About Us

The UAMS College of Health Professions serves the state of Arkansas as the primary arm of the University of Arkansas in offering programs that provide education, service, and research in the allied health professions. The College was organized as a separate college within the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 1971.

In fulfilling its mission, the College of Health Professions offers education and training opportunities for students of the allied health professions to prepare them as graduates to assume the roles of the professional. The college curricula coordinate the professional course work with the arts, humanities, and basic and social sciences into a total educational experience that emphasizes life-long learning in the allied health professions.

Patient and public health education is an important part of the mission of the College of Health Professions. In its public service role, programs in the college render patient care services as part of their educational efforts under the supervision of faculty. Technical advice and consultative services are available from the college to institutions and agencies throughout the state. The professional service mission of the college includes the offering of continuing education courses to practitioners to enhance teaching, administration, and professional skills.

Research in the College of Health Professions involves the educational process as well as professional fields. The research mission involves the quest for new information which addresses the health and health care educational needs of the state, and the sharing of this information with the scientific community.

The UAMS College of Health Professions’ mission is achieved through the varied offerings of its departments. The college, the only one of its kind at an academic health science center in Arkansas, has as its main role the education of allied health professionals to serve in the health care delivery system in the state. The specific educational programs currently offered within the College of Health Professions are provided by ten academic departments. They include: Audiology and Speech Pathology; Dental Hygiene; Dietetics and Nutrition; Genetic Counseling; Imaging and Radiation Sciences; Laboratory Sciences Occupational Therapy; Physical Therapy; Physician Assistant Studies; and Respiratory Care. Programs range from academic requirements of one year to programs that require four or more years. Academic awards include associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. Nearly all the programs stipulate prerequisites for admission that must be completed at another (general undergraduate) institution.

Other roles of the College of Health Professions include public and professional service, and research. The college offers professional continuing education opportunities to enhance the abilities of practicing allied health professionals; serves as a resource center for allied health planning, education, and delivery systems in Arkansas, and develops applied research programs in allied health. All of these roles combine to support the overall mission of the college.

Education

We educate exceptional health care professionals.

• We educate through innovation, compassion, teamwork, and patient- and family-centered care.
• We utilize and model life-long learning and evidence-based health care.
• We embrace contemporary instructional technologies and sound foundational approaches to education.
• We improve health care delivery in Arkansas, across the nation, and beyond.

Scholarship

We contribute to and advance the intellectual and clinical practice foundations of our professions.

• We educate students, scholars, and health professionals by (a) incorporating current evidence and evidence-based clinical practice into curricula; and (b) guiding and mentoring learners to participate in and conduct scholarly activity.
• We engage in scholarly inquiry to advance education, health, and health care, and we disseminate new knowledge in forms that are appropriate to target audiences.

Service

We embrace a culture of service with our colleagues, learners, and community partners to promote our professions, enrich the lives of the individuals we serve, and strengthen our communities.

• We achieve excellence in service through leadership in our departments, college, university, and professions.
• We cultivate high impact service-learning opportunities that strengthen our communities and promote learner engagement, inter-professional development, leadership, and team work.

Collegiality

We respect and honor the talents, abilities, and diversity of our colleagues and partners as, together, we endeavor to attain our highest potentials.

• We collaborate, actively listen, address concerns, and demonstrate mutual respect for the philosophies and ideologies of those whom we serve.
• We seek and nurture interprofessional relationships that empower us and others to engage in scholarship, educate learners, serve, and lead our professions.