The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will raise money for audiology and speech pathology students at the ninth annual Jazz and Juleps event, presented by the UA Little Rock Development Council of the Audiology and Speech Pathology Department, on Thursday, May 24, at the Clinton Presidential Center. 

The evening, which celebrates Better Hearing and Speech Month, will begin with hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, a silent auction, and live music by Mojo de Jazz at 6 p.m. The night’s emcee, Ashlen Batson Thomasen, 2008 Miss Arkansas and an adjunct faculty member at UA Little Rock, will begin the program at 7 p.m.

The event will also celebrate Brooks Gibson Wolfe, senior audiologist at the Arkansas School for the Deaf, as the 2018 Jazz and Juleps honoree. All proceeds from the event will be used to create an endowed scholarship fund in Wolfe’s name to assist future students in the UA Little Rock Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology.

“Brooks Gibson Wolfe was chosen for this honor to highlight her work with children who are deaf and hard of hearing and their parents, and with a focus on those who are underprivileged and underserved,” said Nan Ellen East, retired executive director of Disability Rights Arkansas. “Her passion for helping individuals with hearing loss is truly inspirational.”

Wolfe was born in Dermott, Arkansas, in 1957. She graduated from St. Mary’s Hall in San Antonio, Texas, in 1975, and graduated from Millsaps College with a degree in history. With an avid interest in public health, Wolfe later earned a Master of Science from the UA Little Rock/University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences joint audiology program and a Doctor of Audiology from the University of Florida.

Wolfe worked as the photo editor for Norman Vincent Peale’s Guideposts Magazine in New York. She also was the infant hearing supervisor at the Arkansas Department of Health and has worked at the Arkansas School for the Deaf for the past 24 years.

She is a member of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and is the widow of Townsend Durant Wolfe III, former executive director and chief curator of the Arkansas Arts Center. In 2017, Wolfe began a foundation in honor of her late husband – Townsend and Brooks Wolfe Charitable Hearing Fund, through the Arkansas Community Foundation.

The 2018 Jazz and Juleps scholarship winners will be recognized, including Meredith Birginske, Shavari Bharambe, Maddie Droke, Dayton Hendricks, Jared Holt, Beverly McDowell, Alexa Milam, Anna Norwood, Emily Pankey, Danielle Peterson, Megan Stuckey, Kristyn Wethington,

UA Little Rock would like to thank the following sponsors.

Gold sponsors – KLRE/KUAR Public Radio, Lost Forty Brewing, Magna IV Communications, Remmell Dickinson, Nan Ellen and Jack Easter, Beth and Paul Eaton, and Polly and Jeff Yant.

Silver sponsors – Arkansas Arts Center, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Big Red, Regions Trust, James Rippy, Cathy and Jeff Shaneyfelt, and Loris and Jay Fullerton.

Bronze sponsors – Arkansas School for the Death, Bailey Foundation, Tri-Lakes Liquor in Hot Springs, Ann and Jim Bain, Derek Boyce, Charlotte and Curt Bradbury, Peggy and Haskell Dickinson, Merritt Dyke, Jennifer and Tim Fisk, Delda Hoaglan, Blake Jackson, Edward Jackson, Pam and Lee Butler Jackson, Hope Keiser, Elizabeth and Arnold Mayersohn, Mary Moore, and Brooks Gibson Wolfe.

Tickets for Jazz and Juleps are $50, of which $25 is tax deductible, and will be available at the door. Tickets also can be ordered online.

For more information, contact Derek Boyce, director of development for the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences, at 501-683-7355 or dcboyce@ualr.edu.