Members and guests of the Society of the Double Helix's recent black-tie gala knew University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Chancellor Dan Rahn is retiring at the end of July. What they and Rahn didn't know was that university officials had committed to naming a building after him at UAMS.
The Society of the Double Helix celebrates donors who have given $100,000 or more to UAMS since it was established in 1879. The affair was May 23 at the Little Rock Marriott.
After a cocktail hour and dinner, officials showed a video tribute to Rahn and his wife, Lana. Then UA System President Donald Bobbitt announced the new Dan Rahn Recognition Endowment to support interprofessional education and the renaming of a 2003 building on UAMS' main campus that houses the College of Nursing, the College of Pharmacy, the Fay Boozman College of Public Health and a portion of the College of Medicine. The structure will be named the Daniel W. Rahn Interprofessional Education Building.
"Dan has been someone that I've come to deeply admire not only as the leader of a campus, but as a friend," Bobbitt said. "His time at UAMS has brought the institution forward in so many ways, and it's hard to imagine anyone else filling all of the integral roles he has on campus and in communities across the state."
After Rahn's eight years at the helm of UAMS, the couple are moving back to Augusta, Ga., to be closer to family.
"In my role as chancellor, I am the front man or face of UAMS, but our employees are the heart, feet and hands of UAMS, doing the really important work behind the scenes," Rahn said. His wife added: "When we came to Little Rock almost eight years ago, we knew no one. We were strangers in a strange land." She thanked those in the audience and others around the state for embracing them and making them feel welcome.
High Profile on 06/04/2017