When accepting the Honorary Alumni Award from VCU Health Administration recently, Beth Williamson Ayers let the alumni in the audience know how important their work is.

“You are making a difference every day,” Ayers said at the Sept. 14 ceremony in Richmond.

^{Beth Williamson Ayers with son Owen Ayers at the VCU Health Administration 75th Anniversary Celebration in September. Ayers received the department’s Honorary Alumni Award and will retire on Jan. 1.}

Yet that is also a sentiment others often use to describe Ayers, the director of outreach and professional affairs who is retiring from VCU on Jan. 1. Known as a face of not only the department but the College itself, she organizes alumni events, tackles fundraising efforts and performs numerous other roles — relationship building chief among them.

“This community impacts our larger communities in health care,” Ayers said outside the ceremony. “They take care of patients, our employees. And truly, the alumni are the heroes here. It is a privilege for me to be able to work with them.”

In addition to the Honorary Alumni Award, Ayers has also received the VCU President’s Award of Excellence and the College of Health Professions’ Staff Excellence in Outstanding Achievement Award.

Ayers received her Honorary Alumni Award from Jess Judy, MHA ‘77, at VCU Health Administration’s 75th Anniversary Celebration. Judy said while much of Ayers’ day-to-day work remains unseen, the results are evident in the alumni’s support, mentorship and dedication to students.

“Beth is probably the single most impactful point of connection that has kept an entire generation of graduates connected to the department in the years and decades following their time as students,” said Judy, a physician’s advocate and health care leader. Ayers has played a major role in securing numerous gifts in support of endowments and scholarships, including the Martha V. and Wickliffe S. Lyne Professorship, the Richard M. Bracken endowed chair and the Kenneth R. White Scholarship, among others.

Paula Song, Ph.D., the Bracken Chair and Professor of Health Administration, said Ayers’ ability to build and maintain lifetime relationships with faculty and alumni has been a key asset in the department’s outreach.

“Because of her generosity of time and the way she cares, people have really just developed a strong attachment to her and the program,” Song said. “When they think about the program, they can’t help but think about Beth as well.”

Ayers’ father, David. G. Williamson, Jr., was a health care leader and 1952 graduate of VCU’s MHA program. “I learned firsthand about hospital administration by sitting around the dining room table with my Dad and family, talking about what happened at work that day,” Ayers said in an interview.

She added the award is a testament to her work with others.

"This honorary award reiterates the relationships we have built together and the work that we accomplished to help shape a student, connect an alumnus to a classmate, and create meaningful networking and engagement,” Ayers says. “Our alumni have been and continue to be a large part of the success of the department, and I have thoroughly enjoyed working alongside them to create opportunities that have enriched our students.”

Ayers, who joined VCU in 2003 and Health Administration in 2010, says the decision to retire wasn’t easy. “I’m going to miss so many people,” Ayers said. “That's the hardest part of leaving.”

Song added Ayers will continue to be “part of the VCU family.”

“It is hard to put into words the impact that Beth has. We've had these conversations about transition and coverage of her duties, and it’s difficult because so much of what she has done has been around developing these really kind of lifelong relationships with alumni and faculty over the decades,” Song said. “She’s been a steady state.”

By Sean Gorman