I am simply delighted to join the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy community of faculty, staff, students, and alumni as the new dean. The school's reputation for excellence in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences education and practice is truly exceptional, and I am honored to become a part of that heritage. It is the past history and present momentum, the sustained excellence in undergraduate, professional and graduate education, the collection of faculty, staff, and students necessary to make it all work, that drew me here. It is a very humbling legacy to contemplate. Mel Weinswig has added much to that heritage during his time as dean, and I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly thank him for his excellent academic leadership, financial stewardship, and general good sense -- very large shoes to fill indeed.
I thought you might like a few details about my background. This will give a sense for me as a person and as a scientist, educator and academic administrator and provide a foundation of information upon which to build our relationship. I'm originally from northeastern Pennsylvania and attended Albright College in Reading, PA as an undergraduate. I had the opportunity to spend my last semester at Argonne National Laboratory outside of Chicago, which was not only wonderful scientifically, but also personally. That's where I met my husband of now 23 years, Dave Francetic. We moved to Minneapolis where I attended the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy for my PhD work in Medicinal Chemistry. From there I went to Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship working on unusual radiopharmaceuticals produced no where else in the world.
From 1988 until my move to UW-Madison, I was on the Medicinal chemistry faculty at the University of Utah College of Pharmacy. My primary teaching activities at Utah focused on biochemistry and also herbal medicines. My research interests involved designing and developing novel selenium-containing molecules as potential agents to prevent the initiation or progression of cancer. I'd very much like to do a bit of teaching in the professional program and perhaps CE events and will maintain a low level of activity with my research program, which remains at the University of Utah.
The position of dean involves many things, but I see a central role as that of a "builder:" a builder of the faculty and staff, through enhanced opportunities for professional and personal development; a builder of the students with new educational programs, unique clerkship or internship opportunities, and meaningful professional activities; a builder of the alumni, clinical instructors and practitioners with our commitment to continuing education; a builder of stronger relationships with external constituencies of all kinds, our valued alumni, clinical instructors, practitioners, scientists, professional organizations, donors, and friends. During my first six months on the job, I will be holding "Meet the Dean" sessions throughout the state. I invite you to attend one of these near you and look forward to getting to know you and to better understand the issues that concern you. In addition, I invite each of you to visit Rennebohm Hall, if you haven't already done so, and become reacquainted with the School, the beautiful new facility and all the activities going on here. The door is always open.
I've already had two very pleasant encounters with UW-Madison School of Pharmacy alumni. First, I discovered many friends and professional acquaintances are either alumni themselves, or are related to one or more alumni, or are hoping their children will become alumni, and couldn't say enough about the institution and the School. You may be quite used to this, but the dedication, enthusiasm and true affection for the School were quite astonishing to me. Second, my first weekend in Madison consisted of the annual alumni reception, tailgating event, and football game. The entire experience was, in a word, amazing!
So, as I take on the roles and responsibilities of the dean position, I pledge to you my focused attention and total energy. I truly see the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy reaching beyond its current outstanding status to an even higher level of preeminence in the pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences communities. It will be a challenging, rewarding, and marvelous adventure. I look forward to traveling this road with you.