after graduation and spoke to the circle about the difference the scholarship had made in her life. She received $4,000 from the circle this academic year.

“It provides me with peace of mind financially,” she said. “And it allows me to focus on my academic career.”

Chancellor Joe Steinmetz, whose wife, Sandy, is a lifetime member of the circle, is a vocal supporter of the Advance Arkansas scholarship initiative. At the event, it was announced that the Chancellor’s Office would be making another $25,000 contribution to the Women’s Giving Circle Founders Endowed Advance Arkansas Scholarship fund.

“The Women’s Giving Circle supports remarkable projects on our campus and provides critical scholarship funding for our students,” said Steinmetz. “Sandy and I strongly believe in its purpose and want to see it continue to grow and succeed.

“It’s fitting that one of the 10 Advance Arkansas scholarships we awarded this fall was from the circle. This group has a history of being at the forefront of philanthropy for our university.”

Jenna Buys, a junior from Dallas who is enrolled in the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, was unable to attend the event but wrote a note to the group thanking them for their support. Buys is the recipient of the Women’s Giving Circle Endowed Scholarship in Nursing, which was established in 2011. She received $1,570 for the 2017-18 academic year.

“Hearing from our scholarship recipients puts everything into perspective for us,” said Melissa McIlroy Hawkins, president of the Women’s Giving Circle. “There is a spirit of generosity behind everything we do, but knowing the difference we make in their lives is especially encouraging. When we meet these students and hear about the impact we have made on their lives, we want to do even more.”

The Women’s Giving Circle is made up of U of A alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the university and was created to encourage women as philanthropic leaders. The circle raises funds in part by requiring annual cash gifts from its members. The annual membership is $1,000 for alumnae or friends and $500 for recent graduates, students, faculty and staff. Membership in the circle counts toward Campaign Arkansas, the university’s $1 billion capital campaign.

Membership contributions are pooled together and awarded annually to selected recipients who complete the grant proposal process. This year’s grant recipients were chosen from 35 proposals, with 11 finalists selected through an online vote. Women’s Giving Circle members heard presentations from the finalists as part of Friday’s voting event and then chose the winning programs. The amounts of the seven grants given out this year ranged from $5,000 to $20,000.

The proposals that received funding this year include:

• Are U OK? Training in Early Intervention for Students in Distress, an online training program that teaches students, faculty and staff how to respond appropriately to persons in distress. The program received $20,000 and was presented by Michele Cooper, clinical case manager in the Pat Walker Health Center in the Division of Student Affairs.
• Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Technology Assisted Training and Supervision, which will use its $20,000 grant to fund the addition of new technology – called Learning Space – to allow for more immediate supervision and feedback of graduate trainees who are providing counseling to other U of A students. The proposal was presented by Danette Horne, assistant director of CAPS in the Pat Walker Health Center in the Division of Student Affairs.
• Leaders and Learners – Empowering Marshallese Mothers and Daughters, a mentorship collaboration between the College of Education and Health Professions and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Center for Pacific Islander Health, that connects U of A students with Marshallese middle and high school-age girls and their female significant others to model and empower positive health, leadership, pursuit of higher education and careers in health. The project was represented by Jean Henry, associate professor of community health and promotion in the College of Education and Health Professions, and received $18,395.
• Music75 Initiative Student Funds, presented by Theresa Delaplain, a faculty member in the Department of Music in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, to enrich community outreach and connect with citizens throughout the state. The program’s $13,455 grant will be used to strengthen associations between the department’s faculty and students with secondary school students across Arkansas and continue work already started in 2017 with six initial counties.
• Soaring High in Engineering (SHE) Camp – Blytheville, a program presented by Amy Warren, assistant director of outreach and summer programs from the College of Engineering. SHE Camp will introduce STEM concepts to 40 fifth through eighth grade girls through a problem-based engineering camp. The camp’s $12,650 grant will be used to teach concepts from multiple fields of engineering and the sciences to solve real-world problems.
• WGC Design Camp 2019, a community outreach program of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, which provides an enriching educational experience and opportunity for learning, self-discovery and self-expression for all of Arkansas’ youth. The $10,500 granted to the program was accepted by Alison Turner, clinical assistant professor in the Fay Jones School.
• Inter-professional Student-led Fall Prevention Intervention Using Motivational Interviewing Strategies, a project to develop and implement an intervention, using motivational interviewing skills, to increase engagement and commitment of older adults in fall prevention behaviors. Susan K. Patton, interim director of the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing, presented the project, which received $5,000.

Steinmetz, along with Melissa McIlroy Hawkins, president of the Women’s Giving Circle, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Jim Coleman and Vice Chancellor for Advancement Mark Power, presented checks to the grant recipients.

The Women’s Giving Circle was established in 2002, and its founding members included Sylvia Boyer (B.S.E. 1963), Pat Cooper, Johnelle Hunt, Mary Trimble Maier (B.A. 1949), Julia Peck Mobley (B.S.E. 1965), Harriett Phillips (B.A. 1972), Debbie Walker, Lynne Walton (B.A. 1970), Margaret Whillock (B.S.E. 1957), Mary Lib White and Donna Axum Whitworth (B.A. 1966, M.A. 1969).

Lifetime members of the circle include Carol S. Adams, Nancy Bittle, Charlotte Downs, Sandra K. Edwards, Margie Pomfret Farber, Denise Garner, Martha Cornwell Haguewood, Melissa McIlroy Hawkins, Denise Henderson, Kellie Knight, Lee Lane, Marybeth Mayfield, Judy McDonald, Julia Peck Mobley, Harriett Phillips, Catherine Ross, Susan Scott Ross, Jane Shipley, Sandy Steinmetz, Debbie S. Walker, Dina Wood and Ann Marie Ziegler.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.