ETSU Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy celebrates 10th graduating class
JOHNSON CITY – As the Class of 2019 at East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy received their doctoral hoods, they officially became part of the 10th graduating class and an important milestone for the college.
The commencement and hooding ceremony was held on Friday, May 3, in ETSU’s Brooks Gymnasium, where 76 pharmacy students walked across the stage.
“This marks a momentous occasion for our college that, 14 years ago, was founded by the community to fulfill a pharmacist shortage in our region,” said Dr. Debbie Byrd, dean of Gatton College of Pharmacy.
In 2004, a group of concerned citizens, including regional pharmacy leaders, approached ETSU leadership to consider the establishment of a pharmacy college. A steering committee developed a unique model for the college, making it the first private college within a public university in the country.
Then-Gov. Phil Bredesen challenged the citizens of Northeast Tennessee and the southern Appalachian region to raise $5 million in 90 days to show support for the initiative; the community raised $5 million in 58 days, leading to the approval of the pharmacy college in 2005. In 2007, the college was named in honor of Bill Gatton, a local businessman and supporter of education who was the primary donor for the college.
Since the college’s inception, students and faculty have won awards and gained attention for their efforts in tackling important health care issues, including recent national recognition for its Generation Rx committee’s efforts to provide naloxone training to more than 15,000 people in Appalachia.
Dr. Brian Noland, ETSU president, addressed the graduates on Friday, noting their significant accomplishments both in the region and in national leadership positions within student organizations.
“You are part of shaping the quality of health care in our region,” Noland said. “Your contributions are visible and will continue to be felt throughout the community.”
Shannon Schreiner, president of Gatton’s Class of 2019, also spoke at commencement, thanking her fellow graduates, professors and preceptors.
“Regardless of what drove us to our goal today, at the end of the day, the bottom line is always our patients’ well-being,” Schreiner said. “We will all meet patients whose lives we will directly touch – and we will also directly touch lives of patients who we will never meet.”
In addition to the doctoral hooding, several individual awards were presented, including academic awards to Kyle Scott Riceand Chelsea LeAnn Roberts, who earned the Pharmacy Valedictorian Achievement Award, which recognizes the highest-ranking student in the graduating class. Rice and Roberts achieved perfect 4.0 grade point averages.
Sarah Appiah Ofori was presented with three awards, the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Achievement Award, the United States Public Health Service Excellence Award and the Gary Mabrey Community Service Award.
Other awards included: the Gatton College of Pharmacy Patient Care Award to Audrey Ololade Amolegbe, the Lilly Achievement Award to Allison Marie Anderson, the Merck Award for Pharmacy Excellence to Narmin Ahmed Abdo Mohammedand Kyle Scott Rice, the Mylan Institute of Pharmacy Excellence in Pharmacy Award to Sara Lynn Boles, the Wolters Kluwer Health’s Fact and Comparisons Award for Excellence in Clinical Communication Skills to Kathryn Veronica Esposito, the Baeteena M. Black Leadership Award to Chelsea LeAnn Roberts, and the Guy B. Wilson Jr. Leadership Award to Shannon Christy Ann Schreiner.