Pharmacy program receives precandidate status from accrediting body
Janel Shoun |
The inaugural class of 75 pharmacy students, some hailing from as far away as California and Florida, has already been selected and the majority attended early orientation in May.
They will begin classes Aug. 11 in the Burton Health Sciences Center, a newly renovated 44,000-square-foot building that officials hope will be certified as the state’s first “green” classroom building in July.
“This decision is a reflection of the quality of the plan put forward by the faculty and staff and unparalleled support committed by the university administration and board of trustees,” said Dr. Roger L. Davis, dean of the pharmacy college. “Clearly, ACPE has confidence Lipscomb will continue to develop the pharmacy college with the highest levels of academic performance and integrity.
“I commend our team for their hard work and vision over the past two years. When most of our first students were on campus last month, it was inspiring to see their enthusiasm. Now I am doubly excited to welcome such a quality group of students to a program also recognized for its high quality,” he said.
In response to the growing need for highly qualified pharmacists throughout the nation, Lipscomb University announced in September 2006 that it would create the third pharmacy college in the state, the first in Middle Tennessee. Davis, former assistant dean for Middle Tennessee at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy, was appointed dean of Lipscomb’s college in January 2007.
Lipscomb hosted its precandidacy site visit this past April and appeared before the ACPE board this past weekend to request pre-candidate status.
After four years of study in the college of pharmacy, the inaugural class will receive their doctor of pharmacy degree, Lipscomb’s first doctorate degree. Full accreditation is granted to candidate status colleges who have graduated their first class. Achievement of pre-candidate status does not guarantee approval at the candidate or full accreditation level.
The university is in the last stages of a $10.1 million renovation project to the A.M. Burton Building, which will serve as the new home of the pharmacy program.
John Jantz, a Furhman University graduate from Lebanon, Tenn., said he chose to come to Lipscomb over other pharmacy colleges because the new building provided such good facilities and the Lipscomb faculty were friendly and experienced. “All the pharmacists I have worked with really want to help people,” said Jantz, who has worked as a pharmacy employee since his graduation two years ago. “I have seen community pharmacy at work, and now I would like to learn about the other pharmacy fields. I like the ability in this field to make a difference.”
The re-named Burton Health Sciences Center will feature the Memorial Foundation Pharmacy Practice Center, a suite of three essential laboratories:
- A patient assessment laboratory, where students learn to examine and assess patients;
- A compounding laboratory, where students learn methods to compound and prepare drugs; and
- An integrated biomedical sciences laboratory, where students will carry out laboratory experiments and simulations to enhance their first-year classroom and textbook instruction.
At the end of this month, the university will submit paperwork to request that the Burton Center be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) as a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction) green building. If they do, Burton would become the first certified green classroom building on a Tennessee college campus.