I'm very pleased to welcome two new members of the School of Pharmacy family that started their work with us in Nov. Jenny Hazen joined the SAS Division as their administrative assistant, and Barb Beinborn took on the same role for PPD. Welcome to you both! And congratulations to Amy Zwaska (Student Services) who was selected for a different position in Student Services overseeing the multiple and varied responsibilities associated with the hundreds (thousands?) of pre-pharmacy students interested in our programs.
Congratulations also to Steve Rough, Tom Thielke, and colleagues at UWHC and PPD for receiving one of the first Pharmacy Residency Excellence Awards from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). The 2-year MS/Residency Program in Health-System Pharmacy Administration was chosen to receive the 2006 Program Award... the first one ever given... on Dec. 2 at the Anaheim ASHP meeting. An enormous honor! Many of our faculty are graduates of this excellent program, including Ruth Bruskewitz (ESP), Glynis Kinney (PPD/UWHC), Marty Kieser (PPD), Don Michalski (PPD/VetMed), Mike Pitterle (PPD), Ron Sorkness (PPD), Kathy Skibinski (ESP), Art Shuna (PPD/VAMC), Lee Vermeulen (PPD/UWHC), Tom and Steve themselves... did I miss anyone?...as well as numerous clinical instructors, members of the Board of Visitors, etc.
Henry Young (SAS) was featured--on the front page--of The Madison Times, Nov. 17, for his work with the UW-Madison African American Health Education Research team.
If you don't read anything else, read this: I need to inform everyone about the upcoming West Campus Utilities Project. The basic idea is to connect the new CoGen power plant to UWHC and upgrade all the utilities in the area at the same time...this is what was done along Observatory Drive over the past several months. The construction zone will extend along Observatory Drive, west of Willow Creek and continue around the northern loop section of Highland Drive to the backside of UWHC. The good news is that, throughout the project, there will be one lane in each direction on Highland Drive open to traffic; our front circle, the southern part of Highland Drive, Walnut Street, and Marsh Lane will not be affected, at least not directly. The not-so-good news is that the stretch of Observatory Drive will be closed and, most importantly, lots 85 and 85A will be used as the staging area for the entire project and not available for parking for 2 years or so starting after graduation in May 2007. Everyone who currently parks in lot 85 will be relocated, probably to lot 76 (ramp behind Rennebohm Hall). No panic required...we've been promised that everyone will be taken care of. There will be a pedestrian crossing across Highland Drive at ground level, but another impact to us will undoubtedly be increased pedestrian traffic through the building and across the skybridge. We will be taking steps to better direct that traffic to and through the Commons area, so you'll be seeing some changes associated with that aspect. There's no question the project will hamper movement around the entire west campus. It is absolutely required, however, to provide needed infrastructure to UWHC, the new Children's Hospital, and the Interdisciplinary Research Complex (IRC). I'll keep you updated as things develop. A little extra patience will definitely be required.
Last month, I talked a bit about the UW presence at the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) meeting in St. Louis. I neglected to mention that Jill Kolesar (PPD), Al Hanson (ESP), Lee Vermeulen (PPD/UWHC), and Steve Ebert (PPD/Meriter) also attended. In fact, Lee was named a Fellow of the organization at the meeting, joining Steve, Jill, Mary Hayney (PPD), and Gordon Sacks (PPD) with that distinction. All of these faculty, as well as Orly Vardeny (PPD), Paul Hutson (PPD), and Anna Leigrid Dopp (ESP), hold leadership positions in ACCP. In fact, the presence of faculty and alumni at ACCP meetings has grown so much that, on Jill's suggestion, we will be holding a UW event for the first time at next year's ACCP meeting in Denver.
Thanks to Emily Gilbert (Student Services) for coordinating the cell phone drive that raised almost $3,000 for Domestic Abuse Intervention Services and to Tim Gossens (Business Office) for collecting unused eyeglasses. Thanks also to all of you who contributed to these activities, as well as to the Partners in Giving Campaign.
Thanks largely to Richard Hsung and Jon Thorson (both PharmSci), we're moving forward in partnership with WARF to establish a Medicinal Chemistry Core Facility (MCCF) in the School. The idea is to generate new compounds based upon invention disclosures to WARF to create new intellectual property for patenting and licensing. Another likely piece is a custom synthesis service of great value to faculty both inside and outside the SOP.
Tom Stringfellow (Analytical Instrumentation Center, AIC) hosted the 2006 Chicago Area NMR Discussion Group, which generated rave reviews from attendees for superb planning and conduct of the conference. Ken Niemeyer (PharmSci) and Chris Spencer (IIT Group) played key organizing and support roles. In addition, Greg Higby (American Institute of the History of Pharmacy, AIHP) held their fall Board of Directors meeting at the School in Nov.
The Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin (PSW) fall board meeting was held in Nov. Thanks to Connie Kraus (PPD) for her continuing involvement with the state association as a board member. The Madison Area Directors (MAD) periodic meeting was held in Nov. at Group Health.
