BSPS Lab Coat Ceremony

Faculty and staff met at a luncheon held in the East Faculty Lounge, on April 4, 2004 to honor eleven students who were recently admitted to the BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences (BSPS) program. Students must meet certain academic requirements for admission to the BSPS program. Each of the honored students was presented with a laboratory coat that was embossed with the Purdue University logo and labeled "Pharmaceutical Sciences". Ms. Maria Bowman-Horner of Eli Lilly and Company was the featured speaker at the event, to which parents and friends were invited. The BSPS program is growing steadily, and presently more than eighty students are enrolled in the program. Students graduating with a BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences typically attend graduate school, professional school (medical, dental, law) or enter the pharmaceutical industry as developers of new drug entities.
-- Contributed by Dr. Frank Brown

Purdue/IU Senior Face Off Campaign Huge Success in School of Pharmacy

The 2004 Purdue/IU Senior Face off Campaign (http://www.seniorfaceoff.org/) was held during the month of April. The goal of this annual campaign is to instill the idea and impact of philanthropy in the minds of college seniors, encouraging them to give back in future years. This is a unique opportunity for each school to educate graduating seniors about the importance of giving back to support educational programs.

During this event, Purdue is in direct competition with Indiana University in promoting the idea of philanthropy to college seniors. Throughout the campaign, which runs the entire month of April, students graduating in 2004 are encouraged to give or pledge any dollar amount to their respective schools. The university with the highest participation rate wins! Last year, IU won the competition with 16.4% participation, slightly over Purdue's 16.2%.

We are proud to report that this year, Purdue won the overall competition with a participation rate of 14.24% to IU's 12.40% participation rate! WAY TO GO, BOILERS!!

But wait! It gets MUCH BETTER! This year, an internal competition between the individual Purdue schools was added. Under the capable leadership of this year's Pharmacy team captains, Derek Fields and Jamie Hildenbrand, the School of Pharmacy has exceeded all expectations! The School of Pharmacy lead all challengers with an impressive 44.38% participation rate! The total dollars raised by our graduating students was $10,692. WOW!

And it gets better, still! Pharmacy Alum Robert A. (Bob) Brown, R.Ph. (BSPHAR '51) of Cambridge, California, has generously offered to match the funds raised by our students up to $8,000. With Bob's $8,000 match, our School of Pharmacy Senior Face Off total is $18,692. Thank you Bob!!! We couldn't have done it without you!

Now that we know how successful the School of Pharmacy can be, we challenge next year's graduating class to continue the tradition!!!

Seattle Event

The School of Pharmacy hosted a wine and cheese reception at the recent American Pharmacists Association meeting at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers on Monday, March 29, 2004. Steve Abel, representing Dean Pezzuto, and Jim Fenn, representing the Alumni Association, hosted the event. Adding to the enjoyment of the evening was the great view of the Seattle skyline from the very top floor of the Sheraton.

Minority Programs Awards Luncheon

The annual Minority Programs Awards Luncheon was held on Saturday, April 3, 2004. It brought together program participants, prospective students, University faculty and staff, parents, corporate supporters and alumni to enjoy ethnic foods and celebrate the year's accomplishments.

Program participants were recognized for their academic excellence, and several faculty members and corporate sponsors were honored for their support of efforts fostering diversity. Among those acknowledged were biology instructor Dr. Kenneth Mason, School of Pharmacy Associate Dean Holly Mason, Albertsons/Osco Divisional Pharmacy Manager Dennis Reber, and Eli Lilly & Company Executive Sales Representative Kathy Michael.

Keynote speaker Sally Frost Mason, University Provost, focused her remarks on the theme "Diversity =96 Fostering Excellence." This theme was also promoted with the unveiling of the sculpture "Destination Unknown," which will be prominently displayed. Sculpted from a single piece of Springstone by Zimbabwean artist Norbert Shamuyarira, the artwork depicts a woman running happily and blindly toward an unknown destination.

Albertsons/Osco demonstrated their support of initiatives to enhance the recruitment and graduation of Minority Program participants by pledging $150,000 to those efforts, and presenting the first installment of $50,000 to Jackie Jimerson, Director of Minority Programs. Additional support was received from CVS Pharmacy, SSCI, Inc., and Walgreen Company. The commitment to diversity and fostering excellence in the School of Pharmacy expressed by these companies is greatly appreciated.

President's Visit

On April 1, 2004, Dr. Martin C. Jischke, Purdue University's tenth president, made his annual visit to the Schools of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Sciences. Students had an opportunity to interact with the President during lunch. The executive session followed, where George Sandison, Julie Novak, and John Pezzuto gave overviews of the Schools of Health Sciences, Nursing and Pharmacy, respectively.

The afternoon was filled with presentations such as New Technology in the School of Nursing, Real-Time Exposure Monitoring, Improving Drug Use in Patients with Chronic Cardiovascular Disease, Structure and Dynamics of Protein Intermolecular Interactions, National Center for Pharmaceutical Technology and a Tableting Demonstration.

Faculty and Staff were then given the opportunity to interact with the President during an Open Forum. Dr. Jischke stressed how impressed he was with our faculty, staff and students, as well as the research being done in our schools. He noted that Pharmacy, Nursing, and Health Sciences are critical pieces in the Strategic Plan to take the University to the Next Level of Preeminence.

Spring Fling 2004

SpringFest is an annual campus-wide event showcasing the lighter side of higher education. It is a great opportunity for students, faculty, staff and corporate partners to interact in an informal environment. It is a day designed to be fun, but also to offer the possibility of creating new relationships among participants.

The School of Pharmacy's 13 student organizations each hosted an activity or booth at this year's event, held April 17. All the planning was done by a steering committee with two representatives from each student organization. Pharmacy's festivities, dubbed "Pharmacy Spring Fling," included a main stage area used for pharmacy-related game competitions (including a faculty dunk tank); a DJ for entertainment; and a cook-out featuring hamburgers custom-flipped by representatives from the various Professional Partner companies.

You, Too, can have a spring fest T-Shirt!

he School of Pharmacy student organizations would like to thank our corporate partners for their support: Abbott Laboratories, Albertsons Incorporated, Cardinal Health, Inc., CVS Corporation, Eli Lilly and Company, Kroger Company, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Pfizer Incorporated, SSCI Incorporated, Wal-Mart Corporation, and Walgreen Company.

Women in the Pharmaceutical Industry

The AAPS, Purdue University Student Chapter of American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, presented a symposium entitled: "Women in the Pharmaceutical Industry" on Thursday, April 1, 2004.

Presenters included Dr. Julie Stimmel, Manager, Discovery Research Biology, GlaxoSmithKline; Dr. Lynne Taylor, Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy, Purdue University; Dr. Ann Newman, Vice President, Materials Science, SSCI, Inc.; Dr. Sheri Shamblin, Principal Scientist, Pfizer Global Research & Development; and Dr. Teresa Carvajal, Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy, Purdue University.

Although their career paths led them in several different directions, there were noticeable commonalities that threaded through their presentation:

• A need to adjust to meet new expectations in a changing environment
• The fact that cultural differences can impact working relationships
• The challenge of learning to be a professional, interacting with peers and working within the system, while balancing family life and parenthood
• The importance of having a strong family support group
• The necessity of keeping up your professional development
• Always being aware of and taking advantage of the opportunities offered
• Weighing the pros and cons of career opportunities against what is important to you
• Defining what you think success is for you, and then striving to achieve that.

The symposium closed with a question and answer session. Lively exchanges between the students in the audience and the panelists provided a fitting close to a most informative session. AAPS hopes to have similar presentations in the future.

Pharmacy Spring Events