University of Charleston Pharmacy School - Open for Business!






From the Charleston Daily Mail



UC pharmacy school opens
Ann Ali Daily Mail Staff

Tuesday August 08, 2006

It may seem a little early to head back to school, but the future pharmacists at the University of Charleston have already started learning, two weeks before classes start.

Eighty students walked under the yellow banner proclaiming "Welcome, future pharmacists," and began looking around their new educational home, carefully avoiding wet paint still on some doors.

They gathered at the new pharmacy school on Monday for orientation.
Jennifer Wang, 26, who chose UC from her Los Angeles-area home after talking with friends and searching the Internet, said she was very satisfied with the brand new setup at the school.
Wang was impressed with the new building that will be the home of the pharmacy school, especially all the technology -- wireless Internet throughout the building, outlets for laptops in every room and computerized mannequins that will show physical reactions to medicines the students administer.

The 80 students were split into 16 groups of five to begin their School of Pharmacy experiences, and the orientation was more than just tours and pictures for IDs.
The students are required to attend and will receive one class credit.
"They began course work already," said School of Pharmacy Dean Richard Stull, Ph.D. "CPR, privacy, biohazards, handling infectious diseases and communicating with patients."

The first professional school at UC expects a lot from its students but has provided most of the tools in the new building.

The three-story building on a former dormitory lot has conference rooms, computer classrooms, two lecture halls that can accommodate the entire class of 80 and a few study lounges to keep the students working with one another.

There are many laboratories, one with a closed-off chemotherapy room, and all are wired for video recording.

"So we could send three of you in there to work and the rest of us could stay out here and laugh at you," said David Bowyer, RPH, who led students on a tour Monday. "But we'll all have the opportunity to be laughed at."

Each classroom could be recorded to broadcast in another part of the building, archived for later studying or even posted on a professor's Web site.
Andy Spradling, director of University Relations, said everything has been done with Internet use in mind to stay as technologically up-to-date as possible.

A potential working pharmacy has been built on the first floor with countertops and consultation rooms. The school is seeking a company to come in and operate a pharmacy to enhance the school and the students' learning experience.
Sixteen professors are on board, and Stull plans to have 32 by 2009. He said there were about one dozen applications for every position filled. The professors at UC are required to contribute to the pharmacy world, so a lab has even been dedicated to the administrators to pursue their own research.

Stull has started schools of pharmacy before, in Texas and Virginia. He said with only about 93 schools of pharmacy in the country, one at UC should be popular.
Stull said a strong emphasis in a community pharmacist is emerging instead of simply a pharmacist as a pill dispenser, and the school has chosen students who will do well working in the region.

"The lower, southern counties have an acute need," Stull said. "The chains here can't fill their positions."

Andrew Goble, 22, from Louisa, Ky., has just finished his pre-pharmacy work at Morehead State in Kentucky and was headed to pharmacy school no matter what. He's just glad he gets to stay closer to home now.

"Coming from a public school to here, I see a big difference," Goble said. "It's smaller, nicer and everyone seems to have time to help you."
Spradling said most of the students are in their 20s and have just finished their undergraduate degrees.

One student was ready to head to West Virginia State University for biological technology and found out last week he had been accepted. He quickly changed his plans.
Another student is eagerly enduring the two-week orientation then heading on her Hawaiian honeymoon before classes pick up the next week.

About 60 of the 80 students are from West Virginia

Stull said the school received about eight applications for every admitted student. The building seemed open and roomy during the Monday tours, but Spradling said the school will grow in the coming years and most of the areas would be filled.
Contact writer Ann Ali at 348-4819.