August has come and gone in a flash, and it's time for the September 1 version of The First of the Month newsletter.
We held a School-wide retreat earlier this week that was incredibly interesting, productive, and energizing.Thanks to the many faculty, staff, and students who participated. The "things to do" lists are long and important, and I look forward to accomplishing the many activities supporting our strategic priorities and shared goals. Thanks for all the terrific energy! Thanks also to Madelyn for making all the arrangements, Olivia and Katie (Dean's Office) for preparing the packets, and Mike and Chris (IIT Group) for the excellent audio/visual/computer support. I heard later that the Chancellor continued to praise the School to his staff after he left the retreat.
My compliments to all the people involved in orientation events this week for the new BS, PharmD, and graduate students in the School. I know how much work this is...very well done!
There were a couple particularly special events to commemorate in August. Beth Martin, Clinical Assistant Professor in PPD, defended her PhD thesis under Betty Chewning's direction in the SAS Division. Congratulations, Dr. Martin! And Gordon (PPD) and Aimee Sacks are the proud parents of their second son, Ethan, who was born on Saturday, August 5. Congratulations to the Sacks family!
My congratulations to Connie Kraus (PPD) and Amy Zwaska (Student Services) and everyone involved in the Service/Learning Program--an integral part of the PharmD curriculum. The Program recently received special recognition from the West Madison Senior Coalition "for its contribution to the welfare of older adults in Madison through the staff's cheerful and tireless facilitation of volunteer service from the caring and capable pharmacy school students." I was also contacted recently by the organizers and faculty from the NACADA Academic Advising Summer Institute recognizing Lynn Maki, Melanie Schneider, and Amy Zwaska (Student Services) for their exceptional work at the Institute. Great work!
I'm very pleased to report to you that our research awards for the past fiscal year were up substantially over the same period a year ago...+49% (federal) and +64% (non-federal), to be exact...bringing our total to more than $11.6M for the year. This is absolutely stunning, especially when the NIH budget situation, and that of other agencies and foundations, is considered. In fact, the UW-Madison campus, as a whole, saw a 13% decrease in federal dollars over the same period. Also during the past fiscal year, 18 invention disclosures were reported from SOP faculty and staff, down a bit from the prior year's 25, but still substantial. Building the School's infrastructure to support this active and successful research enterprise is a huge priority moving forward.
I mentioned in last month's First that Jon Thorson and coworkers in PharmSci recently had a manuscript accepted by the prestigious journal Science. The news is even better in that Lingjun Li and colleagues (PharmSci) worked together with the Thorson group on the project and are authors on the Science paper as well. Congratulations to both faculty members and their research groups. Jon was also quoted in a recent Chemical & Engineering News article based on his internationally-recognized expertise.
The roster for School-level committees is approaching completion and will be distributed within the first couple weeks of the semester. Thanks in advance for your service on these important groups. The charges to each committee for the year will also be included, flowing, in part, from the action items supporting our strategic plan discussed at the retreat.
The "hole" in the bank of lockers outside room 2312 will soon be filled with a custom-built case to display the awards, photographs, and other memorabilia of Dr. Louis Busse. Thanks to Tim Gossens and Tom O'Connor (Business Office) and Greg Higby (American Institute of the History of Pharmacy) for coordinating the project. We'll have a bit of an unveiling this fall some time.
The new home of the Zeeh Pharmaceutical Experiment Station (room 2305) is nearing completion. Stay tuned for details about a ribbon-cutting event there as well. In other remodeling news, lab 5211 is almost completed and 4211 will be started next. Again, none of this would happen without Tom and Tim and others that contribute to the design features. I'll introduce ideas about remodeling the Pharmacy Commons in next month's First.
The Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin (PSW) Board met in August, and the School hosted a meeting of the Wisconsin Pharmacy Forum, a gathering of members of PSW, the SOP, and the Pharmacy Examining Board, facilitated by alumni Dave Zilz.
During August, we welcomed Dr. Maureen Rollman (PharmD '04) to the School as Clinical Instructor in PPD. She will be participating extensively in the Pharmacotherapy Lab sequence on a part-time basis along with her position at UWHC. You'll find her in room 1014. Unfortunately, we also said good-bye to Rhonda Coyier, administrative assistant with the SAS Division who moved on to a position in Bascom Hall. A search is underway for her replacement.
There are numerous items on the "save the date" list including:
- Remember that Executive Committee meetings have been scheduled for the second Tuesday of each month from 12:00 to 1:30.
- Please mark Wednesday, September 20 from 3-5pm for the Second Annual Faculty Recognition Event in the Commons where we'll celebrate many milestones and successes of our excellent faculty.
- The 2006 Scholarship Ceremony to honor our many scholarship recipients and the donors that make the scholarships possible is scheduled for Tuesday, September 12 at 5:30pm. All faculty and staff are welcome.
- The Graduate Student Mixer will be held in the Commons on Friday, September 22 from 5-7pm. I am really sorry to miss this great event due to travel commitments.
- Anyone attending the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) annual meeting in San Antonio is invited to the UW breakfast from 7-8:30am on Monday, October 30. Check the final program for the exact location.
- The Pharmacy Alumni Association's alumni weekend will be held November 3 and 4, 2006. The School's Board of Visitors will meet all day Friday, November 3. The events that evening will include a reception and awards program for the special people designated to receive SOP Citations (second only to UW honorary degrees in prestige) and the SOP Alumni of the Year Award. New this year: Members of the Dean's Club (annual giving of $500 and above) will be my special guests for the evening. In addition, there will be no charge for SOP faculty and staff for this event. For those faculty or staff who are also Dean's Club members, my special thanks! I hope many of you can join us for the celebration. The festivities continue on Saturday, November 4 with tailgating (great food, good company, raffle prizes, a visit from Bucky...) and the football game versus Penn State. Please contact Pam French (Student Services) if your registration form has fallen into a black hole.
In other development-related activities, Linda Halsey and I visited Lenor Zeeh at his apartment in Oakwood recently. He's taken quite a liking to my chocolate chip cookies. Leona Sonderegger celebrated her 95th birthday in August, and Steve Skolaski's (President of the Oscar Rennebohm Foundation) wife and daughter delivered over 130 birthday cards from well-wishers throughout Wisconsin (and probably many other places as well). I included a card on behalf of the School, and I know several of you sent others as well. SOP alumni Rosalind Chan, Daniel Tai, Pauline Chan, Mary Quan, and Florence Lo were recently back in Madison for a bit of a reunion and stopped by the School for a tour and an opportunity to reconnect with one of their favorites...Professor Charlie Sih. The Sinclair/Rice family (multiple alumni spanning generations) has recently established a scholarship fund honoring the patriarch, Mylan Sinclair (BS '51), on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Amy Holland and Yash Patel from CVS stopped by to talk about expanding their scholarship and other support for our PharmD students. And FYI...Linda Halsey will be spending Friday mornings at the School this year to better connect with you and to understand and further our development priorities in new ways. She'll probably be out and about in the School most of the time, but her home base will be room 1126D in the Dean's Office area. She'll be sharing this office with the new SOP Director of Communications. The search committee for this position is gearing up, and there will be opportunities to interact with candidates and participate in the interview process as things move forward.
Many of you know that I've driven a 1979 Bug convertible for years and years. It is with some (but not total) regret that I tell you I sold Bugsie last week. She went to a very good home--two retired cops in McFarland who plan to use her as a show car.
Don't forget to switch to your new parking permits for 2006-07 today.
I really am shooting for 2 pages... See you next month! Jeanette