ETSU pharmacy school receives grant to support ESL students
Continuing its focus on promoting a diverse and inclusive student culture, East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy received a grant of over $45,000 to support mentoring, engagement and retention efforts for pharmacy students whose first or best language is not English (E2 students).
The project, PEER-E2, stands for Promoting Engagement, Excellence, and Retention for E2 students and focuses on six main areas:
- Specialized tutoring
- Weekly language lab
- Peer mentoring
- Monthly culture and language exchange events
- Focused recruiting of linguistically diverse students
- Funding for participants to attend the Tennessee Society of Student Pharmacists (TSSP) Annual Meeting, February 2021
“We are very excited to provide these new resources and opportunities for our hardworking students whose first language is not English,” said Dr. Michele Williams, the college’s academic success specialist, who served as the lead on the grant team. “The programming will benefit all of our students at Gatton.”
Other members of the team included Steve Ellis, assistant dean for student affairs; Dr. Ralph Lugo, chair of Pharmacy Practice; and Dr. Adam Welch, associate dean for assessment and academic affairs.
Approximately 10% of the college’s current student body speaks English as a second language, like Hoa Quach (’21), of Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland.
“I believe this project will help students like me feel even more at home at Gatton College of Pharmacy and the faculty and staff feel even more like a family,” she said.
This grant follows funding in 2019 from the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Foundation to support the pharmacy school’s commitment to recruiting a diverse student body.