Clifford, Parker join UAMS Northwest Advisory Board

Ed Clifford and Karen Parker will join the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest Regional Campus Advisory Board to support efforts to expand academic medicine in the region. Their threeyear terms begin July 1.

Daniel Ferritor will take over as chairman as Ann Rosso’s term ends and she resumes life membership on the board.

Clifford is CEO of the Jones Trust of Springdale which includes the Jones Center for Families and Center for Nonprofits. He is a member of several volunteer boards including the Arkansas Arts Council and Northwest Arkansas Council and is chairman of the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust.

Parker retired from WalMart in 2016, where she was a senior manager for the Walmart Foundation overseeing the Northwest Arkansas Giving Program, the National and State Giving Programs and the Associates in Critical Need Trust. She also worked in merchandising at the retailer.

Rosso served as advisory board chairwoman for the past year. Rosso is an alumna of the UAMS College of Nursing and participates on a number of area nonprofit boards that include the Washington Regional Foundation, the Nature Conservancy and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville’s Campaign Arkansas Steering Committee.

Ferritor joined the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus Advisory Board in 2016 as vice chairman. He has been involved with the University of Arkansas System as an educator and academic leader for 50 years. He served as chancellor of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville from 1986 until 1997. He taught in the Sociology Department from 1998 until 2005, and from 2005 until 2015 served as the system’s vice president for academic affairs.

The UAMS Northwest Campus Advisory Board meets quarterly and members provide input on a wide range of subjects. The volunteer leaders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors provide channels of communication between professional communities and the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus and assist with advocacy, philanthropy and advancement of academic medicine in the region.