ChipChat - November 1999

It has been unseasonably warm for this late in the fall, but we are not complaining. The Boilermaker football team keeps rolling along. There were a couple of tough losses, but 6-3 with this tough schedule is pretty good news. It is clear they can hold their own with any team. As we move toward our Thanksgiving break I wanted to bring you up to date on a few items of importance for the school.

I have some bittersweet news. Bruce Hufford, who has been the Director of Development for our School since March 1, 1988, has decided to take a position with the central development office here at Purdue. He will be Director of Annual Giving. His primary responsibility will be to manage annual giving programs for Purdue University including direct mail, phone-a-thon, and e-commerce. He will work with schools and various units to develop annual giving strategies. This work should continue to provide benefit to the School of Pharmacy. He begins his new responsibilities December 6, 1999. Bruce is working with me to recruit his replacement. We clearly will be going through a period of transition. I am so grateful for the many years that Bruce has been with us. His record of accomplishments will be difficult to match. I do wish him well in his new position and know that he will serve the University as well as he has served the School.

A big thank you goes to the Walgreen Company for a gift of $10,000 to refurnish the 5th floor conference room. The room is in almost constant use by students and faculty during the school year. Last spring when the roof of the Heine Pharmacy Building was being redone, a major storm caused water damage to the room. Insurance provided funds to repaint the room and purchase new carpet. The original furniture (from 1969) looked bad and was literally falling apart. Thanks in large part to the effort of Charlie Goodall (BS'84), Director of Health Care Systems at Walgreens, we will have new chairs, conference tables, an overhead projector and a slide projector for the room.

Attending the ASHP Midyear in Orlando? You are invited to the Purdue Pharmacy reception on Sunday, December 5, 1999 from 5:30PM - 7:30PM at the Omni Rosen Hotel in the Signature I room. Please stop in and visit with students and faculty.

The homecoming tailgater was very successful and we had a record turnout of more than 400. Purdue Pete came by to say hello. The Boiler Cheerleaders also dropped by to get our spirits up before the Boilers manhandled Michigan State. The Pharmacy Alumni Association did a fine job of coordinating this event. A special thanks to president Kathy Michael and the officers and directors for being there to greet alumni. The Glen J. Sperandio Award for the Advancement of Pharmacy was presented to Richard A. McDowell (BS'74, MS'76) of Evansville. Rick has been involved for many years as a preceptor for our students at St. Mary's Medical Center in Evansville, and his hard work on the school's behalf is very much appreciated. Two lucky alumni won footballs autographed by Coach Joe Tiller. I appreciate Jim Fenn, our director of alumni relations, for making all the arrangements and recruiting the students from Kappa Psi to help serve at this large event.

Homecoming is also when the school's advisory councils get together for their fall meeting. Again, we had a very high turnout for all three councils - Professional, Industrial, and Minority Advocacy. These individuals are invited to serve for a three year term and are not reimbursed for their expenses. They are a most loyal group of folks. We welcomed two new members to the Industrial Council. They are: Bob Sikora (BS'72), National Director of Clinical Education for Pfizer, from Hartsdale, NY, and Jerry Wannarka (PhD'80), Senior Vice President of Technology and Government Systems for Meridian Medical Technologies, from Columbia, MD. Two pharmacists also joined the Professional Council. Dick Brychell (BS'73) is the owner of Pharm-Card pharmacies in the Valparaiso area. John Winn (BS'82) is from South Bend and serves as Director of Pharmacy Operations for Meijer, Inc. We also bid adieu to five industrial council members and three professional council members - all who have served for many years. They are: Industrial Council -- Jim Boylan (since 1989 when the council was started), Henry Bryant (since 1995), Frank Deardorff (since 1994), John Derr (since 1994), and Ron Nedich (since 1994); Professional Council - Ken Johnson (since 1989 when the council was started), Jim Krahulec (since 1990), and John Reed (since 1990). Each person was thanked and received an appropriately engraved brass mantle clock in recognition for their service. The school owes a great debt to all the men and women who serve or have served in the past on these councils. The school benefits tremendously from their wisdom and advice.

This past week I attended a conference in New Orleans sponsored by Rite Aid Corporation. Sixty-seven pharmacy schools were represented and 52 deans attended. Rite Aid has had some negative press recently, but a new chairman is in place and they are confident they can turn things around. The conference was very positive and focused on technology that is being implemented or considered by Rite Aid. Some of the technology boggles the mind. For certain, the graduates of today and tomorrow will have an exciting new array of tools to work with in serving patient populations more effectively. There was considerable discussion about pharmacist working conditions and the shortage of pharmacists. This is a complex situation that could be measurably improved by complete electronic adjudication of third party payment with a single payment card. Management at Rite Aid appears to be working hard to use technology to address these issues.