UALR will honor Drs. Jonathan Bates and Sally Everson-Bates at the fifth annual Finale on Saturday, April 24, at the Jack Stephens Center.

The gala begins with cocktails at 6:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 7:30 p.m. and entertainment at 8:30 p.m.

Finale 2010 celebrates the arts in Central Arkansas and is the premier fundraising event for UALR’s arts programs. The dinner gala features performances and artwork by students. This year’s performance will feature selections by American composer and pianist George Gershwin (1898-1937). Proceeds from the event benefit UALR art, music, and theatre arts and dance students and programs.

“Jonathan and Sally are amazing leaders in the Central Arkansas community,” said Deborah Baldwin, dean of the UALR College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. “We are honored that they would assist us in raising awareness about how arts programs enrich the communities in which we live.”

Arts organizations from around the region lend their support to Finale each year. This year’s participating arts partners are Accademia dell’Arte, Arkansas Arts Center, Arkansas Festival Ballet, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

Presenting sponsors of the 2010 event are the Stella Boyle Smith Trust and Glazer’s Distributors of Arkansas. Premier sponsors include ACH and Simmons First National Bank, and sustaining sponsors are Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield and UAMS. Craig O’Neill of Today’s THV will serve as master of ceremonies. This is his third year to host the event.

Reservations to Finale are $150 each. Call 501-569-3296 for more information.

Jonathan Bates, M.D. is president and chief executive officer of Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. He earned his doctorate of medicine at the University of Missouri School of Medicine and was chief resident at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston, a Harvard teaching hospital.

Bates also did a two-year tour of duty in the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office and eventually became the senior vice president at Children’s Hospital and Health Center in San Diego. He has been president and CEO of Arkansas Children’s Hospital since May 1993.

He has served on the board of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Society, including chairman of the board from 1999 to 2000, and currently serves as a member of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Foundation board. In the past,  Bates has been a board member of both the Child Health Corporation of America and the National Association of Children Health Related Institute.

UAMS awarded Dr. Bates the Chancellor’s Award in 2001, and the Lions World Services recognized him with their “Vision Award” in 2005. He currently serves on the Governor’s Roundtable Task Force on Health.

Sally Everson-Bates, RN, DNSc, is an associate hospital administrator for UAMS. She received her master of arts degree in nursing in child psychiatry at New York University and her doctorate of nursing science, nursing administration at the University of San Diego. Everson-Bates was director of nursing research, education, and quality improvement and the assistant director of patient care services at the University of California, San Diego.

She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the Organization of Nurse Executives,  American Organization of Nurse Executives, Arkansas; and the Western Society for Research in Nursing. She has received honors in Sigma Theta Tau, Zeta Mu Chapter and the Doctoral Award for Academic Excellence and Leadership.

The couple has one daughter, Samantha, a practicing nurse who is a graduate of Reed College in Portland, Ore.