The Canadian-based Ontario College of Pharmacists paid the University Of Waterloo School Of Pharmacy a sum of $600,000 to create the Ontario College of Pharmacists Professorship in Pharmacy Innovation.

The professorship will help students and pharmacists already practicing in the industry to understand where the industry will need to go in the future as it relates to recent transitions in the field of study. Along with pharmacy colleges in the U.S., they are being called upon by health care leaders and public health officials to rethink the way they relate to the overall health system.

Pharmacists are seeking new ways to take a more active role in the realm of public health and how they can be a bigger part of an allied medical force. Pharmacy schools are targeted in this effort as a way to help produce the desired result. Pharmacy technicians, for example, are being prepped to handle more of the workload in a pharmacy setting in order to free the pharmacist to focus on community health and consultative roles.

The Ontario College of Pharmacists is a regulatory agency for pharmacies in the Ontario region and was created as a result of Canada’s Regulated Health Professions Act. As a result of the OCP’s formation, Canadian pharmacies and pharmacists must meet minimum quality standards and the pharmaceutical industry is poised to better coordinate with allied health agencies.

The University of Waterloo has nearly 35,000 students and offers degrees in pharmacy and supporting roles. The institution provides degree programs in a multitude of disciplines. The pharmacy college at the University of Waterloo was established in 2007 and is the newest pharmacy school in Canada.

The pharmacy program at the University of South Florida stands to lose millions used to operate their program, along with the school’s state funding of $79 million under the senate plan and another $49 million withdrawn that would be used to build a new campus in Lakeland, FL.

There are only six such pharmacy schools in Florida, three of them are public and three of them are private. In a new report by Tampa Bay Online, the dean of the pharmacy college, Kevin Sneed, said that the funding cut is a death sentence for the pharmacy school and makes Florida look bad in front of the entire nation. “With everything that’s at stake, if would be a huge national embarrassment for the state of Florida if they did any damage to our pharmacy program,” Sneed said in the report.

However, all by 10 of the states have made similar spending cuts on colleges and higher education to varying degrees. The New York Times, among other national publications, are already criticizing Governor Rick Scott for the methods by which the state is cutting spending this year. The senate measure affecting the pharmacy school encompasses cutting $500 million from colleges and a house proposal wants to cut $250 million through similar measures.

This also means tuition hikes for the students already enrolled in the pharmacy program and the University of South Florida and any other state-funded pharmacy school. Florida isn’t alone in the cuts and tuition hikes, however. The pharmacy school at USF is a newer program that could fail following the cuts, which would translate into faculty lay-offs as well.

The survey included the feedback of hundreds of professional pharmacists in the United States and many of them emphatically agreed that properly trained pharmacy technicians can make or break the pharmacy business.

Pharmacy technicians can help out a pharmacy business the best by being able to adequately handle the drug distribution process, one of the many skills taught in pharmacy technician schools. However, the survey results imply that this role in their business is often handled by the pharmacist because of a lack of qualified pharmacy technician in their offices or in the job market.

When pharmacy technician schools are doing more to better prepare students for this role, pharmacists are free to handle management and drug therapy duties that would make for a better pharmacy; leading to better community service and improved patient health. Pharmacies have gained a lot of press lately about the role of medications and drug distribution in public health. Not only are pharmacists expected to have a bigger role in consultations and drug therapies, they are inundated with new drug laws and operating procedures for public safety purposes.

Most industry experts agree that limiting the duties of pharmacists to actual matters of drug therapy and public health requires moving them from the operational duties that can be handled by technicians. Because this is a matter of public health for many involved in legislation and industry standards, it is likely that pharmacy technician schools will see some changes imposed on the curriculum offered to students completing their program.

Pharmacy technician schools might soon see a more rigorous, detail oriented curriculum requirement if groups like the ASHP succeed in their mission to free the pharmacists to perform in a more publicly involved capacity.

The Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Pharmacy published the news first, stating that a benefit art auction yielded the funding, which they will use toward student scholarships.

It isn’t often that a pharmacy school takes funding matters into their own hands, but it also is rare for a school to have such notable talent on board with the willingness to give away valuable items for student scholarships. The school was also in the news recently for being home of one of 2012’s outstanding scientists according to Virginia Outstanding Scientists program. VCU is well-known for being extraordinary, so it comes as no surprise to those that are affiliated with the school or its pharmacy program.

