Tri-County's Pre-Pharmacy Named Advisory Committee of the Year

For the second consecutive year, Tri-County Technical College’s Pre-Pharmacy Advisory Committee was named advisory committee of the year at the College’s annual fall convocation.

Advisory Committee Chair Bill Stevenson, who is director of Pharmacy Services at Oconee Medical Center and committee member Jim Hammett, assistant director of Pharmacy Services at AnMed Health Medical Center, accepted the trophy and plaque on behalf of the committee. Science Department Head Dr. Suzanne Ellenberger, Dr. Lynn Lewis, dean of the Health Education Division, chemistry instructor Karen Linscott and biology instructor Dennis Lee also were present to receive the award.

Each pharmacy school in South Carolina is represented on the advisory board which consists of Dr. Laura Fox, Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy; Dr. Allissa Smith, South Carolina College of Pharmacy; Dr. Danny West; a Pre-Pharmacy student representative (to be named Fall 2013); Jim Hammett, AnMed Health; Donald Calvert, Walhalla; Dr. Bill Stephenson, III, Oconee Medical Center; Dr. Melissa Jones, South University College of Pharmacy; Dr. Ellenberger Mrs. Culp-Linscott and Dr. Lewis.

“We celebrate a continuing and successful collaboration between the Arts and Sciences and the Health Education divisions that is benchmarked by increasing and measurable successes of Tri-County students in pharmacy,” Dr. Lewis wrote in a nomination. “The program delivers significant placement of students into pharmacy schools and ultimately provides the community with a pipeline of pharmacy professionals who will strengthen the health of our local citizens.”

This two-year program, titled Occupational Technology with a concentration in Pre-Pharmacy, is a mix of online and traditional courses. The curriculum gives students the courses they need to have before they can apply to the S.C. Schools of Pharmacy.

“Our program provides students the same opportunities to enter a school of pharmacy that a four-year college or university would,” said Dr. Ellenberger. Tri-County was the first technical college in the State to offer this package of classes.

“Each pharmacy school in South Carolina continues to select Tri-County students for entry to pharmacy school as an endorsement of the program’s rigor, applicant quality and persistence past admission,” said Dr. Ellenberger.

Since 2009, the program has averaged 44 students each academic year. To date, 14 Tri-County students have been accepted into pharmacy schools with sustained academic success. Tri-County now has graduates from all three colleges of pharmacy in South Carolina. This year, Presbyterian College of Pharmacy signed an agreement with Tri-County which guarantees interviews to qualified applicants.

It’s not unusual for our students to get multiple acceptances to pharmacy schools all over the United States, said Dr. Ellenberger.

“The most interesting findings of the advisory committee have been not only the sustained percentage of Tri-County students accepted to these highly competitive colleges but their subsequent leadership within the programs,” she added.

Throughout the academic year, the Pre-Pharmacy Advisory Committee provides guidance to the program on how best to instruct the students especially with regard to progress toward admission to a pharmacy school, said Dr. Ellenberger. “The committee’s dominant goal remains to keep student advising specific/current to S.C. Schools of Pharmacy to eventually enrich the shortage of Upstate pharmacists with a pipeline of local students who might not have the advantage of generic baccalaureate pre-pharmacy preparation,” she said.

“The Advisory Committee brings together multiple areas of Pharmacy including the colleges of pharmacy, hospital pharmacy and retail pharmacy with each area weighing the pros and cons of the Tri-County pre-pharmacy program to maximize the effectiveness of the program,” she said.

“A secondary goal of the advisory committee remains reaffirmation for the coursework of the curriculum and seeking to identify specific quality niches that match the needs of Schools of Pharmacy. Non-traditional and traditional students are of recruiting interest to the colleges of pharmacy in terms of areas of emotional intelligence, service learning and community engagement ‘track records,’” said Dr. Ellenberger.

For the second consecutive year, Tri-County Technical College’s Pre-Pharmacy Advisory Committee was named advisory committee of the year at the College’s annual fall convocation.

Advisory Committee Chair Bill Stevenson, director of Pharmacy Services at Oconee Medical Center, sixth from left, and committee member Jim Hammett, assistant director of Pharmacy Services at AnMed Health Medical Center, far right, accepted the trophy and plaque on behalf of the committee. Also present to receive the award are pictured from left, Debbie Thrasher, health education division office manager; biology instructor Dennis Lee; chemistry instructor Karen Linscott; Science Department Head Dr. Suzanne Ellenberger; and Dr. Lynn Lewis, dean of the Health Education Division.