New semester kicks off with record-setting class

One hundred students -- count 'em -- make up the new PharmD Class of 2013 at the UA College of Pharmacy. That's the largest class of future doctors of pharmacy ever welcomed by the college.

Sixty women and 40 men accepted the college's offer to complete their pharmacy studies here. The group includes 83 Arizona residents and three international students -- from Korea, Zambia and Canada.

The average age of the class is 25. Forty-four members of the Class of 2013 completed their undergraduate work right here at UA; six ASU Sun Devils and one Lumberjack are acclimating to 'Cat Country.

Some members of the new class have relatives who will be handy tutors--a brother, a sister and, in one case, a daughter, of the new students are already enrolled in COP classes closer to graduation.

Others of the newcomers have already had most interesting career experiences; among them are engineers, researchers, an Air Force pilot and a Navy submariner.

Thirty members of the class identify themselves as being from an ethnic minority (Black, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian/Pacific Islander).

There are 18 other new faces at COP this week as well. The college's graduate program welcomes new PhD and MS students tonight with a reception on the first floor of Drachman Hall that starts at 5 p.m. with light refreshments.

The new group includes seven PhD students in pharmacology and toxicology, three future PhDs in drug discovery and development, four PhD students in pharmaceutics, and two master's and two PhDs in pharmaceutical economics, policy and outcomes.

Nine of the graduate students are women. Four of the new students hail from China, one is from Ghana and one from Uganda, with the rest coming from the U.S.

Six received bachelor's or master's degrees from UA, and six boast of special fellowships that will help support their graduate education.

This year there are a total of 78 people enrolled in the college's graduate programs and 374 PharmD students.

Posted Aug. 26, 2009, edited Sept. 3, 2009