UA Little Rock Creates Endowed Professional Development Fund in Honor of Mike and Elizabeth Kirk
Dr. Mike Kirk, director of Counseling Services and Health Services, retired this spring after 13 dedicated years of service at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
To honor his commitment to excellence, UA Little Rock has created an endowed professional development fund named in honor of Kirk and his wife Elizabeth, a nurse practitioner who works in long-term care and assisted living.
“This fund is a great honor for both me and Elizabeth,” Kirk said. “I appreciate the fact that folks at the university thought enough of me to do this. Counseling Services is a special group of people at the university.”
The Elizabeth and H. Mike Kirk Professional Development Endowment Fund will provide professional development opportunities for employees and interns in the Department of Counseling Services at UA Little Rock, such as funding continuing education credits that counselors need to renew their license every two years.
“This fund will help our employees and interns stay abreast of what is going on in the profession,” Kirk said. “I want to keep the staff as up to date as possible so we can provide the best help to our students. We’ve also positioned ourselves to be a great training site for those that are in counseling graduate programs. Counseling Services has become a spot in central Arkansas where those who are completing their master’s degrees want to come just for the internship opportunities because it is such a rich and fulfilling experience for the students.”
The fund was started by Kirk’s colleagues in Counseling Services. Dr. Aresh Assadi, the new director of Counseling Services, has made a $25,000 planned gift to the fund.
“Before he even retired, we were thinking about something special we could get Dr. Kirk,” Assadi said. “We knew how big he was on developing his employees, and he wanted us to grow and improve as much as we could. He was big on professional development and giving us those opportunities.”
Assadi added that many of Kirk’s colleagues planned to donate to the professional development fund because they thought highly of Kirk’s regard for the well-being of the campus community.
“Dr. Kirk was really passionate about mental health,” Assadi said. “He worked hard to increase the resources in Counseling Services during his career at the university. You could tell he was enthusiastic and cared about his job. He wanted to provide the best care for the campus community as possible.”
You can donate to the fund by visiting this website, clicking “Other” under Fund, and typing in the Elizabeth and H. Mike Kirk Professional Development Endowment Fund.
