11/27/06
Contact: Deedie Dowdle, (334) 844-9999 (ddowdle@auburn.edu),
or
Keith Ayers, (251) 460-6211 (kayers@usouthal.edu)
(This news release can also be accessed at: http://www.southalabama.edu/publicrelations/pressreleases/2006pr/112706.html)
AU PHARMACY
SCHOOL TO OFFER DEGREES AT USA
AUBURN - Auburn University’s Harrison School of Pharmacy will soon
offer doctor of pharmacy degrees at the University of South Alabama in
Mobile under an agreement signed today by AU President Ed Richardson and
USA President Gordon Moulton.
Classes are projected to start in fall 2007.
Graduates of the pharmacy program in Mobile will receive a degree from
the Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy at the University of
South Alabama.
Richardson said the agreement enables the two institutions to work together
to improve pharmacy care in the southern part of the state while making
efficient use of state funds.
“Pharmacy students will receive the same high-quality education in
Mobile as at Auburn, and residents of Mobile will soon see an increase
in the number of well-educated, highly competent pharmacy graduates serving
all of South Alabama.”
“The University of South Alabama is pleased that, through this cooperative
program, we will be able to work with Auburn University to address the
shortage of pharmacy professionals in the Gulf Coast region,” said
Moulton.
“Given USA’s role as an academic health system and a major provider
of health care for the region, we believe this program is a natural complement
to our programs in Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health Professions,”
Moulton added. “The ultimate outcome of this collaboration between
Auburn and USA will be improved health care for the people of the state
and region.”
The memorandum of understanding between the two universities provides
that the AU pharmacy school establish a satellite program in facilities
at the USA Health Services Center, staff and administer the program with
AU faculty, and establish the same admission requirements and academic
criteria as the Harrison School of Pharmacy at Auburn campus. AU will
administer the admission process to the pharmacy program, and a USA faculty
member is expected to serve on the AU Harrison School’s admission
committee.
In some cases, AU pharmacy faculty will teach USA medical students and
USA medical faculty will teach AU pharmacy students. USA will extend clinical
pharmacy appointments to AU pharmacy faculty involved in education programs
for student physicians, medical residents and other health care students.
AU, in turn, will extend affiliate faculty appointments to USA faculty
who participate in the Harrison School of Pharmacy program.
Lee Evans, dean of AU’s Harrison School of Pharmacy, said the agreement
provides a timely and flexible way to address a nationwide shortage of
pharmacists. “The quickest and most cost-effective way to meet the
shortage of pharmacists is for an established, accredited pharmacy school
to establish a satellite campus, preferably in partnership with a school
that has an accredited medical program,” Evans said.
“The program will be identical to our program at Auburn, it will
be taught by Auburn faculty, and we expect to teach the first students
in the program next fall,” he added. “The impact of the AU pharmacy
program at USA will be felt throughout the region,” Evans said.
“We are going to move quickly to help reduce the shortage of well-trained
pharmacists, not just in the Mobile area, but all along the Gulf Coast,
from the Florida Panhandle to the Biloxi area and beyond.”
Auburn University is a preeminent land-grant and comprehensive research
institution with more than 23,000 students and 6,500 faculty and staff.
Ranked among the top 50 public universities nationally, Auburn offers
more than 230 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.
(Contributed by Roy Summerford.)
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