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Pharmacy Newsletter

PRE-CANDIDATE STATUS AWARDED!

The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education conducted an onsite evaluation at Presbyterian College on October 13-15. Their charge was to determine the readiness of our new program to accept students. The President of the College and Dean of the School then traveled to Phoenix to meet with the Council in January. The Council has approved our program for pre-candidate accreditation status and to admit students. We are moving quickly to admit students and open the program in August!

BUILDING

Triangle Construction of Greenville indicates that they are approximately 50 percent complete on the renovation of the facilities to house the School of Pharmacy with an expected date of completion of May 31, 2010.

PARTNERSHIPS

The School is pleased to announce the initial Pharmacy Advisory Council. The Council will provide perspective, counsel, and guidance to the Dean and the President that will strengthen the School of Pharmacy and assist the College in fulfilling its mission. The response to serve has been positive, and we are delighted to report that the following community leaders have agreed to become members of the Council.

Ingo Angermeier, Chief Executive Officer, Spartanburg Regional Medical Center William Barnet, III, Former Mayor of the City of Spartanburg
Amanda Berrier, Executive Director, South Carolina Free Clinic Association Lumus Byrd, Jr., South Carolina State University Board of Trustees
Ken Couch, President, Smith Drug Company
Richard D’Alberto, Chief Executive Officer, Laurens County Health Care System Erik Greenbaum, Vice President of Managed Care, Merck & Company
Steve Greene, Manager of Professional and College Relations Carolinas, CVS Caremark
Curtis Hartin, Sr., Director of Pharmacy Services, BILO LLC
Walter Hughes, Pharmacist/Owner, Sadler-Hughes Apothecary
Welton O’Neal, Jr., Vice Chair, Board of Trustees Pharmacy Committee, Presbyterian College
Minor Shaw, President, MICCO Corporation Caron St. John, Associate Dean, School of Business, Clemson University

The first meeting of this group will be held February 22-23 at Presbyterian College. The highlight of the day-and-a-half event will be a presentation by Bruce Roberts, RPh, Executive Vice President and CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association. Mr. Roberts will talk about health care reform and the anticipated impact on pharmacy.

FACULTY AND STAFF

Currently, we have 12 faculty and 2 staff members, have signed new contracts with 3 new faculty, and are actively recruiting for another 4 positions that will begin after July 1, 2010. In addition, we plan to hire 9 new staff members who will also start this coming summer. Our goal is to build a faculty of 30-35 and a staff of about 15 individuals to support the program.

STUDENTS

As we move forward, the program continues to receive and evaluate applications for the fall 2010 founding class. Interest in the program continues to be high as the Office of Professional and Student Affairs has begun the task of selecting students for onsite interviews and admission. Our interview process pairs a faculty member within the School and a health care practitioner with each potential candidate. We want to make sure that pharmacists within the area have input regarding who is invited into the profession. A greater focus in our interview on factors such as communication, compassion, altruism, and integrity will hopefully result in the admission of candidates who will embrace pharmacy care and who will perform professionally as graduates.

It is important for the School to work in concert with practitioners to make sure that graduates reflect the needs of the region and the profession. It is always comforting to watch just how equally faculty members and practitioners evaluate candidates during the interview process; assuring that we have well rounded student pharmacists entering our program.

We started our admission process on January 27 by interviewing 27 applicants and will continue to schedule interviews through mid-March with approximately 250 total students, working toward admitting 80 students to begin the program in August. Approximately 600 students from around the country have applications for admission in progress. As you know, the program will focus on providing pharmacists as community leaders. This focus on serving a community—be it a town, hospital, retirement complex, hospice, or corporate community—fits the mission of Presbyterian College where the development of servant leaders remains close to the heart.

THANK YOU

The School received an anonymous $1 million matching grant this fall; bringing us to $6.4 million toward our $10.5 million goal. In addition, the School of Pharmacy was recently awarded a grant from a South Carolina foundation to acquire computer-controlled mannequins for the physiologic simulation lab within the new facility. These simulators will allow students to train in physical assessment, apply their knowledge of disease states, and test their understanding of the pharmacology of drugs in a safe environment. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield South Carolina Foundation awarded $141,000 to the School for creating a model of pharmacy care delivery within South Carolina free medical clinics. Faculty members Julie Sease and Tommy Johnson will work with the Good Shepherd Free Medical Clinic of Laurens County to implement disease state management in select chronic disorders where pharmacy interventions have been shown to impact outcomes in other states. As we continue to make strides toward the opening of our school in the fall of 2010, we will be keeping everyone apprised of our status. With your support, we will provide a program for the state and region that will make us all proud. In the meantime and on behalf of all of us in the PC School of Pharmacy and Presbyterian College, please know that we appreciate your continued interest and support. You are an important part of our team, and we thank you for sharing our story with others who can help make this school a reality.

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