Stephen Cranford recently became director of Operations — Primary Care for Sparks Clinic. He has oversight of more than a dozen clinics in Fort Smith and surrounding areas.
Cranford joined Sparks in 2013 and has worked as director of Information Systems and assistant PAC/RIS administrator. He earned his bachelor’s degree in radiology management from the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith in 2014 and is currently completing a master’s degree in leadership and ethics from John Brown University. He also aims to pursue a doctorate in theology.
Rebecca Hurst, managing partner at Smith Hurst law firm, will receive the second annual Young Alumni Award from the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith’s Alumni Association, recognizing the alumna’s successful career in business law and service to the university.
Hurst will be honored at the Homecoming Reunion Social at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 9 at The Blue Lion at UAFS Downtown, located at 101 N. Second St. Tickets for the event are $30 and can be purchased by visiting http://alumni.uafs.edu/homecoming.
Hurst graduated in 2000 with a degree in accounting from the University Center on Westark College’s campus prior to UAFS becoming a four-year university.
After a brief stint as a corporate accountant, Hurst went on to earn her law degree from the University of Arkansas and her master of laws in taxation from New York University.
Hurst co-founded the Smith Hurst estate planning and business legal firm in Fayetteville and Rogers. Her work has led her to be recognized in the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 list of business leaders and successful individuals, as well as a 2012 and 2013 Rising Star by Mid-South Super Lawyers in the field of estate planning and probate. She has also been named a Super Lawyer each year since 2014 by the same organization. Additionally, she has been awarded an AV rating by the attorney directory Martindale-Hubbell, which is the highest rating available for a lawyer's legal ability and professional ethics.
Her service to UAFS includes two three-year terms on the UAFS Alumni Advisory Council and her current appointment as a member of the UAFS Foundation Board, in addition to numerous speaking engagements given to students.
“Rebecca’s six years of service on the Alumni Advisory Council as chair of the by-laws committee were invaluable,” said Rick Goins, director of alumni affairs at UAFS. “We relied on her legal skills multiple times as the association grew. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with her as a new member of the UAFS Foundation Board, and she has graciously agreed to be the AAC ‘legal consultant’ going forward.”
Jon Lee of Lee Physical Therapy in Springdale and Van Buren has partnered with ApexNetwork Physical Therapy, an outpatient rehabilitation provider with over 60 clinics nationwide. Both clinics will now accept Medicare and most major commercial insurance.
Lee, PT, CWCE is a lifelong resident of Arkansas who has been providing outpatient orthopedic physical therapy in Arkansas for over 20 years. He focuses on injury prevention, ergonomic assessments, patient and employer education and manual therapy. Lee will continue acting as owner and clinic manager of both clinics.
Lee Physical Therapy has provided physical therapy services to Worker’s Compensation clients for many years. Partnering with a group such as ApexNetwork Physical Therapy “is a natural fit,” Lee said.
Marta Loyd, executive director of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute and former vice chancellor for university advancement at University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, will be given the Diligence to Victory Award at the university’s Homecoming Reunion Social on Feb. 9.
Loyd is a former UAFS administrator who helped grow the university’s endowment to more than $50 million
With a career beginning as a dental hygienist, Loyd served as interim director of the dental hygiene program at UAFS for a year before being promoted to vice chancellor for university advancement in 2002. In her 12-year tenure in that role, she was instrumental in transforming the Westark Community College Foundation to a comprehensive university foundation with an endowment of more than $55 million and assets of more than $75 million.
Additionally, she piloted a $57 million major gifts campaign, oversaw the development of the university’s first alumni association and served on the steering committee to develop a five-year strategic plan for UAFS.
Loyd assumed her current position at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute in 2014, where she serves as the chief executive officer of the institute.
“To be recognized by the university that I love and that gave me so much more than I gave it is honestly one of the most humbling honors I’ve ever received,” Loyd said in a news release. “I enjoyed my time at Westark as a student when I was in-between careers, and I especially loved working with the generous donors of the university in support of students, faculty and administration. UAFS is a unique and special place and will always be an important part of my life.”
Melinda A. Wilkins, professor and director of the health information management and health informatics programs at Arkansas Tech University, has become the first Arkansas resident elected to the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Board of Directors.
Wilkins holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees of education from Southwestern Oklahoma State University and a doctorate from Capella University.
She served on the Arkansas Tech University faculty from 1988-2015. After one year away as vice president for research and education at Administrative Consultant Service LLC, she returned to the Arkansas Tech faculty in 2016.
Wilkins is former chair of the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education. She has worked in outpatient and inpatient settings as well as in consulting. Wilkins is a recent recipient of the AHIMA Leadership Triumph Award and has served in many volunteer roles at both the national and state level.
According to a news release from the American Health Information Management Association, the AHIMA board is responsible for setting long-term strategy and direction, governing the association’s activities and fulfilling the organization’s fiduciary responsibility. AHIMA represents more than 103,000 health information professionals in the United States and around the world.
David W. Wright was recently named the next headmaster of Subiaco Academy near Paris effective July 1.
Wright is currently the assistant vice president of Enrollment and Educational Services at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. He is married and has three daughters. Wright received a bachelor’s degree in education from the State University of New York, where he also earned All-American honors as a soccer player. He earned his master’s in education from Brigham Young University, and his doctorate in education management from George Washington University. The subject of his dissertation was student leadership development.
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