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Page 2 {The Blue Banner} Wednesday, April 21, 2010 UNC Chapel Hill expands pharmacy school to Asheville By Justin Stewart STAFF WRITER JASTEWART@UNCA.EDU UNC Chapel Hill’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy recently selected UNC Asheville as an expansion site for its sat ellite pharmacy education program, ac cording to UNCANews Services. The UNC Board of Governors ap proved Chapel Hill’s plan to extend their pharmacy education program to Asheville last Friday. The program will cooperate with the Mission Health Sys tem, Western North Carolina’s major medical center. “We’ve had a long and very beneficial working relationship with both Mission Hospital and UNCA,’’ said David Etchi- son, communications director of the Es helman School of Pharmacy’s. “The de cision to partner with those entities was really a no-brainer.” Chapel Hill’s pharmacy school, origi nally partnered with Elizabeth City State University in 2005, will have its second graduating class in May. UNCA’s pro gram will be another extension of that partnership, according to the university. “We’ve always had our eyes on Asheville as a site, ever since we estab lished our satellite program at ECSU,” Etchison said. “With Elizabeth City four hours to the east of Chapel Hill, we’ll have Asheville about four hours to the west of us.” The Asheville area Chamber of Com merce instituted a $2.5 million fundrais ing initiative to finance the program’s start-up cost. According to the release, the Buncombe County Board of Com missioners and the city of Asheville pledged a combined $700,000 toward that goal. “The idea that local government is helping to bring the program here cer tainly benefits the campus,” said Mari anne Miller, UNCA news services direc tor. The new pharmacy extension at UNCA should not require any funding from the state. According to the state, the antici UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Founded: March T897' , • ” The only public.school of pharmacy in the state of North Carolina and one of the oldestjn the nation Accredited by the AmericaniCouncii for Pharmacy Education Member of the Americab Msbdation,of Colleges of Phar- macy ' ^ , Ranked N,o. '2 arnong the nation’s doctoxof^pharmacy progratbs in U.S. New^i; SNoM Report magazine's 2007* edition of America's Best Graduate Schools DEGREES OFFERED: ‘ * Doctor of pharptacy (PharitiD) * Doctor of philosophy In pharmaceutical sciences (PhD) * Master of Science in Health System Pharmacy (MS) Data courtesy of UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy The pharmacy program plans to expand to UNCA, maybe as early as 2011, according to David Etchison, communications director for the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at Chapel Hill. pated finances of the partnership will be entirely covered after four years. The expansion’s projected expenses will be subsidized through tuition costs and monetary assistance from Mission Health System. Mission agreed to fund half of the clin ical faculty’s salaries, according to news services. Exactly when the extension begins at UNCA chiefly depends on the timeliness and extent of these contributions, accord ing to Chapel Hill’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy, “We’ve always had our eyes on Asheville as a site, ever since we established our satellite program at ECSU. With Elizabeth City four hours to the east of Chapel Hill, we’ll have Asheville about four hours to the west of us. ” - David Etchison, communications director of the Eshelman School of Pharmacy “It could start as early as 2011, but the establishment of the program is con tingent on certain conditions from the UNC President’s Office,” Etchison said. “Most of those contingencies are finan cial, as there are some fundraising goals that have to be met before the program can officially kick off.” Similar to the existing satellite at ECSU, UNCA’s program aims to edu cate more pharmacists in an area of the state where, according to Chapel Hill, health care providers in general are sore ly needed. “We’re targeting the more rural areas of the state and those areas of the state that have a greater need for pharma cists,” Etchison said. The Eshelman School of Pharmacy at Chapel Hill made WNC a focal point of their strategic expansion plan five years ago. UNCA’s satellite program could en roll up to 40 doctor of pharmacy students a year, according to news services. A pharmacological doctorate is the professional degree required to practice as a pharmacist. “One of the best things about these satellite prograins is that they are scale- able,” Etchison said. “There’s not a huge investment in infrastructure for them. They don’t have to maintain a certain size to keep their accreditation, because See eshelman Page 4
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