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June 24, 2005

ULM Creates College of Pharmacy and Acquires New Facility

With the blessing of the Board of Regents, the University of Louisiana at Monroe is poised to create a new College of Pharmacy. The existing pharmacy program and the department of toxicology will spin off from the College of Health Sciences to form the new College of Pharmacy. The college will also include the Louisiana Drug and Poison Information Center, the Office of Outcomes Research and Evaluation and the Louisiana Medicaid Prior Approval and Disease Management Office. The reorganization was approved by the University of Louisiana System Board of Regents at their June 24th board meeting.

Dr. Lamar Pritchard, who currently serves as Dean for the College of Health Sciences, will become Dean for the College of Pharmacy. Pritchard said that he is excited about the reorganization. "It will allow me the opportunity to dedicate more time to our pharmacy program and to help take the College of Pharmacy to the next plateau," Pritchard added. "The reorganization represents a major commitment by President Cofer, Provost Richters, the University of Louisiana System President and Board of Supervisors to the ULM Pharmacy Program," he added.

The ULM pharmacy curriculum was first established in 1956 and shortly thereafter was granted full accreditation by the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education. The Master of Science degree was added in the fall of 1966 and the Doctor of Philosophy degree was added three years later. In 1998, the Louisiana Board of Regents approved the Doctor of Pharmacy degree program as a replacement for the original Bachelor of Science. The Louisiana legislature recently approved an additional $2 million for the ULM pharmacy program. The additional funds will be used to retain and hire new faculty for the pharmacy program.

The redesigned College of Health Sciences will include Clinical Laboratory Science, the Department of Communicative Disorders, the Department of Dental Hygiene, the School of Nursing, the Radiologic Technology Program, Occupational Therapy, Louisiana Tumor Registry, Student Health Service, and the Louisiana Cancer Research Institute. . President Jim Cofer will appoint an interim dean for the College of Health Sciences soon.

The reorganization coincides with ULM's purchase of the former State Farm facility on Bienville Street in Monroe. Once renovated, the building will house the college of pharmacy, the Louisiana Drug and Poison Information Center and the Office of Outcomes Research and Evaluation. Additional space is available in the facility to provide the opportunity for the College of Pharmacy to collaborate with the pharmaceutical Industry on various research projects. The Department of Toxicology, one of only seven programs in the country, will remain in Sugar Hall on the main ULM campus.

For this and other ULM news online visit www.ulm.edu. While there, check out ULM's on-line calendar for all of ULM's upcoming events.

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