College of Pharmacy welcomes fourth class, completing the student body

This fall marks the completion of the Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy student body, with 78 new student pharmacists enrolled in August. The college now has a full house with 301 student pharmacists studying in the labs. The first graduating class will receive their PharmDs in May 2012.

 

The Class of 2015 was welcomed onto campus on Friday, Aug. 12, with the annual White Coat Ceremony, marking the transition from general to clinical studies by formally providing students’ their first white coats. Family and friends were on hand to see 78 new student pharmacists receive their white coats.

 

College of Pharmacy Dean Roger Davis declared the white coat as a mark of professional competence and a symbol of responsibility and accountability for patient health.

 

“This is a day that has weight in the history of our college, in your own personal lives and most importantly in the profession you have chosen,” he said.

 

Before receiving their coats and taking the oath of a pharmacist, the students heard from Congresswoman Diane Black and Wayne Mitchell of Wal-Mart, the sponsor of the White Coat ceremony each year.

 

Black noted that with 10,000 seniors in America turning 65 years old each day, the focus on health care issues is becoming stronger and stronger. She urged the new student pharmacists to not only become leaders in their field, but to become leaders in their local and national governments. She noted that while the U.S. Congress now had several nurses, doctors and one dentist serving, there are no pharmacists.

 

Mitchell encouraged the new students by noting that he believed Wal-Mart’s founder, Sam Walton, would be proud of them. “The white coat you received today is not just a coat, it is a coat of integrity,” he said, “Even if we didn’t have pharmacies to staff at Wal-Mart, it’s that integrity component that makes me believe Sam Walton would support this event.”