Thursday, August 23, 2007

UK College of Pharmacy Welcomes Class of 2011

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 22, 2007) − The University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy recently welcomed 132 new professional Pharm.D. students in the Class of 2011 during its formal white coat ceremony at the UK Singletary Center. The new class brings total enrollment in the nationally top-10 ranked pharmacy program to 490 — the most students in school history.

During the white coat ceremony, UK and state pharmacy leaders welcomed students to the profession as student pharmacists. Those bringing greetings included Dean Kenneth B. Roberts; third-year pharmacy student Lindsey Clark, chair of the Kentucky Alliance of Pharmacy Students; Ron Poole, president of the Kentucky Pharmacists Association; Joan Barker Haltom, president of the Kentucky Society of Health-System Pharmacists; Ralph Bouvette, executive director of the American Pharmacy Services Corporation; and Peter J. Orzali Jr., president of the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy.

William Lubawy, associate dean for academic affairs, will be master of ceremonies. Mandy Jones, clinical assistant professor, and Trenika Mitchell, lecturer and laboratory instructor, assisted students in the coating ceremony. Anne Policastri, associate director of experiential education and a member of the Kentucky Board of Pharmacy, led students in the reciting of the Pledge of Professionalism at the conclusion of the ceremony.

The new class has 110 in-state students and is comprised of 15 minority students and includes 78 females and 54 males. The academic qualifications of the incoming students remain superior with the overall grade point average of admitted students at 3.6 on a 4.0 scale and an average score of 85.5 percent on the PCAT (pharmacy college admission test).

“We are excited to welcome another class of quality young men and women as they embark on a challenging yet rewarding health care career in the profession of pharmacy,” said Roberts. This is the third year the college has admitted an incoming class of 132 students in an effort to reduce the pharmacist shortage in Kentucky. Additionally, in 2010, the college will move to a new 186,000 square foot, state-of-the-art academic and research building currently under construction. It is being built to accommodate class sizes of up to 200 students per class.

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