Items on the "save the date" list include:
- New: Don't forget to switch over to your new parking permits for 2008-09.
- New: The first Executive Committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 2 at 12 noon in room 1128. Please note: 11 members and 9 advisory members must be present to constitute a quorum for general business.
- The annual Graduate Student Mixer provides an opportunity for all grad students (especially the new students) and faculty to mingle and get acquainted will be held on Friday, September 5 at 5:30pm in the Commons. Graduate student fellowships and various awards are also announced at that event.
- The PharmSci Division will be holding an open house to allow UW-Madison undergraduates to explore and learn about our graduate program on Thursday, September 25 at 6pm.
- The next major event celebrating our anniversary will be the 125th Scientific Symposium, including the 2008 Rennebohm Lecturers, to be held on October 2-3. Several visiting speakers and our own faculty are slated to participate, and Dr. Ahvie Herskowitz from the Institute for OneWorld Health and perhaps other representatives will serve as the Rennebohm Lecturer. Stay tuned for additional information.
- The American Institute of the History of Pharmacy (AIHP) will be hosting a conference at the School on October 17-18 entitled "Modern Medicines: New Perspectives in Pharmaceutical History." Additional details and registration information can be found at www.aihp.org.
- Our third annual Faculty Recognition Event has been scheduled for Tuesday, October 28 from 3-5pm in the Commons. Come, share a snack and a beverage, and take a moment to recognize and thank our faculty for all their accomplishments and contributions to research, education, service, outreach, and practice.
- New: Make plans now to attend the 2008 Pharmacy Alumni Association Reunion Weekend on November 14 and 15. Among the citation award winners this year are our very own Dan Rich (PharmSci emeritus) and Tom Thielke (UWHC/PPD).
- Please set aside Tuesday, December 16, 11:30 -1:30pm for a faculty meeting to take care of year end business. Please note: 26 faculty (all tracks, all ranks) are required to constitute a quorum to hold a formal vote.
In the bad news category... The two substantial floods on the fourth and first floors of Rennebohm Hall affected many, many people. Clean-up and repair are well underway. I deeply appreciate the teamwork that emerged during these catastrophic events. And many thanks to the heroes that jumped into the fray immediately...our night custodial staff, UW plumbers and Physical Plant, the entire ServePro staff of Madison, and especially Tom O'Connor, Tim Gossens, Jason Ellenkamp (Business Office), the entire IIT group, numerous graduate students, Ken Niemeyer (PharmSci), and probably lots of others I don't even know about. We'll get everyone back to normal as soon as humanly possible.
In the decidedly good news category... We welcome two new babies to the School of Pharmacy family. Abigail Mei de Villliers, born July 4, continues to struggle, but has made major advancements since she received a heart transplant in late August. Our hearts and positive energy go out to Mel and Idy during this very difficult time. Olin Vardeny Ni arrived without incident (Orly and Oliver may have a different take on that) on August 26. (There was some rumor about listening to me talk so long at the August 25 retreat had something to do with the timing...) Congratulations and best wishes to our new parents!
Speaking of the retreat... Thanks to everyone who attended and participated. I was very pleased with the attendance and the general sense of the discussions. I'll be sending the action items for 2008-09 that were endorsed by the group, as well as the time line for revisiting and renewing our strategic plan that will get going next semester as separate documents. I've also posted my PowerPoint file outlining "the State of the School" for additional reference if anyone is interested. The small and large group discussions led by the Curriculum Committee got the PharmD revision process for fall semester off to a great start. Thanks for the spirit of engagement and working together on these items that really matter. And stay tuned for more Division- and School-level discussions on aspects of the curriculum with the goal of a draft being available for review by the end of fall semester.
Thanks also to the many people involved in all the new student orientation events for our incoming BS, PharmD, and graduate students. Well done, all!
As mentioned previously, I'm in the process of sitting down individually with all members of the SOP faculty and staff to listen to your views about whatever aspects, features, areas you feel I need to hear about. Thanks in advance for taking the time to provide feedback to me in this way.
You've probably noticed the new wooden cabinets being installed at both the north and south entrances of the building. Thanks to the IIT group, these will soon be the home of new electronic directories to easily and quickly provide information for our visitors and ourselves. Pratima Sharma and Jenny Hergenrother (Business Office) will be able to immediately link in faculty and staff who come and go and easily keep things up to date. Future additions to the system will include a link to our website to display the event calendar and other information, maps of the building, emergency information, etc.
The School-level committee roster for 2008-09 will be distributed by the end of the week. Thanks in advance for another great year of getting the business of the School done in very productive and creative ways. Every contribution the faculty and staff make to these efforts matter, and you should be very proud of your service activities supporting faculty and staff governance and the work of the School.
Some recent faculty highlights to mention:
- The new textbook "Pharmacotherapy Principles and Practice" received the American Medical Writers Association Distinguished 2008 Medical Book Healthcare Professionals Award. Many of our PPD faculty contributed to this award-winning publication. Orly Vardeny and John Dopp authored chapters, and Mary Hayney and Lee Vermeulen (and members of the Center for Drug Policy Staff) served as chapter reviewers.
- Congratulations to Josh Thorpe (SAS) for successful funding of an R03 from the National Institute on Aging.
- The nanotechnology work of Darin Furgeson (PharmSci) was referred to in the July 25 edition of Science Progress (see www.scienceprogress.org/2008/07/time-to-sweat-the-small-stuff/). In addition, he was prominently featured in Advances, the newsletter from the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center.
- Jill Kolesar (PPD) has accepted an invitation to serve another 3-year term on the editorial board of the American Journal of Health-Systems Pharmacists.
- 30 invention disclosures by our faculty were filed with WARF during the past year. Yet another measure of your incredible innovation and productivity.
In terms of staff news:
- Our thanks and good-byes go out to Chris Spencer (IIT), Amber Ault (SAA/Diversity), and Laura Breu (SAA/Assessment) who have decided to take positions elsewhere. Stay tuned for invitations to "send off" events for Chris and Laura and thanks to those that attended the good-bye for Amber. Thanks in advance for the search committees that are shaping up for all three positions.
- Congratulations go to Linda Halsey (Development) whose tennis team not only won the Wisconsin State Championship this year, but then went on to win the regionals in Indiana. Next up are nationals in Arizona.
From our student and trainee groups:
- Three PharmSci students recently defended their dissertations: Hak Auth (Mellon group), Changhong Ko (Hsung group), and James Dowell (Li/Johnson group). Congratulations on this important milestone!
- PharmSci PhD grad Deepa Rao (Robinson/Kwon group) recently departed for a faculty position with the College of Pharmacy at Drake University.
- Three PharmSci postdoctoral fellows are also off to faculty positions: Drs. Bae (Kwon group) and Van Lanen (Shen group) are both heading to the College of Pharmacy at the University of Kentucky, and Dr. King Heiden (Heideman/Peterson group) has joined the Department of Biology at UW-LaCrosse.
In the alumni, donor, and friend category:
- The summer picnic of the Milwaukee Veteran's Pharmacists Association was not to be missed. (They made me an honorary member earlier this year.) Linda Halsey and I attended to continue to thank the group for their generous scholarship support for our students.
- I had a wonderful visit to alum and BOV member Mike Makoid and his wife Bette in Omaha to get a flavor for his growing PBM business and its beautiful new headquarters.
- I had the pleasure of hosting out-going Pharmacy Alumni Association President Phil Berce and his wife Shari in the Chancellor's Box for the Akron game.
I wish you all a productive and enjoyable fall semester! Jeanette