2018 Pharmacy Graduation

JOHNSON CITY (May 4, 2018) – A commencement ceremony took place Friday morning for the 76 students making up the Class of 2018 in the Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy at East Tennessee State University.

During her address, Dean Debbie Byrd thanked the graduates for choosing to attend pharmacy school at ETSU.

“We are so pleased you chose to go on the journey to becoming a pharmacist with us. You have helped make Gatton College of Pharmacy the very special place I have come to know and love,” Byrd said. “The Class of 2018 made this college their own and they are leaving it a better college of pharmacy than the one they found.”

Dr. Wilsie Bishop, vice president for Health Affairs at ETSU, also addressed the graduates.

“Throughout your journey at Gatton, you made the lives of others better – not only in your clinical work, but also in the community that we all call home,” she said. “Students from the Gatton College of Pharmacy have lobbied for changes in the role of pharmacists in health care settings. They raised money and provided educational information sessions for various issues. They provided flu vaccines and health check-ups. And they brought national recognition to our university for the extensive work they are a part of related to the prescription drug abuse epidemic.”

Several pharmacy graduates received awards during the ceremony, including Irene Abia-Angeh, Mollie Ketron and Casey Leamon, all of whom were recognized for being the highest-ranking students in the graduating class. They each received the Valedictorian Award for having perfect grade point averages. Additionally, Class of 2018 member Leona Skipper Holland was announced as the school’s first-ever recipient of a United States Public Health Services Excellence in Pharmacy Award.

Students in the Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy’s Class of 2018 represent the ninth graduating class from the pharmacy school.