College of Pharmacy celebrates 50 years

03/11/08 - About 400 alumni, faculty, guests and students from graduating classes dating back to the 1950s celebrated the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the University of Rhode Island's College of Pharmacy Saturday evening. "What I think makes this so special is that there are over 400 people from 50 years of pharmacy here," said Jeffrey Bratberg, assistant professor of pharmacy.

The six-hour festivity at the Newport Marriott displayed pictures of the inaugural faculty, and a number of graduating classes and former professors. The display also included an article from the Beacon, the predecessor of the Good Five Cent Cigar, when the Fogarty Hall pharmacy building was first commissioned.

Additionally, five alumni were granted honorary "cornerstone" positions in the College of Pharmacy.

College of Pharmacy Interim Dean Ronald P. Jordan gave a few words before proposing a toast and said that URI produces the "brightest, most prepared, and most well-rounded" pharmacy students in New England, citing corporate feedback for the source of his boast. "That issue comes up over and over again," Jordan said.

He attributed the success to URI's pharmacy curriculum, which includes extensive disease education and patient care training.

"Pharmacists are focused more and more on patient care," Jordan said. "It's not just about the product anymore."

Another success program within the college is Individualized Active Learning. The program, designed by pharmacy professor Alvin Swonger, allows students to run the class and then apply what they learn.

"It gives them a chance to talk the talk instead of just knowing the stuff on paper," Swonger said, explaining that there is a difference between knowing and understanding.

At the celebration, Associate Dean of the College of Pharmacy Joan Lausier said she has been a part of URI pharmacy for 45 of its 50-year lifespan.

"I started as a student in 1962," she said. "And in 1971 I had my PhD, so I started teaching,"

She added that she was the first female faculty member in the pharmacy department and she recalled the dominance of men in faculty during "those days."

Lausier said that as a student she used to take 19 to 20 credit hours per semester, and the inaugural faculty was only 10 professors in size. Since then, this number has just about quadrupled.

Lausier said the first graduating pharmacy class was about 15 to 20 people. She added that in the 1970s URI began to receive federal funding for its pharmacy students and increased its enrollment to about 80.

Enrollment has remained at about that level ever since, Lausier said, and claimed the quality has always been high.

"It's difficult to get the seat," Lausier said. "But once you get the seat it's not that tough to keep it," adding that about 1,200 people apply for about 90 spots per year in the college.

During the 45 years Lausier has been in the program, she said the biggest improvement was the patient care training that is given to pharmacy students.

"We're putting the patient and the doctor together," Lausier said, explaining that people skills are needed in addition to the academic rigors. "You can be very bright, but if you don't have people skills you shouldn't be in the program."

Lausier said the new $75 million pharmacy building, which is scheduled to open in 2010, will bring the URI scientific community together. Jordan added that it will increase enrollment in the College of Pharmacy.

"It's going to allow us to increase the output of students," Jordan said. "It's a great time to be here. [The new building] could, I think, take us to a new level. I think we could be in the top 10 in the country."

Jillian Hawkins, a sixth year pharmacy student, is confident with the program she has studied in for the past six years.

"I feel that we have an excellent curriculum that prepares us for a number of different venues for pharmacists," she said.

Hawkins, who is interested in working in a community pharmacy, such as CVS or Walgreens, said six five-week blocks of internship-like rotations during her last year in the program helped her decide her career. The program is designed to give students maximum exposure, she said.