Director of Public Relations and Communications for the pharmacy school, Cynthia McMullen, reported that the scholarship benefit was held on February 3^rd and included watercolor paintings by the school’s dean of more than a decade, Victor Yanchick. His paintings were also featured in the magazine, Fifty Plus, where his work gained accolades from an art writer. According to McMullen’s report, the pharmacy school has raised over $30,000 thanks to the artful styles from Dean Yanchick.

Students attending the pharmacy school use scholarship funds to complete their course studies, purchase supplies, and pay for the tuition costs to attend the school. Other students at the school use scholarship funds to travel to distant countries in search of a deeper education experience, as well. National scholarships, while not part of the fundraising auction, enable those students to experience things they may not have been able to afford on their own. They are able to interact with the cultures that impact their careers and learn how they can apply what they’ve learned to fulfill needs throughout the world.

Marshall University’s School of Pharmacy was set to open in August, but new reports say the facility might be completed as early as July.

The $7.5 million renovation project to turn two-floors of the Robert Coon Education Building into the university’s pharmacy school is nearing completion. School officials say that the majority of the faculty has already been hired and they are hoping to open up for classes in the fall term for this year. Students can apply for the new program up until March 1^st, 2012.

They are expected to host less than 100 nursing school students the first term and interest in the new pharmacy program is already peaking in the area. The pharmacy school will offer a 6-year doctoral degree in pharmacy, focusing two-years on foundational knowledge and the remaining four-years in pharmacy medical studies. The degree is widely known as a “PharmD” degree.

Although construction is almost complete, the school is still seeking accreditation. School officials are hopeful however; the school could achieve accreditation candidacy status before the fall term would begin. The accreditation process has been underway for over a year already and a visit by the accrediting agency should take place this spring according to earlier reports. Officials from the pharmacy school met with the American Council for Pharmacy Education last summer to discuss the accreditation process and the timeline for the school to open.

If the pharmacy school’s site visit occurs as scheduled, a group of education professionals in the pharmacy school industry will make a personal visit to the facility, will review all of the coursework set out for the program, and will speak with all of the hired faculty members to evaluated the pharmacy schools readiness for accreditation.

The University of Maryland announced that Robert Beardsley, who has been a faculty member since 1977 and was promoted to professor in the early 90’s, will serve as the president of the board of directors for the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.

Professor Beardsley had the 6^th edition of his book “Communication Skills in Pharmacy Practice” published in December of last year, which was written to help students at pharmacy schools learn communication principles that will help them develop lasting relationships with patients.

Professor Beardsley has spend the last four decades working his way up from assistant professor to professor and still teaches at the pharmacy school. He also serves as the associate dean of student affairs and is the vice chair for education in the Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research at the pharmacy school. His new role will add to his already extensive history with the accreditation council, with which he has spent years travelling the country assisting with evaluation of accredited pharmacy school programs.

The University of Maryland’s School of Pharmacy, School of Medicine, and School of Nursing was recently in the news for winning a contract to help others in the medical industry learn how to include less accessible patients in their decision making processes. The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, an organization that started because of the 2010 Affordable Healthcare act.

Beardsley is the recipient of multiple awards in the pharmacy school and education industries because of his innovative approach to academics for students studying the discipline. He is a Robert K Chalmers Distinguished Pharmacy Educator Award winner, helping his pharmacy school place at 9^th on the World Report’s best schools list.

The Hilo College of Pharmacy recently graduated its first class of pharmacy students last may, but now the college says it needs some funding to really grow.

The pharmacy school is brand new to the University of Hawaii at Hilo, starting classes in 2007, but has no home of its own at the campus according to news reports.

Pharmacy school officials are worried about their ability to attract leading scientists and students to the new school because it still has no actual building or facility in which to administer its program. There is hope that the state of Hawaii will provide nearly $40 million to start construction on a $55 million facility to help the program along.

Right now, the program runs out of several separated buildings around the main campus of UH.  There is a temporary set of buildings that serve as an auditorium, laboratories, and offices. The pharmacy school may be getting help from the J.M. Long Foundation, who has promised $1 million to the program to help with building costs. Governor of Hawaii gave $5.5 million to the pharmacy school in 2009 as well, but they are still waiting for funding to complete the project in its entirety.

The pharmacy school is well situated to become a top institution in the U.S. The college’s nursing school recently opened a state-of-the-art mock hospital facility and gains nationwide recognition as an up-and-coming program representing the college. The pharmacy school and nursing schools may collaborate to offer the nation’s first dual degree in both of these disciplines.