The School's Board of Visitors held their fall meeting in Nov. in conjunction with the Pharmacy Alumni Association (PAA) reunion weekend. During the Friday evening event, we gave out the Alumna of the Year Award to Pam Ploetz and School of Pharmacy Citations to Mel Weinswig, Joe Robinson's family, Arnie Repta, and Jerry Sveum. The Saturday tailgating (brats for breakfast!) raised almost $1,200 for the PAA Scholarship Fund, and the Badger football team did their job by beating Penn State. Thanks to all faculty and staff who attended and helped make the weekend such a festive occasion.
We held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new home of the Zeeh Pharmaceutical Experiment Station (PES). Thanks to Lynn Van Campen (Director) and Ed Elder (Associate Director) for setting up a lovely event with Lenor Zeeh himself attending, along with Steve Skolaski, President of the Rennebohm Foundation Board of Directors, and former deans Ken Connors, George Zografi, Mel Weinswig, and Gus Lemberger, and several members of Zeeh's family. We had a small dinner afterwards to continue the celebration and to surprise Zeeh for his 92nd birthday. Thanks to Ken Niemeyer, Joni Mitchell (PharmSci), and Linda Frei (Graduate Student Services) for putting it all together.
The lecture series honoring Professor Emeritus Louis Busse was also held, hosted by Lian Yu (PharmSci) and organized by Joni Mitchell and Linda Frei. Thanks to Greg Higby, Elaine Stroud, and Beth Fisher (AIHP), we were able to design and install a cabinet just outside the Busse lab (room 2315) to display many of Louis' awards, photographs, and other memorabilia. We held a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony for the display after the first Busse lecture to honor his life-time of contributions to the School. Thanks to George Zografi (PharmSci) and Mel Weinswig (ESP) for offering excellent remembrances and kind words.
In mid-Nov., my husband Dave and I visited Iowa City and alum Jordan Cohen (dean of pharmacy there) for the weekend and took in the Iowa-Wisconsin football game. Again the Badgers did their job by beating the Hawkeyes...many, many very unhappy people!
For the University of Buffalo game here in Madison, I was able to pull together a small group to watch the game in the Wisconsin Club box. Alums Mary and Jay Rice, Char Smith, and Jerry and Connie Sveum made the trip to watch the Badgers dispatch the lowly Bulls.
Dave, Linda Halsey (Director of Development), and I had a short, but wonderful trip to Minneapolis for a UW pharmacy alumni get-together for about 40 people. Alum Pam Ploetz arranged for us to gather at the beautiful condo of her sister Patty and husband Ed that overlooked downtown...just spectacular. It was my first trip back to my alma mater since I moved to Madison. While Dave and I didn't have time to visit many of our favorite spots, we did work in a stop at Al's Breakfast in Dinkytown (14 stools along a skinny counter) with a couple old friends for a dose of the best whole wheat blueberry pancakes anywhere.
I met with alum John Gates, Director of Retail Pharmacy Operations at Aurora, recently to talk about their plans to enhance their intern program and other ways to interact with our students, as well as to discuss Milwaukee workforce needs and the "second school of pharmacy" idea. I also met numerous UW alums who work with John, including Herb Schick, John Rydzewski, Sally Fongaro, and John Pike. On the way back to Madison, I dropped in on several alums and/or clinical instructors in Waukesha, including Kendra Maniaci (Walgreens), Scott Hoff (Moreland Plaza Pharmacy), Claudia Schreiner (Kmart), Stephanie Bondioli (Walgreens), and Rebecca Taylor (Walgreens; Iowa grad). I also met with the upper administration at Concordia University in Mequon, who are exploring the pros and cons of establishing a "second school" there. Afterwards, I visited alums in the area, including Thora Vevoren and Mike and Mary Pistiner (Fitzgerald Pharmacy in Whitefish Bay).
The Student Senate found itself in the fortunate position recently of having way more money than expected due to the success of their career fair. The Too Much Money Committee (seriously) considered many options. I am really pleased to tell you that they decided to endow a scholarship fund with their new-found wealth that will benefit pharmacy students in perpetuity. Now that sort of thing just makes my day...
The save the date list includes:
- UWHC will be honored for receiving the 2006 Pharmacy Residency Excellence Award at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) meeting in Anaheim on Dec. 2. The "normal" reception for UW alumni and friends at ASHP will be held Sunday evening, Dec. 3, not Dec. 4 as I previously stated.
- Special Note: The next Executive Committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 12:00 in room 1128. Among other business, we will be considering a promotion to full professor and need 8 tenured full professors to be present. The Jan. Executive Committee meeting has been canceled.
- Our fall Faculty/Staff Meeting will be held on Monday, Dec. 18 from 10:00-12:00 in room 2006. We decided to hold off on our holiday celebration and are planning a party on Jan. 25, 2007 from 3-5pm to kick off the semester instead. Stay tuned for more information.
I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving, and I wish you a wonderful holiday season with family and friends! There will be no First of the Month on Jan. 1, but the newsletter will return on Feb. 1.
Thanks...Jeanette