Hill's Endowment for Fay Jones School Focuses on Healthcare, Wellness Design

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Charles Hill

University of Arkansas alumnus Charles C. Hill has established two endowments to benefit the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. The $100,000 planned gift will create the Charles C. Hill Endowed Scholarship in Healthcare and Wellness Design and the Charles C. Hill Endowed Lecture in Healthcare and Wellness Design, each in the amount of $50,000.

The endowed scholarship provides financial support to students in the Master of Design Studies program with a concentration in healthcare and wellness design. Creating an endowment for graduate students greatly improves access to financial resources for students who often have limited options for scholarships.

The endowed lecture will underwrite one lecture each year in the Fay Jones School, intended to engage, inform and educate students, other design professionals and members of the community about the impacts and significance of healthcare and wellness design.

Together, the endowments will help the Fay Jones School prepare students for the evolving future of healthcare design by promoting innovative teaching, exposing students to progressive design concepts that originate in the world’s most advanced healthcare systems, and reducing the financial burden for the school’s graduate students.

“Charles Hill’s support for healthcare and wellness design will have a lasting impact, not just on the students who benefit from these endowments but also on the communities they go on to serve,” said Chancellor Charles Robinson. “We appreciate his generosity, ongoing commitment to our students and support of the university’s mission to improve the lives of all Arkansans." 

“The Fay Jones School continues to expand and deepen its stellar professional undergraduate degree programs into directed graduate programs aimed at addressing state, regional and national imperative issues through architecture and design,” said Peter MacKeith, dean of the school. “Alumnus Charles Hill, with this generous gift, is enabling us to further our ambition in the specific imperative of health and wellness design. On behalf of the school, I am very grateful to Charles for this foresighted, compassionate contribution to the school and our students’ future.”

A holistic knowledge of the healthcare system is critical to interpreting its current and future needs, and adaptability is a key part of that knowledge. As an example, Hill referenced the changing healthcare needs of baby boomers.

“When baby boomers became adults, an overwhelming need for obstetrics and pediatrics emerged,” Hill said. “Recently, boomers’ needs have shifted to geriatrics, orthopedics and extended care. We need to develop curriculum that inspires architects to identify the evolving needs of our healthcare system and prepare our students to design for those needs.”

“We are grateful to Charles Hill for his commitment to advancing opportunities for students embarking in the evolving landscape of healthcare design,” said Scott Varady, vice chancellor for advancement. “This investment in the Fay Jones School will help ensure that graduates are equipped to excel in this concentration and address related needs in the communities they serve.”

Hill’s connection to the Fay Jones School is older than the school itself. When he was a student, the Department of Architecture was part of the College of Arts and Sciences. “It all worked together,” Hill said, recalling the days when architecture, theater, music and art were all housed within the Fine Arts Center. It wasn’t until 1974, a year after Hill graduated, that the Department of Architecture became the School of Architecture, naming E. Fay Jones as its first dean.

Hill spent much of his childhood living at Buffalo River State Park, which later became part of the Buffalo National River, where he grew to love the outdoors. At age 11, his family moved to Little Rock. The transition to city life was challenging, but as he adapted, Hill developed an interest in engineering and architecture and decided to study civil engineering at Arkansas Tech University.

Later, Hill decided to attend the University of Arkansas. Professor Gatchell at the College of Engineering suggested that he might want to consider architecture based on his varied interest in building structure and art. John Williams, the founder of the architecture program at the university, explained how architecture was a melding of the technical aspects of engineering with environmental and aesthetic aspects of design; Hill chose architecture. He was selected to fill one of 50 spots available in the architecture program in the fall of 1963.

Like many young men at the time, in 1968, Hill left school and enlisted in the Army National Guard. Following basic training, he first worked for the Arkansas Highway Department and then with a local architecture firm in North Little Rock. It didn’t take long though for Hill to return to the U of A to complete his architecture degree in 1973.

Hill’s early experiences established a career-long connection to healthcare design. A key school assignment involved researching extended care facilities, such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities, to determine how design could impact care and improve the quality of life for residents. In the late 1960s, his first project at Renshaw and Taylor, a North Little Rock architecture firm, was an extended care facility. When he graduated, Hill joined Erhart, Eichenbaum, Rauch and Blass, a Little Rock firm founded in 1930 that specialized in healthcare design.

“I chose architecture because I value the creative process, the organization — and because I enjoy people,” Hill said. “To be a successful architect, you must enjoy and care about people. It’s who we design buildings for. If you don’t, you are missing the point of the profession.”

Hill graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1973. He is a member of Chancellor’s Society, a member of the Arkansas Alumni Association and recognized as a Thoroughred for his consecutive years of giving to the university.

Hill continues to support the Fay Jones School as a member of the Dean’s Circle — a group of designers and related industry leaders who provide guidance, expertise and financial support. They also serve as mentors and ambassadors for the Fay Jones School.

About University Advancement: University Advancement advances the mission of the University of Arkansas by raising private gift support from alumni, friends, parents, foundations, corporations, and other institutional supporters. Working in philanthropic partnership with academic leaders and volunteers, Advancement team members are determined to advance the people, work, and impact of the greater whole at the University of Arkansas.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $3 billion to Arkansas’ economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.