Career in Healthcare Design Inspires Roberts Gift to Fay Jones School

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Greg Roberts.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas alumnus Greg Roberts has had a successful career in healthcare design and wants to support curriculum development for his field in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design.

His $1 million planned gift will establish an endowed chair that will direct the school’s proposed Master of Design Studies concentration in healthcare and wellness.

His gift also counted in Campaign Arkansas, the university’s recently concluded capital campaign that raised nearly $1.45 billion to advance academic opportunity.

“Greg Roberts’ extraordinary gift contributes significantly to the ‘design futures’ of the Fay Jones School,” said Dean Peter MacKeith. “The gift confirms our overall commitment to addressing issues of imperative value to society and culture through design, but also directs our attention specifically to the responsibility design has in shaping the built environment to the needs of public health and wellness. This is both a timely commitment and a prescient one, and Greg’s keen foresight on behalf of the school cannot be overstated. His loyalty to the school and his belief in the continuing strength of the architecture and design education he received here has been an inspiration to me; this superb gift will be an inspiration for the next generation of our students, as well as an illuminating signal of the school’s future. On behalf of the school, I am deeply grateful to Greg Roberts.”

Originally from Fort Smith, Roberts says he was inspired and guided toward the field of architecture in high school, thanks to one of his teachers. He came to the U of A with an interest in structure and design and earned a Bachelor of Architecture in 1971.

“It was a wonderful experience and a challenging time, but it was one of the happiest and most memorable times of my life,” Roberts said of his time at the U of A.

Roberts moved to Houston after graduation, where his career in healthcare design began. In the late 1990s, an interest in sustainability led him to apply new concepts to his architectural projects and eventually resulted in the development of the “Green Guide for Health Care,” the first health-based sustainable-building best-practice tool in use worldwide by design and healthcare professionals.

Roberts was one of only three American Institute of Architects member healthcare architects on the “Green Guide for Health Care” Steering Committee, and the document became the foundation for the LEED for Healthcare rating system.

Roberts’ expertise in the field inspired him to approach the Fay Jones School about developing course curriculum in healthcare design, similar to programs at other schools, such as Texas A&M and Clemson. He says he believes education is the key to long-term change, and he leverages every opportunity to raise awareness and teach others.

“Healthcare design is becoming increasingly important, and it’s been an interest of mine to get the U of A moving in that direction,” Roberts said. “I figured, what better place to leave my estate than the Fay Jones School, especially if it can promote this focus.”

The endowed chair that will be created with his gift will direct the Fay Jones School’s proposed Master of Design Studies concentration in healthcare and wellness and signify his lifelong commitment to healthcare design.

The endowment will be used to attract and retain highly qualified individuals to the position, supplement university support for outstanding faculty, and provide the holder with the resources to continue and further the educator’s contributions to teaching, research and public service. This includes leadership in architecture and design, specifically healthcare and wellness design, a mission of teaching, research and community engagement in practice, and the ability to critically imagine healthcare and wellness design as an intrinsic element of contemporary design practice.

“A lot of wonderful things have happened at the Fay Jones School,” Roberts said. “Dean MacKeith has brought about new initiatives, and it has been a wonderful transition for the school.”

Roberts, a Fellow of the AIA, is a retired principal with WHR Architects and spent more than three decades in healthcare design. At the University of Arkansas, he is a member of the Arkansas Alumni Association and the Fay Jones School’s Dean’s Circle. He is also counted as a Thoroughred for his 11 years of consecutive giving to the university and included in the Towers of Old Main, a giving society for the university’s most generous benefactors.

About Campaign Arkansas: Campaign Arkansas is the recently concluded capital campaign for the University of Arkansas that raised a record $1.449 billion to support the university’s academic mission and other key priorities, including academic and need-based scholarships, technology enhancements, new and renovated facilities, undergraduate, graduate and faculty research, study abroad opportunities and other innovative programs. The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in a wide spectrum of disciplines as it works to fulfill its public land-grant mission to serve Arkansas and beyond as a partner, resource and catalyst.

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 fewer than 3% of colleges and 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.