The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences honored retiring Chancellor Dan Rahn on Tuesday by dedicating an education building on the north side of its Little Rock campus as the Daniel W. Rahn Interprofessional Education Building.
“Dr. Rahn has been a champion of interprofessional education, and I really can’t think of a more fitting tribute,” UA System President Donald Bobbitt said in a news release. “Dan Rahn’s personal philosophy is to leave each place he has worked better than he found it. I would say, ‘mission accomplished, Dr. Rahn.'”
Interprofessional education is when students from two or more professions learn from, about and with one another to improve health outcomes.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson also spoke at the dedication ceremony. In the release, he called Rahn’s service “extraordinary.”
To Rahn, he said, “You have kept your hands to the plow, worked hard, diligently and really made a huge difference, not just for UAMS, but for health care across this state. And for that – your transformational leadership – we will forever be grateful.”
Rahn is retiring July 31 after serving as chancellor since 2009.
Stephanie Gardner has been named interim chancellor. A nationwide search for Rahn’s replacement is underway.
Two chancellor finalists are visiting UAMS in Little Rock and the university’s northwest regional campus in Fayetteville in late July.
Rahn called having his name attached to UAMS “one of the greatest honors of my life.”
The UA system’s board has also awarded Rahn the ranks of chancellor emeritus and emeritus professor of rheumatology and immunology.
The UAMS Foundation Fund Board and chancellor’s cabinet established in Rahn’s name an endowment fund to support interprofessional education. More than $300,000 has been raised so far by members of the board and cabinet.
A painting by Arkansas artist Rex Deloney, who is an art instructor and chairman of the Fine Arts Department at Central High School, was also presented to Rahn and his wife, Lana, at the dedication.
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