Founding Dean Gloria Meredith presented the progress of the upcoming Binghamton University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in a town hall meeting on Tuesday.
Administration, media and community members gathered in the Old University Union Hall to ask questions and learn about the new graduate school. Meredith said the school will welcome its first class in fall 2017, pending the award of pre-candidate status from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education later this year.
“When we first heard about the project, we thought, ‘oh, 2017, that’s so far away,’” she said. “And now we’re talking about possibly recruiting students this summer. So it grows fast, and the whole area will grow around it.”
Each class in the four-year pharmaceutical doctorate program will hold 85 to 90 students. In addition, there will be 30 to 50 Ph.D. candidates in pharmaceutical sciences and 32 full-time faculty and additional adjunct faculty. In-state tuition is set to be $24,400 each year.
The new school, which will be located on Corliss Avenue in Johnson City, will be across the street from UHS Wilson Medical Center and close to Lourdes Hospital, which Meredith said will be beneficial for clinical practice and residencies. In addition, due to the Southern Tier’s Upstate Revitalization Initiative win, the Decker School of Nursing will be relocating to the former Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company factory building on the Pharmacy School property.
Meredith, who was hired in April 2015, said she and her team have been hard at work, and construction and hirings are ahead of schedule. She said she will continue to hold town halls to update the community and clear up any misconceptions.
“People on campus and in the community hear things about a new school … the information isn’t always correct,” she said. “People can come to a meeting like a town hall and learn more about the reality of the school and what the school is really going to be.”
The curriculum for the Pharmacy School will feature classes in pharmaceutical management, hospital practice and pharmacoeconomics. The new health sciences complex will include a simulation lab to practice administering medication to responsive electronic mannequins, mock community pharmacies and mock hospital pharmacies.
The school, Meredith said, will not require a bachelor’s degree for admission, but will require scores from the Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT) and prerequisite classes. A pathways program will also be created between Harpur College and the Pharmacy School, creating six- and seven-year undergraduate-to-pharmaceutical-doctorate programs.
Meredith also stressed the importance of the intra-school research and relations the new school will have with not only the Decker School of Nursing, but with schools across BU.
“I’m excited for what this is going to do for biomedical research on campus; I think this is going to create an exponential increase,” said Donald Nieman, the provost of academic affairs. “There’s a lot of excitement and interest from faculty across [schools] about the potential research synergies with the School of Pharmacy.”
Attendees like Ron Goodwin, a community member, said they appreciated Meredith’s community outreach, and look forward to the new school’s economic impact.
“This will bring what the University’s presence in Downtown Binghamton brought, which was an increase in economic development,” Goodwin said. “The University has been the economic driver for this region … it’s been a very important part of our area economically. I think this is just going to build on that.”
Nieman agreed, and said he looks forward to more of what Meredith will accomplish in establishing the school and in the Johnson City community.
“One of the great things of being involved with this for the past three years is the excitement that the community has about this, because it really is going to give an economic jolt to this area,” he said. “And that’s something we take very seriously as a public university.”