The pharmacy school at Hilo was recently granted full accreditation too, which only puts further pressure on program administrators to get the school running at full capacity. UH’s pharmacy school is offering a four-year program and Doctor of Pharmacy Degree (Pharm.D) and is the first of its kind in the state of Hawaii.

Pharmacy schools are responsible for teaching future pharmacists all that they need to know about medicine – from composition to consultation.

Targeting another known aspect of the profession, pharmacy schools are talking more about the facets of entrepreneurship training for today’s graduates.

Pharmacists may choose to be an employee of a company or start their own business to become an entrepreneur. Many graduates start out as an employee and later open their own business. With so much competition, pharmacy schools are taking another look at their business training for these non-business students.

Pharmacists are scientists, by trade. Traditionally, professional training in pharmacy school covered liability and various aspects of business ownership. Today’s pharmacy schools are doing more to hone in on business ownership, however, so that some students stand a better chance at doing business on their own.  This might include more rigorous training, testing, and intern opportunities.

The University of Florida, for example, has begun a summer internship for its pharmacy school students. Student can spend a summer working under the supervision of an independent pharmacy owner and operator to gain understanding into what it means to be a successful community pharmacist. A pharmacy school at the Presbyterian College in Greenville, California was recently in the news for launching a new Center for Entrepreneurial Development. These types of enrichment programs are springing up at pharmacy schools across the nation.

A report published in the Journal of Enterprising Culture (2010, vol. 18, issue 02, pages 193-203) looked into the way pharmacy schools are teaching entrepreneurship and found that the traditional methods may not be as effective as once thought. The report suggested that there is still much to learn about teaching pharmacy students about owning and operating a successful independent business. The abstract states “our understanding of how should the non-business students be taught is still limited.”

At the end of last year, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy released the names of the awardees for the National Community Service Award.

Several individual students and pharmacy schools were honored by the AACP for the 2011-2012 year.

The awards are given to pharmacy schools that facilitate a student initiated community service project that helps to educate consumers about the dangers and benefits of using medicine. Pharmacy school programs that were honored include those at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), the University of Nebraska Medical School (UNMS), the University of California, San Francisco (UCFS), and Creighton University (CU).

These pharmacy schools fostered the AACP’s idea of community service through programs such as UAMS’s Ventanilla de Salud to help Mexican living standards in Little Mexico, and UCFS’s Partners in D program that helps seniors understand the details of Medicare Part D and initiated a peer teaching system about Part D at the school. Students and faculty at the other two pharmacy schools were honored thanks to and CU’s Falls Prevention program to help the elderly and UNMS’s Student Health Alliance Reaching Indigent Needy Groups Clinic that help uninsured people receive healthcare through coordinated efforts with other health care professionals.

The pharmacy school Community Service Awards are “intended to encourage student pharmacists and faculty to design and build programs of community-engaged service learning, delivering consumer education about medication use, expanding access to affordable medications and improving public health,” according to the AACP website.

Each of the four Student Community Service Award recipients receive a Steuben Star Stream, plaques for faculty and five students, $10,000 for program support of community projects, up to $2,500 for travel and lodging costs for one faculty member and one student to be able to attend the award ceremony, $1,000 to the faculty advisor, and $5,000 to the student group’s community service projects.

Recent statistics show that up to 30% of students in grades 6 through 10 are somehow involved in bullying in the U.S.; as the victim or the bully.

The students at West Virginia’s School of Pharmacy are taking a proactive approach to this escalating problem through a creative program aimed at students from Kindergarten through 8^th grade. The pharmacy students are expected to conduct a puppet show and get the kids involved in the process of learning about what bullying really does to the people involved.

A report from the West Virginia University states that students who are bullying by age 8 are more likely to end up with a criminal record by the age of thirty, putting light onto how this is a double-edged sword. The victims of bullying are effected immediately, but the effects of being a bully can be life changing as well.

Other schools are stepping up to the plate on this issue, too. High schools around the country have created peer coalitions that allow younger students to seek the guidance and confidence of older peer counselors who will take their fears seriously. Experts estimate that 1 in 4 school kids are bullied and that it can happen anywhere – in class, after school, on the phone, and even online. A survey of students showed that 77% of all kids say they have been bullied by another person, whether it was a student or an adult.

The WVU School of Pharmacy is getting involved to acknowledge to kids that bullying involves more than verbal abuse in a school hallway or classroom. In WVU’s announcement of the pharmacy students’ intention to get involved, pharmacy student Zachary Post said, “We want the children at The Shack to understand what bullying is and the negative effects it has on everyone. Education is the key to prevention.”